all photos courtesy of Andrew Hanney unless otherwise stated
Coverage also in the Irish Independent.
The year always begins fast with lots of county and provincial running action on cross-country and on indoor track as well as the IMRA mountain races looming towards the end of the month.
Our team came together for the first team in 2024 to run at the Wicklow Master’s hosted once more in Shanganagh by Bray Runners on a new course as the regular course was waterlogged.
Glendalough AC has competed in this event since 2019 and with 17 runners this year we beat our previous participation record of 13 from that year.
WOMEN’S RACE
The women began on the slightly shorter than 4 km course consisting of a short and two long laps at 10 am. They had a good record to defend having won the M35-49 teams in 2019 and having taken silver last year. This year’s course was flat like the previous incarnation but with several slippy sections including a small ‘mud-trench’ to occupy minds once per lap.
In an incredibly tight race Loraine Creane set off strong after Parnell’s runaway leader Catherine O’Connor with Rachel Wisdom closing the gap towards the end only to be outsprinted near the line by Parnell’s Caroline Ayton. Donna Quinn followed 10 seconds later in 5th with Aoife Joyce (13th) and the returning Claire Thompson (16th) rounding out the team. Claire earned her 14th and 15th cross-country medals (a club best) at her first run-out as a Master’s athlete in this discipline.
In the end Parnell edged it 10 points to 11 but all members of the team earned individual medals with Loraine Creane’s gold medal in the F40 the pick up the crop.
| RESULT |
| 1. Catherine O’Connor (Parnell AC) 0:14:48 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 2. Loraine Creane 0:15:46 (F40 Individual Gold, Team Silver) |
| 4. Rachel Wisdom 0:15:51 (F40 Individual Bronze, Team Silver) |
| 5. Donna Quinn 0:16:01 (Team Silver) |
| 13. Aoife Joyce 0:17:09 (F45 Individual Bronze, Team Silver) |
| 16. Claire Thompson 0:17:40 (F35 Individual Silver, Team Silver) |
MEN’S RACE
Both men and women’s field had record numbers meaning good competitive races with plenty of action, passing and repassing and dramatic sprint finishes. Reigning club champion Paul Duffy carved out a 200m lead on our next runner (Rene borg early on) nearly from the gun and as the race progressed Angus Tyner drifted into 2nd place and led home the men’s M55 team to the first Team Gold medal in cross-country since our foundation 10 years ago.
Rene Borg came in next as second scorer for the M35 team in his 16th cross-country outing for the club (the most of any club member – Donna Quinn is next with 15).
Next was Graham Bush shortly after as the second scorer for the M55 team. Positions were crucial - Alan Kennedy was the third scorer as the M55 won by a single point (18 v 17) ahead of Kilcoole.
Our O35 men finished a respectable 5th out of 7 teams with cross-country debuts to Kevin Ferguson, Corrie Adams, James Heggie and Tadeusz Cantwell. The men packed well with three runners between 23 and 24 minutes and 4 within 24 and 25 minutes.
| RESULT |
| 1. Tim Grummell (Inbhear Dee AC) 0:22:13 |
| ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- |
| 12. Paul Duffy 0:23:16 |
| 16. Angus Tyner 0:23:35 (M55 Individual Gold, Team Gold) |
| 21. René Borg 0:23:50 |
| 23. Graham Bushe 0:24:02 (M55 Individual Bronze, Team Gold) |
| 27. Gavin Kennedy 0:24:14 |
| 30. Marcus Murphy 0:24:19 |
| 37. Kevin Ferguson 0:24:41 |
| 47. Alan Kennedy 0:25:57 (Team Gold) |
| 49. Anthony Breen 0:25:59 (Team Gold) |
| 60. Corrie Adams 0:28:29 |
| 61. James Heggie 0:28:35 (Team Gold) |
| 64. Tadeusz Cantwell 0:44:58 |
As a final anecdote on the day: Anthony Breen was not a scorer but still a counter on the M55 team and thus recipient of the Team Gold. This was his sixth cross-countrymedal: the most of any of our male runners (Angus Tyner has 5).
Glendalough AC 