Author: glendaloughac

WEEK SUM-UP: Brockagh, South Dublin and Never Give Up 10ks

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

Lots of action last week for our runners.

BROCKAGH

First in action this week was Colm Kenna  – doing his warm-up for the Frank Duffy 10 km 4 days later on the slopes of Brockagh. Newcastle AC’s Luke McMullan’s win meant Northern honours prevailed on the race. Colm came home in 72:13 for 103rd place in a mid-size field of 162.

  1. Luke McMullan 48:03

————GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

103. Colm Kenna 72:13

https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/1730/

AYLING ABYSS

A ‘hang-over’ from last weeks result must also be mentioned as Torben Dahl took on the technical route up and down Djouce – dubbed the ‘Ayling’ Abyss after inventor Alan Ayling. Perhaps still feeling the Tucker Trail 80k in his legs Torben swooped across the finish line in 27th – a bit down on his usual placings in the league. The next day he could celebrate his 41st birthday – congratulations from everyone in Glendalough AC!

RESULTS

  1. Barry Cronin 52:40

————GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

27. Torben Dahl 63:55

South Dublin 10k

Yesterday’s big Saturday fixture is the South Dublin 10k – part of the Dublin race series – where Richard Costelloe, Colm and William Belton were in action. Richard had a particularly good run setting a new PB of 41:50.

RESULTS

  1. Paul Pollock, Annadelle Striders 29:28

————GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

259. Richard Costelloe 41:50 (PB)

696. Colm Kenna 47:46

840. William Belton 49:24

With three club runners in action, this race becomes an automatic counter in the club championship. Richard’s win here means he now leads the championship as although Torben Dahl and Barry O’Neill can still overtake him if they ‘win’ their ‘run in hand’.

NeverGiveUp 10k

Aoife Joyce capped off the weekend action in Inch at the NeverGiveUp 10k, her first race on the distance for nearly 6 years. Her time of 46:06 sufficed in securing third lady’s spot and 2nd F40.

  1. Brian Kirwan, St. Laurence O’Toole 36:28

————GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

28. Aoife Joyce 46:06 (2nd F40, 3rd Female)

Never Give Up 5k/10k
Never Give Up 5k/10k
Never Give Up 5k/10k
Never Give Up 5k/10k

REPORTS: From Tucker Trail to Tibradden

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports

Torben Dahl has well and truly shrugged off the knee injury dogging him in the weeks leading into the Wicklow Road Championship. After completing the Glendalough Tucker Trail in 6th place over the weekend, he opted for a race on Tibradden Wednesday as his recovery run and still had enough in the tank to finish 16th.

RESULTS

  1. Luke McMullan, Newcastle AC 45:26

——————-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————————

16. Torben Dahl 51:06

Full results: https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/1800/

REPORT; Wicklow Road Championship 2019

by glendaloughac, posted in Race reports, Road running
Image may contain: 7 people, people smiling, people standing, sky, shorts, outdoor and nature

While our seven representatives at the Wicklow Road Championship this year was our smallest contingent yet, they still brought home two individual and two team medals.

Rachel Wisdom and Donna Quinn took 1st and 2nd in the ladies O35 category and combined with Aoife Joyce, back for her first race in 4 years, to take the team gold in the women’s masters o35-49 category.

Due to injury and late drop-offs we only fielded one men’s team: a masters team and not a senior team as well as in previous years. Here Torben Dahl was first home in 17:52 followed by Barry O’Neill and Richard Costelloe who arrived close together and Colm Kenna as the fourth man to count.

Also a big thank you to the organisers and to our own volunteers who stepped up: Yvonne Brennan and Angus Tyner.

RESULTS

  1. Brian Geraghty 15:53 , Greystones and District

———————–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS—————

21. Torben Dahl 17:52 (team Bronze 35-49)

41. Barry O’Neill 18:50 (team Bronze 35-49)

42. Richard Costelloe 18:54 (team Bronze 35-49)

50. Rachel Wisdom 20:17 (Individual Gold 35-49, Team Gold 35-49)

65. Donna Quinn 21:03 (Individual Silver 35-49, Team Gold 35-49)

80. Aoife Joyce 22:15 (Team Gold 35-49)

81. Colm Kenna 22:16 (team Bronze 35-49)

REPORT: Scarr

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports

Barry O’Neill and Colm Kenna took to the wet windswept flanks of Scarr yesterday for the latest instalment of the IMRA Leinster League. Barry O’Neill swept home in 22nd place – his best finish in the IMRA Leinster League confirming his improved hill form this year.

Colm Kenna was also in action once again and finished 114th.

RESULTS

1. Barry Cronin 38:54

———-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————

22. Barry O’Neill 45:49

114. Colm Kenna 58:09

Full results

REPORT: Lawless conquers the Wicklow Way

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

Only one runner in action this week but he upped the weekly mileage run by club runners by completing the 127 km Wicklow Way Race in 29th position. Of the 80 so runners who took the start line, 53 completed.

It was a notable day on the Wicklow Way with both the ladies and the men’s records being lowered to 16:06 and 12:11 respectively by Aoife Mundow and UK international Robbie Britton.

RESULTS

  1. Robbie Britton 12:11

———–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS——–

29. Dave Lawless 18:17

http://live.primaltracking.com/wicklowwayrace19/

REPORT: Belated half-marathon news

by glendaloughac, posted in Half-marathon, Lough Boora, Master's Record, Race reports, Road running, road running, Season Best, Torben Dahl

Torben Dahl ran 79:13 at the scenic and fast Lough Boora half-marathon in Offaly on 7th April. He cleverly kept this hidden perhaps to modestly draw attention away from this being a season’s best time for the club (across all distances) and the 4th best time ever run in the club jersey. Torben holds the current club record of 78:33 but his new mark is an over-40ies record for us (his PB is 77:30 set in 2011).

RESULTS

  1. Colin Maher, Ballyfin AC, 70:33

————–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———–

5. Torben Dahl 79:13

RESULTS

INTERVIEW: Sean Hehir on Glen to Glen

by glendaloughac, posted in Club races / events, Lap of the Gap / Glen to Glen

Sean Hehir – Irish international and fresh off his 2:17 marathon in London – took the time to answer three questions for us after participating, and breaking the record of, our half-marathon fund-raiser ‘Glen to Glen’ (run in conjunction with the Lap of the Gap Marathon). Congratulations to Sean on the new mark of 72:21 – the quest for sub-70 has begun!

Sean Hehir on the descent from Glenmacnass Waterfall

How did you hear about the Lap of the Gap Marathon and Glen to Glen Half and what attracted you to doing the event?

I love to race regularly. The weeks immediately after the target marathon in the spring and autumn provide a great opportunity for competing in races I haven’t done before in new and different places, enabling maintaining fitness and conditioning before recommencing full training. In the last 2 weeks I entered the IMRA Leinster League Bray Head run and the Wicklow Way Relay with my Rathfarnham WSAF AC teammates. I saw the Glen to Glen Half and The Lap of the Gap Marathon listed on the Athletics Ireland accredited fixture list and on the MyRunResults website. When I saw the race profile featuring the climb from The Upper Lake in Glendalough up to Glenmacnass waterfall and back I decided to give the half marathon a go. I’m very glad I signed up and would love to come back to try better my time or try my hand at The Lap of the Gap Marathon. The marathon race winner’s stone trophy is beautiful and I would love to try earn one in the future.

Your personal best for the half-marathon is 65:12 and your new record is 72:21 – do you feel the course is about 6-7 minutes slower than a regular city half-marathon or would sub-70 be achievable for yourself or a runner of similar ability in the right circumstances?

A sub 70min clocking is definitely achievable in The Glen to Glen Half. Conditions

during the early mile in Glendalough

this year were ideal (light wind and mild) which definitely helped. The first 5km are fast and flat, with a fast pace still achievable on the gradual slopes from 5km-10km. Mile splits take a hit from 10km to the turnaround point at Glenmacnass waterfall and it’s very difficult to get lost time back on the steep descents. However coming down the hill at speed in the second half of the race is a fantastic feeling and your momentum definitely carries you over the line in the closing miles. The road surface on the route is excellent and there is great support from race officials at the water stations. It would be great to see the 70 minute barrier broken in the not-so-distant future.

Which part of the course did you enjoy most and what part did you feel played best to your personal strengths?

My favourite part of the route was the last uphill mile climbing towards the turnaround point at Glenmacnass waterfall. The scenery is stunning and although your legs are screaming as the climb hits 20% in places, it is a strangely enjoyable experience. The opening miles in Glendalough are also beautiful (and flat).

REPORT: Wicklow Way Relay 2019

by glendaloughac, posted in Race reports, Trail running

Our team took up the team challenge of the Wicklow Way Relay for the fifth year running and it was another buzzing day.

Full results

Half the battle is getting to the start line!

The team very nearly didn’t make the starting line. First Torben Dahl called in with a poor IT band Tuesday evening (he had a miracle recovery), Angus Tyner did in his ankle on Wednesday night (he didn’t recover) and finally Amidou Dembele’s car broke down in Sligo on the way down from Donegal Friday evening. One rental car later Amidou was at least on his way to Dublin but injury and other commitments in the men’s team meant genuine concerns existed around whether Angus could be replaced.

That was until Richard Costelloe dusted himself off early in his Ballyhoura recovery and took over in the eleventh hour (thanks Rich!) and making his debut in the event. Derek Cullen and Anthony Breen also had their debuts on the ‘official team’ having previously only competed in the event along with the ‘Laragh Locals’. He ran strong despite sheepishly admitting his house-renovation project had left him short of training since qualifying!

The times they are a-changin’!

The final team thus bore only 4 repeat runners from 2018: Rachel Wisdom, Torben Dahl, Amidou Dembele and Yvonne Brennan with Marcus Murphy, Angus Tyner, and Blaise Kinsella (injured) and Johnny Conway (moved to London!) making way. By accident rather than design, the four returning runners ran the first four legs!

Barry O’Neill bore the captain’s mantle and sat down with club coach Rene Borg to bang out a time schedule based on people’s predictions. It was pretty good as it proved – the team predicted an 8 hour 31 minute finish and crossed the line in 8:29 – 45 seconds faster than the 2018 team.

Predicted versus real times

Looking at the team line up, we knew ahead of team that getting into the top-10 would be hard enough with many closely matched teams behind the run-away top-2 (TT Racers and Rathfarnham – TT Racers going on to do an unprecedented ‘4 in a row’).

Flying as high as 4th early on, the team eventually settled in 8th place (2 spots up from 2018) meaning a fifth top-10 finish in five years. No one got lost, no one was late and no one had any notable trouble along the route so that is about as uneventful as a Wicklow Way Relay can get. Even our tracker didn’t give out.

Placings by leg:

  • Leg 1: 9th Amidou
  • Leg 2: 5th Torben Dahl
  • Leg 3: 10th Yvonne Brennan
  • Leg 4: 15th Rachel Wisdom
  • Leg 5: 12th Richard Costelloe
  • Leg 6: 16th Derek Cullen
  • Leg 7: 11th Anthony Breen
  • Leg 8: 6th Barry O’Neill

Some history

Amidou Dembele ran Leg 1 for the eighth time – the joint-most attempts on leg 1 in the competitions history along with Nadya Dunne and Derek Charles. He has a bit to go to break the record for ‘most attempts at a leg’ which belongs to Tommy Galvin who has run leg 2 twelve times (!).

We keep track of every club runners history in the relay and it can be seen below with the 2019 times. Times before 2015 were run by these runner for their previous clubs/teams.

Barry O’Neill’s leg 8 time is the fastest time set by a male runner in our club and the third fastest overall and Torben Dahl’s 74:02 on leg 2 is a new club record. Rachel Wisdom’s leg 4 time was the fastest female time on the new (since 2018) extended leg 4 course.