This year’s Athletics Wicklow Championship had a record entry of 112 county runners starting across the four distances from an entry of 122 — beating the 2024 record of 108 starters from a 150 total entry.
| Starters | Entries | Medals contested | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 112 | 122 | 58 | 5th |
10 km Championship
Women
We start with the women’s championship where very competitive teams from Parnell, Lakeshore and Glendalough battled it out against each other.
Parnell had placed three strong masters runners in Caroline Ayton, Emily Ryan and Lynne Whelehan Sheehan in the senior team category, and they beat out Glendalough’s trio (also of masters) of Yvonne Brennan, Fiona Smyth and Monica Timmins by over 23 minutes.
Glendalough had placed their fastest trio in the O35 teams, and they secured a narrow victory of less than 3 minutes over Lakeshore Striders (Niamh Brophy, Laura Querl and Jenny Milton), with Parnell’s trio of Rachel Clarke, Sylwia Wojciechowska and Emer Conroy third.
Moving on to the individual medals, Alaoise Geraghty was the female senior winner for Parnell, winning unopposed. Glendalough AC’s Claire Thompson took gold ahead of three Lakeshore women, with Jenny Milton the silver winner and Sarah Byrne the bronze winner.
Caroline Harney Ayton, Parnell AC, was the overall women’s winner in the 10 km and took the F40 gold ahead of her team mates Emily Ryan and Lynne Whelehan Sheehan for a clean Parnell sweep of the category. Niamh Brophy of Lakeshore missed out by a mere 14 seconds.
Aoife Joyce, Glendalough AC, won the F45 category ahead of team mate Loraine Creane, knocking nearly 3 minutes off her 2025 mark in the process. Laura Querl of Lakeshore rounded out this podium, narrowly denying Glendalough’s Yvonne Brennan the opportunity of making it a clean category sweep for the hosts here.
The F50 was won unopposed by Stephanie Sloan of St. Benedict’s, and the F55 and F60 had no competitors, leading us to Jackie Atkinson who won the F65, also unopposed.
Men
Aaron Cullen was the overall winner of the championship and the male senior category – the first Glendalough AC runner to manage this feat and only seconds behind the overall winner from the open race.
Lakeshore Striders won the M35 category with Peter O’Connell beating St. Benedict’s Gavin Griffiths. Will Blumlein, also Lakeshore, took the bronze.
Lakeshore then went on to have one of the most dominant displays ever in a single category when they swept the podium in the M40 and also placed 5th and 7th, taking 5 of the top-10 spots in the 10k race within that category. This meant they also beat St. Benedict’s by 12 minutes to take the O35 gold.
The M45 category was more contested. Paul Duffy, Glendalough AC, won in a new 40 seconds personal best performance on the course, over 2.5 minutes clear of the nearest runner in the category (Gary Timmons, St. Benedict’s), with Philip O’Toole of Parnell 3rd.
Paul Duffy providing the experienced support to Aaron Cullen and Tivon Tyner meant Glendalough took the Senior Team victory 12 minutes ahead of St. Benedict’s, with Parnell AC a further 4 minutes back in third.
The M50 was a battle between two runners, with David O’Brien of Lakeshore Striders beating Cormac O’Ceallaigh of Parnell by 4 minutes.
Graham Bushe took yet another in a seemingly endless string of mountain and championship M55 victories, beating the equally experienced Paul Mahon (Parnell) who is not long back from injury. Graham’s club mate Anthony Breen closed out the podium.
The M60 was another man to man contest: and here race announcer and Parnell coach Billy Porter (does he need that introduction?) beat out Brendan Lawlor of Glendalough AC.
A Monopoly Broken and a Championship First
Parnell’s victory in the O50 teams broke the monopoly Glendalough AC has had on the category since the inception of the championships in 2022, beating them by just over 5 minutes together.
William Belton ran unopposed in the M75 to claim gold — the first runner in the history of the championship to win a medal in that category.
A Close Affair
At this point the championship was remarkably close: Glendalough, Parnell and Lakeshore were tied on 11 medals, with Glendalough ahead on gold. The 20 km race would now be decisive.
| After the 10 km | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glendalough AC | 6 | 4 | 1 | 11 |
| Parnell AC | 5 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| Lakeshore Striders | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| St. Benedict’s | 1 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
20 km Championship
Women
We start here with the F35 category where Zoe Heathcote won unopposed whilst finishing 3rd overall in the open category of the race as well.
A category up in the F40, Catherine Devitt won her championship category but was also the overall female winner of the 20 km, nearly 5 minutes ahead of second.
Parnell AC got back on the board when Bernie Byrne beat Glendalough’s Siobhan Brennan into second in the F50 category, before Karen Field took the win in the F55 for Glendalough.
The F60 category was a Kilcoole AC affair, with sisters Rose and Pauline Leith taking Gold and Silver to bring Kilcoole onto the medal board.
Men
Well, chronologically Benjamin Butler had already done that a bit earlier when he swept in with an impressive 1:30:38 to win the M35 and also the overall race, with a time not far off the course record. Lakeshore’s Steven Pettigrew was 2nd.
The M40 was taken by Sebastian Giraud in his first outing for Glendalough AC. Sebastian also finished 2nd overall in the race. He was followed home by Daragh O’Callaghan of Lakeshore and Glendalough’s Kevin Doherty. Ben Lewis won the O45 unopposed, finishing 2nd out of six in his category in the open race.
St. Benedict’s bounced back when Stanislaw Chromik took gold in the M50, nearly 18 minutes ahead of Kilcoole’s Chris Willoughby, who himself had a three minute gap down to Glendalough AC’s David Gray.
Bray Runners got on the board through Paul Donohue, who won the M55 category ahead of Kilcoole’s Patrik Albertsson and Gary Neill of Glendalough.
Final Standings
This rounded out the 58 medals contested in the fifth edition of the Athletics Wicklow Off-Road Championship, with Glendalough winning with 20 medals in total. Only two clubs have broken the 20 medal barrier — Glendalough in 2023 with a record 25, in 2024, 2025 and this year, with Parnell achieving the feat in 2023 and 2025. But that does not guarantee the victory, as has been seen in past editions, as gold medals count first.
| Pos | Club | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glendalough AC | 11 | 5 | 4 | 20 |
| 2 | Parnell AC | 6 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
| 3 | Lakeshore Striders AC | 4 | 5 | 4 | 13 |
| 4 | St Benedict’s AC (Inbhear Mor) | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 |
| 5 | Kilcoole AC | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | Bray Runners AC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Inbhear Dee AC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 26 | 20 | 12 | 58 | |
In this tally the home team took 11 gold (with 5 silver and 4 bronze), finishing ahead of Parnell AC (6-2-4 for 12 total) and Lakeshore with 13 medals (4-5-4). St. Benedict’s was 4th, equalling their club record seven medals from 2024. For Lakeshore this was their first time back in the top-3 since 2023 — they equalled their record 13 medals from last year, but with more gold medal performances. Kilcoole was 5th with 5 medals, Bray Runners had 1, and Inbhear Dee did not secure any this year.
The 30 km
Special mention should go to the Athletics Wicklow runners in the 30 km. It is not a championship event this year, although its status will be reviewed in the future. Here Inbhear Dee would have done well with Robert Boland the first county runner in the MS, ahead of Glendalough AC’s Shane Keogh, with veteran hill runner Ben Mooney the first in the M60. Glendalough AC’s Graeme Warren was first county runner in the M50, and Glendalough also had Lucy Neill first in the FS category.
Kilcoole’s Lisa Byrne meanwhile was first in the F45 (2nd woman overall) with Emma Barry, also Kilcoole, second in the same category. Laura O’Daly, also Kilcoole, was first in the F40 category.
Thought experiment: if the 30 km had counted
Had the 30 km been a championship race, entries would undoubtedly have been a bit different, but as a thought experiment, adding these medals back in would have seen Glendalough remaining first on 13-6-4. Kilcoole would have climbed to 4th with 4-5-0 and Inbhear Dee would have climbed ahead of Bray Runners with 2-0-0. Parnell and Lakeshore’s positions would have been unaffected, and the overall top-3 standing would have been the same.
As a curiosity, the 58 medals handed out this year is the lowest since the inaugural year’s 39. The last few years 67-70 have been contested.
Junior Races
This brings us finally to the junior races, where unfortunately some of the leading boys continued a bit ahead of the furthest our marking arrow and ran around 4 km. A separate report on the junior results will follow from Athletics Wicklow.
Five Editions
All in all, 300 medals have been handed out in five editions. Parnell remain the most winning team in terms of trophies (3 to Glendalough’s 2), with the two clubs entirely dead-heated in terms of total medals (86 medals each) — with Glendalough leading by 41 gold medals to 40. Lakeshore Striders is a clear third with 49 medals, followed by Bray and St. Benedict’s.
| All-time (2022–2026) | Trophies | Gold | Total medals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glendalough AC | 2 | 41 | 86 |
| Parnell AC | 3 | 40 | 86 |
| Lakeshore Striders | 0 | — | 49 |
Glendalough AC 