Race Report: Road Records, Welsh Ultras and Catcher Car

Another busy few weeks behind us with lots of racing and the first Saturday morning ‘Coffee Run’ organised for Wickow Wolf RC (pictured).

🛣️ Road Races

Another busy spell on the roads with a mixture of PBs, records and a few unusual adventures thrown in.

Aaron Cullen continues to completely rewrite parts of the club record book while Monica Timmins managed the unusual feat of racing ultras and half-marathons almost simultaneously. Meanwhile Eoin Phelan’s race count continues to rise at a rate that is becoming increasingly difficult to track accurately.

DUBLIN CITY HALF-MARATHON

A massive day for Aaron Cullen who continues what is rapidly becoming one of the strongest road seasons by a Glendalough runner in recent years.

Aaron’s 75:16 didn’t just break Torben Dahl’s long-standing club record of 78:33 but demolished it. It also removes Amidou Dembele’s senior men’s record of 83:22 and even surpasses Torben’s all-time best of 77:30 from his Crusaders days.

That now leaves Aaron sitting on 6 overall club records and 7 age-category records at the top of our records table.

Monica Timmins meanwhile backed up her ultra exploits in Wales with a half-marathon PB in the same race.

Place	Runner	Time	Notes
1	Sean Tobin (Clonmel AC)	1:03:11
	——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
42	Aaron Cullen	1:15:16	PB, Club Record
4274	Monica Timmins	1:52:16	PB

TERENURE 5 MILE

A very strong run from Gavin Kennedy here, taking over a minute and a half off his PB in a competitive field and finishing as 8th M45.

Jimmy Cullen wasn’t far outside his own best while Donna Quinn continued her return to form by taking more than 90 seconds off last year’s run. In doing so she also removes Aoife Joyce’s 2024 club record of 35:28: a mark she missed by just a second last year.

Place	Runner	Time	Notes
1	Edward O’Connor (Brother’s Pearse AC)	0:25:14
	——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
51	Gavin Kennedy	0:31:05	PB
95	Jimmy Cullen	0:32:54
132	Donna Quinn	0:33:55	PB, Club Record

TCSLM & FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS 5K

One of the races accidentally omitted from our previous accounting of Eoin Phelan’s increasingly difficult-to-track season tally.

Place	Runner	Time
1	Velayos Hernando Olmo	0:16:06
	——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
150	Eoin Phelan	0:22:22

WINGS OF LIFE AND WARANDE PARKRUN

Tivon Tyner headed to the Netherlands for one of the more unusual race weekends on the calendar.

First came the windmill-shaped Warande ParkRun before the main event — the Wings for Life race where runners attempt to stay ahead of the “catcher car” for as long as possible. Tivon lasted 24.9 km and just over two hours before finally being reeled in.

For context, the worldwide winner managed a scarcely believable 78.9 km before being caught!

WARANDE PARKRUN

Place	Runner	Time	Notes
1	Christoph Walsh	0:19:10
	——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
6	Tivon Tyner	0:23:19	1st MS20-24

WINGS FOR LIFE

Place	Runner	Result
1	Jo Fukudo	78.9 km
	——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
11778	Tivon Tyner	24.9 km in 2:05:17

⛰️ Trail & Mountain Races

A heavy lean towards ultras and longer mountain races this time around with Wales proving particularly popular.

The trail side continues to show strong depth with multiple category podiums and large representation across races. Trooperstown in particular practically turned into a club outing with 11 runners in action.

CHILTERN RIDGE

Fiona Smyth took on her first 50k over in Wales and handled it in fine style.

Place	Runner	Time	Notes
1	Christian Loader	3:37:55
	——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
210	Fiona Smyth	6:40:50	First 50k

SHEULTRA WALES

Not the smoothest race experience by all accounts.

Bad weather and organisational issues made for a long day out, but Monica Timmins and Kara Fleischmann still got the job done in a field of nearly 3000 starters.

Place	Runner	Time
1	Sanne Vinks	4:18:11
	——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
63	Monica Timmins	5:53:40
1065	Kara Fleischmann	9:41:28

TIBRADDEN

A new course this year and strong representation from the club with six runners in action.

Graham Bushe continues his remarkably consistent season at the front end of races taking 2nd M55, while Brendan Lawlor and Richard Kieran gave us two more category podiums in the M60s.

Place	Runner	Time	Notes
1	Edward O’Connor	0:42:52
	——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12	Graham Bushe	0:48:51	2nd M55
50	Richard Allan	0:54:54
81	Alan Kennedy	1:00:52
97	Andy Walker	1:03:53
104	Brendan Lawlor	1:13:55	2nd M60
152	Richard Kieran	1:17:09	3rd M60
180	James Heggie	1:26:03

TROOPERSTOWN AND CLARA VALE

This relatively new race is rapidly becoming one of the club favourites and we had no fewer than 11 runners out.

Huw Thomas led the charge with an excellent top-10 finish and 1st M35. Stephen Kennedy followed not far behind in 12th taking 2nd M40, while Christopher Shannon and Graham Bushe made it four Glendalough runners inside the top 20. Graham meanwhile added another M55 win to his collection.

Further back Anne Bromley and Alan Kennedy crossed only five seconds apart while Aoife Joyce beat David Gray by a single second in another neat club pairing.

Place	Runner	Time	Notes
1	Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic)	1:33:07
	——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
9	Huw Thomas	2:02:19	1st M35
12	Stephen Kennedy	2:03:52	2nd M40
18	Christopher Shannon	2:07:27
20	Graham Bushe	2:07:43	1st M55
21	Ian Bromley	2:08:01
42	Anne Bromley	2:18:31
43	Alan Kennedy	2:18:36
51	Aoife Joyce	2:22:34
52	David Gray	2:22:35
67	Rebecca Whineray	2:28:57
76	Andy Walker	2:34:39

Also, a correction from the previous report: after missing several races in our tally including Friday Night Lights, Art O’Neill Pursuit, Dundalk Half-Marathon, Union Woods and Clonmel Trail Half-Marathon, Eoin Phelan’s total now rises to 18 races for the season — helped further by being part of the winning team at the Killiney Hill Relay.