A truly jam-packed report sees us start with yesterday’s major event at the Wicklow Athletics Road Championship, this year held in Avondale. We then pivot back to May for ten more results, including a race win on the roads and Keith Mulvey’s epic adventure at Everest.

Results from our own fund-raiser Lap of the Gap and the Glen to Glen Half-marathon were omitted from this report due to forgetfulness on part of the organiser! They will be included in the next report.

WICKLOW ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP 2026

The club has competed in the Wicklow Road Championship every year since its inception in 2015. Across 11 editions, Glendalough AC has now posted 108 results, averaging almost 10 runners per event, with a high of 14 runners in 2023.

Aaron Cullen produced the standout performance of the night, lowering his own PB and the overall club record from 16:44 to 16:16. Gavin Kennedy also improved his previous mark, knocking five seconds off his standing 18:23 PB. Paul Duffy, our second man home on the night, took a PB by the slimmest of margins, shaving one second off his 2025 championship time to finish in 17:56.

Aaron looks to the time – and yes it really is 3:16 min/km pace!

There were individual medals for Donna Quinn, who took Silver F45, Paul Duffy, who won Silver M45, and Christina Byrne, who claimed Bronze F70. The M50 team also took Bronze through the efforts of Graham Bushe, Angus Tyner and Jimmy Cullen.

The strategy to focus on the masters category, rather than having our fastest masters support Aaron Cullen in the senior men’s team, unfortunately backfired. With our top four runners, we would have won Bronze in the senior men’s category. Instead, the masters men finished 5th, while our masters women’s team finished 4th.

KEADEEN

On the same evening in West Wicklow, Alan Kennedy and Eoin Phelan continued to be nearly ever-present racers on this year’s IMRA calendar, taking on the 10.1 km race at Keadeen.

Result: Keadeen

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Ruben Bartelnik	DSD AC	0:50:00	Race winner
24	Alan Kennedy	Glendalough AC	1:04:16	WW RC
41	Eoin Phelan	Glendalough AC	1:10:25	WW RC

EARLIER IN MAY

TORY HILL

A missing result from earlier reports: Eoin Phelan travelled west for the hill race at Tory Hill on the 9th of May.

Result: Tory Hill

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Tim Ivers	Parnell AC	0:44:33	Race winner
18	Eoin Phelan	Glendalough AC	1:01:15	WW RC

SLIEVE DONARD

A week later, Eoin continued his relentless quest to become the club’s most prolific racer ever. He was our sole competitor in the North for the Irish Championship race at Slieve Donard.

Result: Slieve Donard

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Niall McCartan	BARF	1:00:47	Race winner
52	Eoin Phelan	Glendalough AC	2:11:33	WW RC

ARDGILLAN

We move back to the 20th of May for the Ardgillan race, where Aaron Cullen finished a superb 2nd behind former Irish international Barry Minnock. Eoin Phelan, of course, raced as well.

Eoin Phelan received his 100 races tshirt with IMRA as the fastest ever to achieve it during the month of May

Result: Ardgillan

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Barry Minnock	Rathfarnham WSAF	0:37:42	Race winner
2	Aaron Cullen	Glendalough AC	0:39:01	1st MS, WW RC
24	Eoin Phelan	Glendalough AC	0:48:38	WW RC

COOLEY HALF-MARATHON

Three days later, further north, we had a surprisingly big contingent racing at the Cooley Half-Marathon. It was a welcome outing for Johnny Conway, who lives local to the race. Johnny was our third club man home after the in-form Ian Bromley and Stephen Kennedy, with Anne Bromley our first and only female competitor home.

Result: Cooley Half-Marathon

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Edward O’Connor		1:36:28	Race winner
7	Ian Bromley	Glendalough AC	1:57:32	2nd M45, WW RC
10	Stephen Kennedy	Glendalough AC	2:01:58	2nd M40, WW RC
12	John Conway	Glendalough AC	2:03:43	3rd M40
41	Anne Bromley	Glendalough AC	2:19:51	2nd F40, WW RC
44	Alan Kennedy	Glendalough AC	2:20:28	WW RC
70	Eoin Phelan	Glendalough AC	2:39:21	WW RC

SUGAR BOWL

The Sugar Bowl Leinster League race was next, and Graham Bushe had offered up yet another challenging route for the Wednesday enthusiasts to feast on, with plenty of ups and downs. Alan Kennedy was first home for the club and 2nd M55, while, as so often, Loraine Creane was only seconds behind, winning the F45 category on the night.

Result: Sugar Bowl 2026

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Brian Mellia		0:51:03	Race winner
46	Alan Kennedy	Glendalough AC	1:10:22	2nd M55, WW RC
47	Loraine Creane	Glendalough AC	1:10:42	1st F45
49	Richard Allan	Glendalough AC	1:11:31	WW RC
95	Eoin Phelan	Glendalough AC	1:21:03	WW RC
126	Brendan Lawlor	Glendalough AC	1:29:13

EVEREST MARATHON

The month of May came to a close with a truly epic adventure, as long-term member Keith Mulvey completed the iconic Everest Marathon from Base Camp at over 5,000 metres, running — sometimes! — downhill to 3,300 metres. Keith finished in just over 10.5 hours in the thin air of Nepal, in what was surely the adventure of a lifetime. Until the next one, knowing Keith.

Result: Everest Marathon

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Ramesh Limbu		3:35:59	Race winner
166	Keith Mulvey	Glendalough AC	10:32:32

BEARA WAY CHALLENGE

During the same weekend as the relay, Eoin Phelan once again showed he is geographically flexible, travelling to the Beara Peninsula for the 24.5 km Challenge event, which ran alongside the Beara Way Ultra and Lite events.

Result: Beara Way Challenge

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Philip Hinchcliffe		2:20:00	Race winner
49	Eoin Phelan	Glendalough AC	3:40:21	WW RC

WEXFORD RUNNING FESTIVAL 10K

Back on the roads a few days later, Louis Byrne took a rare road race win for our men’s section when he stepped onto the top of the rostrum with a 40:09 performance at the Wexford Festival of Running in Enniscorthy.

Louis Byrne at the Wicklow Road Champs (photo: Amateur Photos – Capturing Memories)

Result: Wexford Running Festival 10k

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Louis Byrne	Glendalough AC	0:40:09	Race winner, 1st M40

SCARR

Our third club championship counter was on another local hill: Scarr. The race used a slight variation on previous courses but still took in the formidable murder kilometre along the wall.

Paul Duffy showed great form to lead us home, taking 2nd M45, with Graham Bushe not far behind in 3rd M55. We had a great attendance overall, with nine runners taking part in this Club Championship counter.

Coach René ran, as is now his usual, with son Cillian on the 5.1 km short course, which still inflicted the murder kilometre on legs young and old.

Result: Scarr 2026 Long Course

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Robin Mooney	Inbhear Dee AC	0:46:08	Race winner
11	Paul Duffy	Glendalough AC	0:52:54	2nd M45
12	Graham Bushe	Glendalough AC	0:53:21	3rd M55
23	Christopher Shannon	Glendalough AC	0:55:43	WW RC
44	Kevin Doherty	Glendalough AC	0:59:14
56	Alan Kennedy	Glendalough AC	1:02:59	WW RC
79	James Fitzgerald	Glendalough AC	1:07:43	WW RC
84	Eoin Phelan	Glendalough AC	1:08:41	WW RC
91	Andy Walker	Glendalough AC	1:10:03	WW RC
109	Brendan Lawlor	Glendalough AC	1:15:28

Result: Scarr 2026 Short Course

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Sean Brennan		0:33:26	Race winner
12	René Borg	Glendalough AC	0:46:45	1st M45

GROCER’S 4 MILE

Eoin Phelan was first out of the blocks for racing in June when he joined over 660 other runners at Leopardstown Racecourse for the Grocer’s 4 Mile.

Result: Grocer’s 4 Mile

Position	Runner	Club	Time	Notes
1	Altair Reyes Saenz de Buruaga		0:21:02	Race winner
36	Eoin Phelan	Glendalough AC	0:26:41	WW RC

RACE REPORT: Wicklow Road Championships, Everest Marathon, Road Win and Packed May Round-Up

WICKLOW ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP 2026