Author: glendaloughac

MASSIVE MAY: Track, Road and hills!

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running, Track running, Trail running

Before our big relay update, we catch up on the many race results from the last few weeks including the Carrick and Prince Willie’s Leinster League races, the Prague Marathon, the Leinster Novice Championship and the Wicklow Track and Field 3k as well as ultra performances by Duncan and Brian in the Waterville 130k and Ballyhoura 63k respectively.

CARRICK MOUNTAIN

Eoin Kennedy descending at Carrick

The last race before the relay is sometimes an opportunity for some of our runners to do the final race sharpener but this year Angus Tyner and Eoin Kennedy used it as a replacement as neither could make the relay this time around.

RESULT

1. Peter Bell (Kilcoole AC) 0:39:47

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

25. Angus Tyner 0:51:48 (2nd M50)

28. Eoin Kennedy 0:49:59 (2nd MS)

PRAGUE MARATHON

Club PRO Gleb Reys was on pacing duties in Prague (for a friend) and came through the Czech marathon in 5:10.

RESULT

1. Nobert Kigen (Team Birell) 2:07:54

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

4099. Gleb Reys 5:10:51

Gleb enjoying Prague

WICKLOW TRACK AND FIELD

The week before the relay, our club made it’s debut at the Wicklow Track and Field with four runners competing in the Friday evening 3000m with two PBs and three top-3 finishes (although in a small field).

RESULT

1. Neil Wiktorski (Parnell AC) 0:09:12

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

9. Aran Lynham 0:10:49 (3rd MS, PB)

10. Blaise Kinsella 0:10:50 (2nd M40, PB)

11. René Borg 0:11:03 (3rd M40, M40 PB)

12. Colm Kenna 0:12:22

Aran at the 3k with club coach Rene in the background

LEINSTER MASTERS AND NOVICE ROAD RACE

Donna Quinn represented our contingent under the Sli Cualann banner at the Gowran Leinster Road Race and lowered her PB over 3 km from 12:13 to 11:27 while setting a new club over40 record. Donna’s run was enough for 8th overall and yielded two bronze medals: one individual in the F40 category and one with the Sli Cualann ladies team.

Rachel Wisdom still holds the club 3 km record (set in 3k) for women with 11:17.

RESULT
1. Noureen Brouder (Sportsworld AC) 0:10:35
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Donna Quinn 0:11:27 (3rd F40, PB, F40 PB)

Donna and the Sli Cualann ladies at the Leinster Road Race

BALLYHOURA ULTRA TRAIL

Brian Lydon continued his new adventures over the long distances and made up for the disappointment of missing the Maurice Mullins 50k with a strong run-out at the Ballyhoura Ultra Trail 63k race.

Brian Lydon at Ballyhoura Ultra Trail
RESULT
1. Michael Costello () 5:39:50
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
22. Brian Lydon 7:40:31

PRINCE WILLIAM’S SEAT

Paul Duffy and Aran Lynham have both returned from injury and were testing the bodies ahead of next week’s Wicklow Way Relay. Torben Dahl led the yellow singlets home while Paul managed to overtake Aran during the race. All three finished within 50 seconds which has been the trend of the 2022 season with a good gang of 10 male runners always within about a minute of each other in races.

Paul and Aran at Prince Willie’s Seat
RESULT
1. Conall Whelan (UCD AC) 0:42:09
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
32. Torben Dahl 0:50:59
35. Paul Duffy 0:51:25
38. Aran Lynham 0:51:40

Torben Dahl at Prince Willie’s

WATERVILLE 130K

Duncan Barrett had come out of a period of relative recovery to run the Waterville 130 km with friends. Taking it easy (by his standards) he managed to come around in 20th position overall and 21 hour 8 minutes. This was no mean feat on a day with hot weather causing a DNF rate of over 37% in the race.

RESULT
1. Stephen Mangan () 16:02:48
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Duncan Barrett 21:08:51

RACE REPORTS: Roads in Kilkenny and Wexford, hills and trails in Belmont and Glenmalure

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running

Another busy week of race results with our runners taking on several road races, the good trails of Belmont Estate and the traditional mountain race ‘Circuit of Avonbeg’.

CIRCUIT OF AVONBEG

We had three runners in the Leinster Championship race ‘Circuit of Avonbeg’ – a 25 km (or more depending on navigation) open mountain race starting and finishing in Glenmalure.

Graham Bushe was still recovering from his personal ‘Arderrin challenge’ – where he clocked 12 Wicklow arderrins in 6 hours but got himself home in 17th with John Conway in 19th – now fully recovered from the niggle that forced him to drop out of the Mourne Seven Sevens.

Torben Dahl was our next finisher – 12 years after making his IMRA debut on this exact course (finishing 8th). This time – on tired legs – he had to settle for 28th.

RESULTS

1. Ruairi Long (UCD) 2:35:56

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

17. Graham Bushe 3:25:48 (3rd M50)

19. John Conway 3:40:31

28. Torben Dahl 4:27:04

WEXFORD 10K AND HALF-MARATHON

Eight days after his 5 km PB in Shanganagh, Blaise Kinsella was at it again finishing 11th overall in the Wexford 10k in 40:47 – taking nearly 1.5 min off his previous best of 42:15.

RESULT

1. Sean Hehir (MSB) 0:32:53

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

11. Blaise Kinsella 0:40:47 (PB, M40 PB)

Gleb Reys was running in the half-marathon and couldn’t quite snatch a PB on the day but finished in the middle of the field in 1:56:24.

RESULT

1. David Mahon (Slaney Olympic) 1:11:43

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

492. Gleb Reys 1:56:24

BELMONT AND LITTLE SUGARLOAF

The IMRA Leinster League kicked off on the hardpacked trails of Belmont with the technical rocky ‘Little Sugarloaf’ in the middle and here Brian Lydon was our first man home followed by Diarmuid Kavanagh and Sarah Foster representing our ladies section in the 148 strong field.

Diarmuid on Little Sugarloaf

RESULT

1. Conor Greenan (TT Racers) 0:40:36

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

22. Brian Lydon 0:45:49

48. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:50:54

90. Sarah Foster 0:59:58

Sarah enjoying life on Little Sugarloaf

SHANGANAGH PARKRUN

In the Shanganagh ParkRun Blaise Kinsella banked a surprise 5 km PB of 18:36 knocking 50 seconds off his previous best.

RESULT

1. Alex Gray () 0:16:45

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

9. Blaise Kinsella 0:18:36 (PB, M40 PB)

Brian Lydon at Little Sugarloaf

STREETS OF KILKENNY 5K

Not to be outdone Donna Quinn ran another PB (her 3rd in 2022) only 1 second short of Rachel Wisdom’s club record of 19:03 and the fifth fastest personal best run by current female members of our club. Donna’s previous mark was 19:17. The time also broke Yvonne Brennan’s F40 club record (20:25).

RESULT

1. Eoin Everard (Kilkenny City Harriers AC) 0:14:11

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

184. Donna Quinn 0:19:04 (PB, F40 CLUB RECORD)

RESULTS BONANZA: ParkRuns, Quest, National 10k and IMRA/NIMRA racing

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running, Trail running


We have a lot of results to catch up on so starting from this weekend and working back:

GREAT IRELAND RUN 10K

Donna Quinn joined the Sli Cualann team for the National 10k Championship in the Phoenix Park and a firm aim to try and break the 40 minute barrier. In the end she fell narrowly short (40:24) but still recorded a PB (by one second!) and got some glitter home: 3rd in the F40 category and what looks like a Silver medal with the Sli Cualann ladies team (lead home by Parnell’s Sile O’Byrne in 4th overall and Catherine O’Connor.

Her time was also the fastest time run by a woman in Glendalough AC colours.

RESULT

1. Mick Clohisey (Raheny Shamrocks) 0:30:49

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

158. Donna Quinn 0:40:24 (3rd F40, PB, Club Record, F40 PB)

results

MOURNE SEVEN SEVENS

John Conway was the only ‘survivor’ of 5 Glendalough AC runners who had originally intended to run the British Championship race in the Mournes (all absent due to injury or other commitments) and was sitting in the top-100 when he had to make a decision to pull out because as he said ‘fitness is fine but quads weren’t quite up for the downhill’. Focus remains on his big project: the Cape Wrath 400k stage race in 5 weeks!

The race was won by mountain running legend Finlay Wild from Lochaber AC.

results

TINAHELY

Three of our runners were in action at the inauguration of the fabulous Tinahely route – initially advertised as 7 km, it’s length was corrected to 13.5 km the week prior and then adjusted again to 14.6 km a few days before. Despite this, some runners couldn’t get enough and after the tough first climb was crested, the first chasing pack took a further detour – with 4 or 5 runners adding their day’s tally up to 19 and even 20.3k!

Thankfully, our trio were not thus tempted. Anthony began the long midway descent first only for Rene to overtake him early on the descent. Without anyone to follow, maximum attention had to be paid as this route – in true IMRA fashion – featured one piece of tape per junction. Rene started the second climb in 2nd position (unbeknownst to him at the time) but had to concede ground as first Eoghan Hughes then Anthony and then Liam Vines ground their way past on the way to the top. Coming into the final stile, Anthony took a wrong turn down towards the short course allowing Rene to repass him and secure 4th place – narrowly off a surprise podium but enough to get 1st M40 and the highest IMRA finish for a GMAC runner since Torben finished 4th at Oughaval Woods in 2019. Anthony – having realised his mistake – managed to recover to finish 11th.

Barry O’Neill was out testing the system after a long period with sore knees and sat back a bit to still finishing in a solid 28th spot out of the 57 runners there. This route will likely return – as it featured not only two tough climbs but lots of lovely single track dirt path and grassy trails.

RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 1:06:46
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. René Borg 1:19:15 (1st M40)
11. Anthony Breen 1:23:20
28. Barry O’Neill 1:35:10

results

QUEST GLENDALOUGH

The previous day (Saturday 2nd April), Diarmuid Kavanagh had recovered enough from his knee injury to compete in the Quest alongside Eoin Kennedy (only 7 days out from his ultra debut in Maurice Mullins!) whereas John Conway had to DNS with some knee trouble.

Eoin finished 136th out of 575 in the Sport category doing well in the first two runs (finishing 99th, 126th and 174th in the three runs).  In the Expert category Diarmuid Kavanagh had to overcome two punctures on the bike sections to finish 63rd out of 253 – not quite the day he had hoped for

Richard Kieran at Annagh Hill (photo: Mick Hanney)

ANNAGH HILL

Richard Kieran was our only runner at the sixth and final Winter League race at Annagh Hill – a course infamous for it’s tough and slippy descents and it did not disappoint this year. Richard finished 36th out of the 105 runners – his best finish in the league and enough for 25th overall. Richard was the only Glendalough AC runner to complete the minimum 4 to score. Torben completed 3 (enough for 53rd spot). Rene Borg, Angus Tyner, Brian Lydon and colm Kenna each finished two (for 104th, 107th , 116th and 137th respectively) with the remaining club runners all completing only one of the six counters. In total 433 runners competed in the league.

RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:53:55
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
36. Richard Kieran 1:19:00
Richard Kieran at Annagh Hill (photo: Mick Hanney)

WICKLOW WAY HALF

One week on and it was again time for the Wicklow Way Half – an out and back course from Lough Tay to Crone Wood. Richard was in action again and our first runner over the line followed by Sarah Foster who made a big step up in distance: prior to this race her longest race had been 13.5 km! She played it smart and finished well up in 122nd out of the 196 competitors.

RESULT
1. Barry McEvoy (Unattached) 1:33:30
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
105. Richard Kieran 2:37:11
122. Sarah Foster 2:44:48

CASTLEBLANEY PARKRUN

Meanwhile on a visit home Donna got a controlled session in at the Castleblaney ParkRun which was enough for 3rd overall and 1st woman in a time of 21:05 (nearly two minutes off her PB from the end of 2021).

RESULT
1. Owen Carleton (Annadale Striders) 0:17:05
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
3. Donna Quinn 0:21:05

RACE REPORT: Trooperstown, Wicklow Hospice, Camaderry 5k

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running

February finished as it began with several members racing on hills, trails and road.

TROOPERSTOWN WINTER

Sarah Foster coming off the first peak at Trooperstown Winter (photo: Brendan Delaney)

The third IMRA/Winter Spring League race happened on ‘local ground’ on Trooperstown Hill with a predictably big turn-out from our crew. Our first four runners crossed the line with a 71 second compression (Torben, Angus, Rene and Brian) with Eoin, Richard K., Colm and Sarah all running well too. With a few injured hill runners yet to return to the ‘squad’ the summer season looks promising.

RESULT

1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:40:17

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

20. Torben Dahl 0:50:00

22. Angus Tyner 0:50:03 (2nd M50)

30. René Borg 0:51:00

32. Brian Lydon 0:51:11

45. Eoin Kennedy 0:53:36

76. Richard Kieran 0:59:35

93. Colm Kenna 1:02:58

105. Sarah Foster 1:06:25

Rene Borg and Angus Tyner on the climb during Trooperstown Winter (photo: Mick Hanney)

WICKLOW HOSPICE 10K

Saturday the 26th saw a double-header: Blaise Kinsella and Colm Kenna ran in the Wicklow Hospice 10k and BOTH secured PBs. Blaise in his first time trying (!) and Colm putting paid to a mark that had stood since 2016 for him.

RESULT

1. Ronan Wogan (Bohermeen AC) 0:34:28

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

12. Blaise Kinsella 0:42:15 (PB, M40 PB)

17. Colm Kenna 0:44:49 (PB, M40 PB)

Richard Kieran finds time for a smile at Trooperstown (photo: Mick Hanney)

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP: CAMADERRY SHOULDER 5K

Meanwhile on home turf the second round of the Club Championship took place over the neo-classical Camaderry Shoulder 5k course. Guest runner, and former member, Barry Murray won the race in the first sub-21 run on it (20:53) running from last spot in the straight up handicap race.

Brian Lydon, however, was race winner. Having started in 4th, he overtook Diarmuid, Sarah and Donna to take maximum points. With the Predictor and Handicap round out of the way the more serious championship races loom ahead.

RACE REPORTS: February 2022

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running, Uncategorized
Donna Quinn, Sheila O’Byrne and Catherine O’Connor at Enniscorthy 10km

With restrictions easing and weather finally picking up, many of the great races welcomed athletes in February 2022.

Donadea 50K – 12/02/2022

Over 250 athletes braved the Donadea 50km, and national championship race, on Saturday 12th, with quite a few dropping out due to unusual weather and trail conditions. John Conway started strong but a fuelling mistake midway through saw him lose ground as the race progressed – he still secured a PB and could celebrate his better half Laura take 2nd overall in the ladies race.

John’s time was also a new club record for the 50 km – beating Barry O’Neill’s previous 4:39:05 mark.

1 – Sean Hehir, MSB – 2:56:04

——–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS—————–

70 – Johnny Conway – 4:21:14 (PB)

Results: https://www.popupraces.ie/race/donadea50k-2022/

Enniscorthy 10K – 13/02/2022

The Enniscorthy 10k was productive and profitable for Sli Cualann and Glendalough AC with Inbhear Dee’s Kilian Mooney winning the men’s race and Sli Cualann ladies taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th spot overall with our own Donna Quinn the girl in fourth, Aoife in 9th and Parnell’s Hannah Nolan in 12th. The Sli Cualann ladies team went home 160 euro richer for their efforts.

Aoife Joyce
  1. Killian Mooney, Sli Cualann AC 31:49

9. Ruth Fitzgerald, West Waterford 35:19

——–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS (COMPETING AS SLI CUALANN)—————–

Donna Quinn – 0:40:25 (PB)

Aoife Joyce 0:44:30

full results

Ticknock WINTER – 13/02/2022

The Winter League continued with it’s third round – as usual we had smaller representation for the ‘northern’ routes where Torben and Angus had a close shoot-out – more of those to come!

1 – Enda Cloake – 0:39:27

——–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS—————–

30 – Torben Dahl – 0:49:23

36 – Angus Tyner – 0:49:56

Results: https://imra.ie/events/results/id/2136

TRIM 10 MILE – 14/02/2022

The weekend action finished with Angus taking on an extremely windswept Trim 10 mile which lead to a time that as he described ‘he could do in training’. Despite this his time was enough to set a new club M50 record for the 10 mile and finish top-5% of the 1515 strong field.

  1. Martin Hoare, Cellbridge AC 50:45

—————–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS—————— (competing as Sli Cualann)

77. Angus Tyner 1:07:31

Trim 10 Mile 2022

See Also

RACE REPORTS: Bursting at Brockagh, Ballyhoura and belated xc results….

by glendaloughac, posted in Uncategorized

BURSTING UP BROCKAGH?

We begin with yesterday’s news.

On a windy day in Brockagh Woods anyone who wanted to record a good ‘percentage of winners time’ was to be disappointed as the top-3 swept home under the existing course record with Barry McEvoy taking nearly 3 minutes off Des Kennedy’s mark. The course was slightly shorter than in some previous iterations with the corner being cut West of Brockagh East and no return journey over Brockagh South-East – but the record was comprehensive enough that it can stand on its own as ‘undisputed’. The Brockagh East course has gone through small variations from year to year but what never changes is the relentless fire-road and the merciless grassy bank on the uphill. Such was the standard that the winner from Howth two weeks previous – Mark Snitch – was relegated to 4th place here.

Diarmuid Kavanagh had his debut with Glendalough AC (Photo: Lindsay Heppenstall)

For our club we had one of the best turn-outs at a hill race with eight runners competing and for the second week running, we got someone into the top-20 with Aran copying Torben’s 19th place finish from Howth. Club coach Rene was 2nd club man across the line with new members Diarmuid and Brian 4th and 5th before Loraine Creane came in finishing 7th woman on the day. Next was Richard, Colm and Keith. For Brian Lydon and Diarmuid Kavanagh the race marked their debut for our club.

158 runners competed and Wicklow clubs were well represented.

RESULTS

  1. Barry McEvoy 24:04 (Course Record)

——–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS—————–

19. Aran Lynham 30:27

23. Rene Borg 30:44

39. Diarmuid Kavanagh 32:35

47. Brian Lydon 33:08

55. Loraine Creane 34:22

58. Richard Kieran 34:35

73. Colm Kenna 35:43

108. Keith Mulvey 39:29

Full results

ANGUS ON THE MONEY AT THE PARKRUNS

Angus Tyner fits in a few ParkRuns between his orienteering commitments and with great results with two back to back 18:46 run-outs first at the Wexford Race course Parkrun and then at Shanganagh. In both race she secured 3rd place and first over 50.

https://www.parkrun.ie/parkrunner/526551/

HOWTH WINTER

Torben Dahl and Richard Kieran had kicked off this year’s Winter/Spring League at Howth Winter finishing 19th and 72nd out of 156 runners with Richard snatching first prize in the M55 category.

  1. Mark Snitch 36:02

——-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS——-

19. Torben Dahl 39:32

72. Richard Kieran 46:14 (1st M55)

BALLYHOURA MOONLIGHT CHALLENGE

Moving back two weeks on Friday evening Johnny Conway lined up for the Ballyhoura Moonlight Challenge – a 28 km trail run in the dark where he equitted himself well and finished 22nd.

https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/2227/

ANTHONY BREEN IN ACTION

Anthony Breen sneakily competed in the Leinster Senior and Wicklow Masters securing an M50 Bronze medal in the latter.

LEINSTER SENIOR

  1. Hiko Tonosa, DSD AC 30:32

——–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS (COMPETING AS SLI CUALANN)———-

78. Anthony Breen 43:51

WICKLOW MASTERS

  1. Tim Grummell, Inbhear Dee 21:14

———–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———-

22. Anthony Breen 24:09 (M50 Bronze)

STREET OF WICKLOW 5K AND CLUB CHAMPS CLOSE THE YEAR….

by glendaloughac, posted in Race reports, Road running

After the end of a long year and the Xmas festivities our athletes took to the Streets of Wicklow for the traditional 5 km.

On a perfect day and on a new faster course, Donna Quinn secured not only a PB but a breakthrough performance running 19:17 – the just rewards for years of consistent training and a nice cap to a season which saw her crowned Club Champion only a week earlier.

Aran Lynham was our first man home in 18:55 – a few seconds short of his PB. It was also a great day for Colm Kenna – his 21:50 was his fastest time since 31/03/2017 when he ran 21:25 and less than a minute off his PB (21:01) from 2016. Graeme Warren got narrowly ‘Quinned’ and had he run 4 seconds faster (and matched his PB from July), he would have finished dead-heated with Donna on the day.

STREETS OF WICKLOW 5K

  1. Tudor Moldovan, Clonliffe Harriers 15:28

———GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———–

39. Aran Lynham 18:55

51. Donna Quinn 19:17 (PB)

52. Graeme Warren 19:21

Claire Thompson 21:14

Colm Kenna 21:50

full results

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND

A week prior three teams had lined up to contest the final round of our Club Championship with teams of two competing on the very hilly ‘Camaderry Shoulder 5k’. Here club coach René Borg had to lead his team to victory in order to wrest the title from Angus Tyner (orienteering in England). Aoife Joyce – paired with Rene on the ‘partner rule’ – had to keep her team ahead of Donna’s to defend her lead in the ladies race.

In the end it was a close run affair – Donna lead the first leg home with Paul Duffy and Aoife Joyce in pursuit. Aran Lynham and Barry O’Neill set off with René Borg leaving last. In the end the duo of Borg-Joyce nearly clawed back the deficit finishing a narrow second – close but no cigar as Angus and Donna were confirmed champions of 2021.

OVERALL RESULTS

CARLINGFORD AND CROSS-COUNTRY

by glendaloughac, posted in Cross-country running, Mountain running, Race reports

Mud and grass where the order of the day for our athletes this Sunday. Conditions where slightly windy but otherwise good as our tremendous trio of Claire Thompson, Donna Quinn and Aoife Joyce took to the start of the Wicklow Novice Cross-Country.

Team Gold! (Photo: Rene Borg)

WICKLOW NOVICE CROSS-COUNTRY 2021 – ROUNDWOOD

Very little could detract from a great day except the slightly small size of the ladies’ field: and among those not returning for the 2022 will be our own Claire Thompson who finally broke her ‘Gold Duck’.

Claire had finished 4th in her Novice debut in 2015 and narrowly missed out on the gold on several occasions with Silver in the Novice in 2016 and 2017 on top of Silver and Bronze in the Intermediate in 2015 and 2016. But in her 6th Wicklow cross-country race (and 9th overall) she secured the Gold and knocked herself out of county Novice competition for good. Her winning time of 15:28 was her second fastest time over 4 km cross-country since her 14:31 in the Leinster Novice 2016. She also knocked 1:45 off her personal best over this particular course in Roundwood.

May be an image of 1 person and outdoors
Aoife Joyce showing the joy of cross-country (photo: Andrew Hanney)

Her closest rival on the day was club mate Donna Quinn who took a somewhat unorthodox pacing approach starting at the back of the field and working her way through on the first few laps.

May be an image of 1 person, standing, playing a sport and outdoors
Claire showing determination with Donna in close pursuit (photo: Andrew Hanney)

She was closing aggressively towards the end and finished 2nd only 6 seconds behind Claire. this was by some distance Donna’s fastest cross-country race – 38 seconds faster her previous best (in the Wicklow Intermediate 2016).

The start goes! (Donna at the back!) (photo: Rene Borg)

Third counter on the day and instrumental in securing Team Gold was Aoife Joyce – 11 years on from securing the Bronze medal in the Dublin Novice with Crusaders AC – she secured her second Team Gold with Glendalough AC (adding to the Wicklow Masters 2019).

FULL RESULTS

  1. Claire Thompson 15:28
  2. Donna Quinn 15:34

7. Aoife Joyce 16:47

CARLINGFORD

Barry O’Neill taking on ‘hands and knees stuff’ (photo Turlough Conway)

Much further North, Barry O’Neill and Johnny Conway (‘fresh’ from his outing the previous weekend in the Wicklow EcoTrail 80k) took on Slieve Foy outside Carlingford where local man Michael Dowling took the victory.

In a field of 44 Johnny claimed the always covetted ‘top-10’ with 6th place overall and Barry O’Neill took 15th.

FULL RESULTS

  1. Michael Dowling 46:43

———GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———-

6. John Conway 52:22

15. Barry O’Neill 54:26

full results

glendalough ac at ecotrail wicklow

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Trail running, Ultra running

Our club had a big presence at EcoTrail Wicklow: co-organiser was club coach René Borg and several members helped out in key roles including Angus Tyner, Barry O’Neill, Colm Kenna, Duncan Barrett, Emma Hand, Paul Duffy, Bruce Phillips and Blaise Kinsella with Richard Kieran both marking a part of the course Friday and racing the 30 km Saturday!

We had two competitors in the 80 km – Graeme Warren and Johnny Conway. Graeme was first home in a fine sub-10 and Johnny came through well after a long injury in 40th. The day had a fast race with Gavin Byrne taking 6 minutes off the record and the first four women all shattering the existing ladies record.

John Conway emerges from the Roundwood reservoir trails in the 80k

ECOTRAIL WICKLOW 80K

  1. Gavin Byrne 7:53:41 (CR)

———GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————

30. Graeme Warren 9:56:17

40. John Conway 10:21:41

full results

ECOTRAIL WICKLOW 46K

May be an image of 1 person, standing and nature
Anthony Breen in the 46k

In the 46 km Keith Mulvey bounced back from his disappointment of DNFing the 80k last year and completed the shorter distance in 7:32. First home was Anthony Breen in 5:20 improving on his own time in that race from 2019.

ECOTRAIL WICKLOW 30K

  1. Ruairi Long 2:29:31

———GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————

19. Richard Costelloe. Graeme Warren 3:10:37

77. John Conway 3:38:55

full results

LAKES, BOGS AND MORE…

by glendaloughac, posted in Race reports, Road running, Trail running

Another busy period comes to an end with our runners competing in such diverse events as Stone Cross to Lug, the Roundwood Reservoir 10k and the Lakes 10 km last weekend.

LAKES 10 KM

It was a fruitful day at the Lakes 10 km in Blessington. Donna Quinn bagged a new personal best while Aoife Joyce got a master’s PB in the over-40 category which was also the second fastest time run by one of our ladies while members of the club.

Richard Costelloe was our first man home with 39:38 and while it was not a PB, it was still his second fastest time run with Glendalough AC.

Our ladies packed particularly well finishing 4th, 5th and 6th as well as taking 2nd and 3rd in the F40 category and 3rd in the FS category. Claire ran her fastest time since 2017.

It was also a good day for Colm Kenna who ran his fastest 10 km since 2016 and an over-40 PB.

Donna Quinn setting her new PB
  1. Sergiu Ciobanu, Clonliffe Harriers 30:49

————-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———-

28. Richard Costelloe 39:38

42. Donna Quinn 41:36 (PB, 2nd F40)

50. Claire O’Callaghan 43:23 (3rd FS)

56. Aoife Joyce 44:16 (Master’s PB, 3rd F40)

70. Colm Kenna 45:36 (Master’s PB)

FULL RESULTS

The Glendalough AC team post Lakes 10k (Donna, Richard, Aoife, Colm and Claire)

ROUNDWOOD 10K

On Sunday Paul Duffy changed his planned run-out in the Lakes to instead do the local Roundwood 10k on the trails around the reservoir and for the first time banked a ’10k time’ along with a fine 12th place finish out of 166.

  1. Robin Mooney, Parnell AC 36:01

————-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———-

12. Paul Duffy 41:53 (PB)

STONE CROSS TO LUG

Barry O’Neill in Stone Cross to Lug

Far from the glitz and glamour of the roads and trails, Barry O’Neill carved out the run of the weekend in some of the most desolate and boggy stretches of the West Wicklow mountains as he took on the 54 km from Stone Cross to Fenton’s Pub beneath Lugnacoille – a sojourn featuring 2170m climbing and some of the hardest underfoot you are likely to meet in these parts.

Only 16 hardy souls even dared attempt it and Barry secured a sub-9 hour finish and 12th spot overall before doubling up with a bottle of MacArdles from the boot and a pint chaser in Fenton’s.

RESULTS

  1. John Bell 6:53:19

————-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———-

12. Barry O’Neill 8:59:34

FULL RESULTS

CLUB OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

This week concluded with 8 of our runners competing in the 9th round of the Club Open Championships – this time a 4 km cross-country race in Avondale. Here Barry O’Neill showed no tiredness as he cruised home first. Angus Tyner continues to lead the overall series ahead of the last three rounds.

Barry leads Donna up the hill in Avondale