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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Eight days of intense hill running began at mighty Lugnacoille on the traditional 10 km up/down route where Paul Duffy showed his trademark descending to lead our men home in 29th overall with Aran nearly 6 minutes behind in 38th (allegedly wearing shoes described as ‘slippers’ – a poor choice on a wet day at Lug).
Aran feeling the weather on Lugnacoille (photo: IMRA)
NAV CHALLENGE 1
Barry O’Neill then joined a small hardy bunch of navigators for the first IMRA Nav Challenge of the season. He forgot to read the small print and ended up returning home after finding all 7 controls. Sadly, only 5 were required and Barry had to settle for 10th spot out of 13.
Catherine Devitt competed in the short course and finished 6th out of 18 and first in the F40 category.
Barry O’Neill plotting his route (Photo: Mick Hanney)
WICKLOW HALF MARATHON
The Wicklow Way Half trail race replaced the traditional Maurice Mullins 25k and here Aran turned the tables on the rest of his club mates with a strong run over this distance – our first four men home all finished within 5 minutes of each other. Barry O’Neill was taking it easy after his Nav Challenge adventure the day before and came home in 104th spot. A great team performance that bodes well for the cross-country season.
Five races to report on since our last update. Yesterday at Paddock Hill Aran Lynham nearly snuck into the top-10, sitting in fourth position after the climb but losing ground midway through. With an 11th placed finish, his first top-10 is not far away. Paul Duffy was only 45 seconds behind in 16th with Eoin Kennedy in 38th (his second race in 4 days!).
Colm Kenna bagged his first top-50 finish since Brockagh Burst 2015 with a strong run despite gashing his knee. 109 runners took the start line.
This was the first time two of our runners got into the top-20 since Brockagh earlier in the season.
MOUNTAIN RESCUE BENEFIT RACE 1. Patrick Ward 36:22
Earlier Barry O’Neill had been a busy bee with run-outs at Annagh Hill where he used his natural aptitude for descending for a 20th place out of 53 starters with Eoin Kennedy in hot pursuit (23rd).
Seven days earlier Barry finished 9th out of 39 at John’s Hill, Kilbrannish. Annagh Hill was won by Paddy O’Leary – home from the US.
Finally Paul Duffy got himself his best finish of the season with 16th out of 97 runners at Howth Summer (he’d better this with his 16th out of 109 the coming week at Paddock Hill).
Paul Duffy gives Paddock the thumbs up (Photo: Richard Costelloe)
This brings us to the Devil’s Glen – a popular route for our runners used in our Winter and Summer Leagues as well. Here 125 runners toed the start line and while Aran Lynham led the men home again (in 20th spot) while Colm Kenna recorded his first DNF.
Aran secured the covetted ‘sub-40’ time for the course – a feat he now shares with 8 other club members. The men’s club record on the course (34:58 by Barry Murray) will take some beating.
Eoin Kennedy kicked off his hill running season with a 54th place at the Mountain Meitheal fundraiser race while most of our recent regulars where taking a day off perhaps because of the nearly 12 km of running around Fairy Castle in the Dublin Mountains.
MOUNTAIN MEITHEAL HILL RACE
Paul Stephenson, Rathfarnham WSAF 51:40
————-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———
54. Eoin Kennedy 1:07:46
The weekend before in Ballyhoura Emma Hand posted a great performance with 7 hours 19 minutes for the Ultra Tour Ballyhoura and a podium spot in the women’s race. The 60 km race with 1850m elevation served as a ‘warmup effort’ ahead of Emma’s debut in the Kerry Way Ultra in September.
ULTRA TOUR BALLYHOURA
John McKeogh 5:18:03
———GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————
19. Emma Hand 7:19:34
Also a big congratulations from everyone in Glendalough AC to Laragh GAA man Andrew Kenny who completed the full Wicklow Way over the weekend in aid of the Gavin Glynn Foundation.
Our runners continued their busy participation in this summer’s IMRA campaign which moved on from the difficult slopes and trails of Djouce to the more tamed surroundings of Glen of the Downs by the N11.
Aran Lynham led our men home for the second race in a row and commented afterwards ‘God, that was a blow-out’ probably referring to the rather steep fire-road start but otherwise relentlessly fast course offering no excuses to slow down or power walk up the climbs.
Like at Djouce Aran could nearly feel Paul Duffy’s breath on his neck – this time there was only 9 seconds and 1 runner between them.
Three races in 7 days for several of our runners and the days that were in it could not have been more different.
Sunday saw extreme mist in the unmarked ‘Circuit of Glenmacnass’ classic making for difficult navigation and wet underfoot. Aran Lynham – running with fellow Laragh man Andrew Kenny – emerged on the Military Road well of the course – and had to do the ‘run of shame’ down the road back to the village.
This left Richard Costelloe to lead our men home in 28th spot followed by Barry O’Neill and Graeme Warren in 41st and 42nd spot (former Glendalough AC chairman Niall Corrigan stalked them in 43rd!) and Keith Mulvey rounded out ‘the team’ in 59th in his first hill run this year.
The Wednesday featured the ‘Ayling Abyss’ and with it one of the trickiest descents of the Leinster League. Paul Duffy reported after coming down through the trees ‘it’s the most stretched I’ve felt in terms of my mental limits’.
This time Aran ‘finished the job’ as our first finisher in 37th with Paul only 2 spots down with Graeme Warren and Barry O’Neill in 82nd and 98th spot.
The last competition of the week was the final hill race of our 2021 Club Open Championship – the Up/Down individual race on the Brockagh West 10 km course.
Temperatures reached 26 degrees by the middle of the race and some of our members were clever enough to take the ‘early start option’ and set off at 7:30 instead of the ‘main start’ at 9 am.
Richard Costelloe just about nipped Paul Duffy and Aran Lynham to the top but Paul let loose on the descent and claimed his second victory in the series and ‘equalising to 1-1’ in this week’s rivalry with Aran.
Paul overtakes Angus, who couldn’t race due to a back injury, at the top of the table with 5 months and 5 events to go.
Coach Rene on the descent of Brockagh West (photo Richard Costelloe)
Very busy Wednesday behind us. At 7 pm Barry O’Neill took on the grueling ‘Crone Caper’ mountain race finishing 74th out of 157 runners.
Barry summiting Maulin
Meanwhile 11 of our members represented the club in the Wicklow Road Championship for the fifth year running and it was a productive evening. Our men were led home by Richard Costelloe like in 2020 and packed well with Graeme, Paul, Rene and Angus following within 20 seconds of each other. Richard just finished outside the medals in the F45 category.
Our club has gained some great new members over the last year and it was good to see several making their ‘team debut’: Graeme Warren, Paul Duffy and Eoin Kennedy get the mention here.
Claire O’Callaghan had a terrific race in her ‘post-baby comeback’ getting Bronze in the Female Senior category with Donna and Aoife getting the silver and the bronze in the F40 category. Team results will be up later but it looks likely the ladies took the Team Silver in the FS category and thus bring the medal tally to 4 for the evening. (edit: the men’s Senior team finished 3rd bringing the tally to 5).
Claire on her way to 3rd place in the FS category
The Wicklow Road Championship doubled as the 6th round of our Glendalough Open Club Championship and here we allowed two ‘distance entrants’ with Richard Kieran and Aran Lynham running solo time trials earlier in the day as they could not make the evening’s event. Richard took his second win on the trot after this victory in the Glen 2 Glen Half-marathon. Angus Tyner and Donna Quinn hold on to their leads with 6 races to go: the Up/Down hill race, the trail race, the cross-country PaarLauf, the cross-country individual race, the Track time trial and the Hybrid Relay.
new member Eoin Kennedy in his first ‘official’ outing for the club
A busy 11 days of racing featuring first Torben and Emma at Prince William’s Seat, then most of our runners in action in the Virtual Glen to Glen Half-marathon last weekend before two more hill runs – Scarr mid week and Sorrell Hill this Sunday (yesterday).
We haven’t had too many races to report on since March 2020. Last year our runners competed only 34 times whereas normally we have hundreds of results on the board.
So we are glad to report some members got a good run-out in the EcoTrail Wicklow International Challenge.
