Author: glendaloughac

REPORT: No April fools! Just lots of races and records!

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

A very busy month behind us with a score of trail races including an overall win for one of our women and no less than three new club records on the roads!

Road Races

A good spread of road racing over the last while, mostly centred around half marathons and shorter races, with a few stepping up to the marathon.

What stands out isn’t any one result but how a few of them line up: particularly Catherine Devitt hitting a PB and then backing it up shortly after with a marathon club record and Aaron Cullen decimating the men’s 10k record.

Bohermeen Half Marathon

Bohermeen as usual: quick course, but only if you get it right early. The Tyners, father and son, ran it sensibly together.

RESULT

  1. Hugh Armstrong (Ballina AC) 1:04:23

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
536. Angus Tyner 1:32:06
557. Tivon Tyner 1:32:29
1199. Karen Croal 1:53:54
1406. Aileen Duffy 2:02:41

CPC Half Marathon

A stronger field than most and a good place to test yourself. Catherine secured a PB by about 30 seconds in her final preparations for Rotterdam lowering her own half-marathon club record too. Only five of the club’s male members hold faster PBs on this distance now than Catherine.

RESULT

  1. Felix Masai Kibet (Kenya) 0:59:52

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
755. Catherine Devitt 1:23:15 (PB, Club Record, Club o45 record)

Limassol Half Marathon

Very different conditions to Ireland this spring as Bruce did one of his regular Spring warm weather half-marathons: this time in Limassol.

RESULT

  1. Lamaris Christos () 1:12:43

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
1272. Bruce Phillips 2:21:31

Wicklow Half Marathon

We had a good contingent out in the Wicklow Half and 10k once again and Eoin Phelan got to lead the team home this time around with only Sam Fleming taking on the 10k. Watch Eoin’s video on the race below.

RESULT

  1. John Christian Deighan (Frogner Runners) 1:13:31

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
246. Eoin Phelan 1:40:52
378. Jack Moore 1:45:10
885. Steve Gregan 1:58:34
1325. James Heggie 2:19:50
1359. Morgan O’Halloran 2:16:34

Wicklow 10 km

RESULT

  1. Erik Sebastian Ranberg (Frogner Runners) 0:35:56

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
479. Sam Fleming 0:59:37

Streets of Kilkenny 5k

Gavin led home a trio consisting of himself, Colm and Donna in Streets of Kilkenny with a good flat 19 showing that recent injury issues hasn’t taken too much of him.

RESULT

  1. Sean Tobin (Clonmel AC) 0:13:57

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
210. Gavin Kennedy 0:19:00
328. Donna Quinn 0:20:34
403. Colm Kenna 0:22:09

Tallaght 5k

If there’s a race somewhere Eoin will find it. As of the writing of this report he has 14 races for the year and is closing in rapidly on Colm Kenna as the second most prolific racer for the club (Colm has 151 races, Angus still leads with 213.

RESULT

  1. Colm Rooney (Clonliffe Harriers) 0:15:07

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
248. Eoin Phelan 0:21:19

Inis Oirr 10k

Shane Keogh into the top 15 and a PB to go with it on a bumpy course out on Inis Oirr.

RESULT

  1. Evan O’Rourke () 0:33:10

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
15. Shane Keogh 0:42:11 (PB)

Rome Marathon

Kevin has struggled a bit with injury leading into Rome but managed to get himself through in a solid sub-4 .

RESULT

  1. Rutto Asbel (Kenya) 2:06:32

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
13551. Kevin Ferguson 3:59:34

Rotterdam Marathon

In one of the road results of the year: Catherine backed up her CPC run with a PB but a club record even while falling agonisingly short of the 3 hour barrier in the final stages of the race.

RESULT

  1. Guye Idemo Adola (Ethiopia) 2:03:54

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
1174. Catherine Devitt 3:00:56 (PB, Club Record, O45 Club Record)

DUNBOYNE 10K

Catherine’s records would have been the stand-out performances of this month, and perhaps year, but Aaron Cullen threw the gauntlet down taking a chunk out of the men’s 10 km record, bringing it down from 36:30 to 34:20.

RESULT

  1. Colm Rooney (Clonliffe Harriers) 0:29:34

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
61. Aaron Cullen 0:34:20 (PB, Club Record)

Trail & Mountain Races

Plenty happening off-road and noticeably more at the longer end of things over 10 trail races. Grace Curham got her first win whilst Ross Thompson drew headlines for the Marathon des Sables!

GAELFORCE BRAY 10K

A big field of 585 runners here and one of those races that’s rarely as straightforward as the distance suggests. Kieran Grant getting another solid run on the board.

RESULT

  1. Michael (Cannon) 0:46:29

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
164. Kieran Grant 1:05:32

Glen of Aherlow 50k

James Heggie took on another ultra and completed without issue making it two 50kers in quick succession as he was also in action at Maurice Mullins.

RESULT

  1. Eoin O’Connor () 4:19:20

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
79. James Heggie 8:58:38

Maurice Mullins 51k

Chad Biddle

Big turnout here and one of the tougher days out on the calendar although this year without Maulin and Djouce summits in the mix.

Grace Curham’s 2nd senior finish looked like a breakthrough at the time and it turned out to be just that. Our first finishers, however, where Ian followed by wife Anne twenty places later and Stephen Kennedy in one of his first outings for our club. The Tyners once again paced the race together before Eoin Phelan, Julia Palma, James Heggie and new member Chad Biddle rounded out the field (in his first ultra).

RESULT

RESULT

  1. Luke Weldon () 4:00:23
    ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
  2. Ian Bromley 5:40:52 – WW RC
  3. Anne Bromley 5:57:17 – WW RC
  4. Stephen Kennedy 5:58:14 – WW RC
  5. Grace Curham 6:03:28 (2nd FS) – WW RC
  6. Angus Tyner 6:40:11
  7. Tivon Tyner 6:40:11
  8. Eoin Phelan 7:43:37 – WW RC
  9. Julia Palma 7:49:12 – WW RC
  10. James Heggie 8:35:43 – WW RC
  11. Chad Biddle 8:39:52 – WW RC

Wicklow Way Half

Another favourite with our members and a close battle between Ian and Graham (a regular occurrence of late) with three age category podiums to celebrate.

RESULT

  1. Alan Dunne () 1:40:34

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
24. Ian Bromley 2:04:45
31. Graham Bushe 2:06:30 (1st M55)
49. John Conway 2:15:27
64. Kate Flynn 2:19:57
71. Anne Bromley 2:22:10 (3rd F40)
120. David Gray 2:35:41
140. Andy Walker 2:40:31
160. Niall MacCarthy 2:49:10
164. Eoin Phelan 2:50:28
236. Kara Fleischmann 3:33:26 (1st F50)

Bray Head

Grace went one better than Maurice Mullins and took the overall win in the women’s category in the first summer league race of the season. Loraine Creane notched another of many wins in the F45 category.

RESULT

  1. Barry Minnock (Rathfarnham WSAF) 0:36:41

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
30. Grace Curham 0:44:47 (1st Woman)
32. Richard Allan 0:45:02
52. Loraine Creane 0:49:28 (1st F45)
61. Alan Kennedy 0:50:28
94. John Campbell 0:55:08
112. Richard Kieran 0:58:50
140. James Heggie 1:05:17

Powerscourt Uphill

Not too much interest from our club in the uphill race on Djouce but Joe Lalor wasn’t shy and got 1st M70 in return for his trouble.

RESULT

  1. Zak Hanna (Newcastle AC) 0:33:23

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
26. Joe Lalor 1:08:00 (1st M70)

Forth Mountain

Another solid run from Andy Walker in what’s been a consistent block.

RESULT

  1. Emmet McNamara () 1:07:40

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
42. Andy Walker 1:32:36

Powerscourt Spring

Powerscourt Ridge made it’s first spring appearance and the duel of the day here was between Wicklow Way Relay team mates Huw and Ian who finished 9 minutes between them. Behind them Loraine nipped just under a minute ahead of Anne Bromley.

RESULT

  1. Peter McDaid (Newcastle AC) 1:09:23

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
23. Huw Thomas 1:28:36
24. Ian Bromley 1:28:45 (2nd M45)
53. Loraine Creane 1:43:50
56. Anne Bromley 1:44:43
107. Brendan Lawlor 2:09:23
111. Richard Kieran 2:12:30

Night Challenge Series

Night Challenge 1: Crone Wood

RESULT

  1. Liam Blackburn () 0:40:00

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
69. Eoin Phelan 0:59:45
71. Loraine Creane 0:59:47
80. Brendan Lawlor 1:01:42

Night Challenge 2: Cruagh Woods

A sharper outing here from Graham Bushe, finishing well up the field.

RESULT

  1. Donatas Jocius (Crusaders AC) 0:39:52

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
6. Graham Bushe 0:43:16
58. Eoin Phelan 0:58:33
69. Keith Mulvey 1:02:39
81. Brendan Lawlor 1:04:56

ENDURANCE LIFE GIANT’S CAUSEWAY 32K

One of the most scenic coastal routes on the island saw Wayne Earls getting through this one in solid fashion about midway through the field. The Causeway trail run was about 32.5 k with over 1000m climb.

RESULT

  1. Jack Duncan () 2:38:44

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
188. Wayne Earls – WW RC 4:10:38

MARATHON DES SABLES

And last but certainly not least, Ross Thompson took on the Marathon des Sables: a 250 km multi-day, self-sufficient stage race and about as far removed from a Sunday morning 10k as you can get. Finishing 891 out of over 1500 competitors in 59 hours – very impressive!

Read more about it here!

Getting Over That Sahara Marathon Hump

RESULT

  1. Mohamed El Morabity () 20:47:39

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
891. Ross Thompson 59:59:12

REPORT: Late February / Early March – racing bonanza! 4 mile records!

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

It has been another busy few weeks for Glendalough AC runners with members competing across road, trail and hill races both locally and internationally. Highlights included a trip to the Tokyo Marathon, podium finishes in Wicklow and several personal bests and club records at the Moneystown 4 Mile.

With the club championship now underway and the hill running season gathering pace, it has been an encouraging start to the racing year for the club.

Also a correction: in the last report we missed that Alan Kennedy had also competed in the Carrick Winter race finishing 3rd M55 – well done Alan!

ROAD RACES

Tokyo Marathon

Three Glendalough AC runners travelled to Japan to take part in the Tokyo Marathon, one of the prestigious World Marathon Majors.

Mark Lindsay led the club home in 3:27:21, with Graham Kearns and David Murphy also finishing strongly in the huge international field.

The race itself was won by Ethiopia’s Tadesse Takele in 2:03:37.

RESULT
1. Tadesse Takele (Ethiopia) 2:03:37
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
4651. Mark Lindsay 3:27:21 - WW RC
8334. Graham Kearns 3:37:54 - WW RC
9499. David Murphy 3:48:50 - WW RC

Wicklow Hospice 10km & Half Marathon

Graeme Warren led the Glendalough AC performances at the Wicklow Hospice Half Marathon, finishing 7th overall and 2nd in the M50 category.

John Conway and Ben Lewis also ran well in the competitive field while Jacques Becker represented the club in the 10km race.

The event continues to be one of the most popular charity races in the Wicklow road running calendar.

Half Marathon

RESULT
1. Robert Guerin () 1:17:17
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
7. Graeme Warren 1:23:33 (2nd M50)
59. John Conway 1:37:39
68. Ben Lewis 1:38:54 - WW RC

10km

RESULT
1. Derek Lawlor (Crusaders AC) 0:35:36
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
94. Jacques Becker 0:53:20 - WW RC

Gorey Night Run 5K

Donna Quinn and Colm Kenna represented the club at the Gorey Night Run 5K, another popular event on the road racing calendar.

Donna led the club home in 20:03, placing comfortably inside the top 100 in a competitive field.

The race was won by Brendan Dunne of Sliabh Bhuide Rovers AC.

RESULT
1. Brendan Dunne (Sliabh Bhuide Rovers AC) 0:15:52
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
63. Donna Quinn 0:20:03
123. Colm Kenna 0:21:34

Shannon AC 5 Mile

Jimmy Cullen continued his solid early-season racing form with a strong performance at the Shannon AC 5 Mile.

He finished 28th overall in 34:14 in another competitive road race field.

The race was won by Barry Meade.

RESULT
1. Barry Meade () 0:28:41
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
28. Jimmy Cullen 0:34:14

Moneystown 4 Mile – Club Championship

Aaron Cullen delivered the standout performance of the day, finishing 6th overall in a new club record and personal best of 21:45.

There were further excellent age-category results with Graham Bushe winning the M55 category and Loraine Creane finishing 2nd F45, both setting new category club records.

The race also served as the second round of the club championship, with Graham Bushe and Loraine Creane now leading the standings.

RESULT
1. Colm Turner (Brother's Pearse AC) 0:20:04
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
6. Aaron Cullen 0:21:45 - WW RC (Club Record, PB)
26. Graham Bushe 0:25:05 (1st M55, PB, M55 Club Record)
33. Loraine Creane 0:26:12 (2nd F45, PB, F45 club record)
35. Donna Quinn 0:26:34 (3rd F45)
38. Jimmy Cullen 0:26:55 (2nd M55, PB)
43. Ben Lewis 0:27:34 (3rd M45, PB) - WW RC
47. Colm Kenna 0:28:13 (PB)
60. Aoife Joyce 0:29:00
74. Rebecca Whineray 0:30:13 - WW RC
77. James Grant 0:30:38 (PB) - WW RC
81. Fiona Smyth 0:31:07 (PB)
100. Monica Timmins 0:32:43 (PB)
117. Cari Burke 0:34:45 (PB)

Avondale ParkRun

Jacques Becker followed up his Wicklow Hospice run with another outing at Avondale ParkRun, recording a personal best of 24:39.

It was another solid weekend of racing for the club runner.

The event was won by Elliot Gethings.

RESULT
1. Elliot Gethings () 0:19:42
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
13. Jacques Becker 0:24:39 (PB PB) - WW RC

Bohermeen Half Marathon

Four Glendalough AC runners lined up at the Bohermeen Half Marathon, one of the fastest and most competitive half marathons on the Irish road racing calendar.

Angus Tyner led the club home with a strong run of 1:32:06, closely followed by Tivon Tyner just seconds behind.

Karen Croal and Aileen Duffy also completed the race for the club in what was another well-supported outing for Glendalough runners.

RESULT
1. Hugh Armstrong (Ballina AC) 1:04:23
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
536. Angus Tyner 1:32:06
557. Tivon Tyner 1:32:29
1199. Karen Croal 1:53:54
1406. Aileen Duffy 2:02:41

TRAIL AND HILL RACES

Brockagh Burst

Ian Bromley secured Glendalough AC’s best ever finish at the Brockagh Burst, placing 3rd overall and winning the M45 category on the new longer course.

The race also produced five age-category podium finishes for the club including wins for Graham Bushe (M55) and strong performances from Huw Thomas, Loraine Creane and Anne Bromley.

Nine Glendalough runners completed the long course while club coach René Borg also ran the short course alongside his son Cillian.

Long Course

RESULT – LONG
1. Mark Carmody (An Bru AC) 0:34:52
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
3. Ian Bromley 0:35:11 (1st M45) - WW RC
8. Graham Bushe 0:35:42 (1st M55)
17. Huw Thomas 0:37:07 (3rd M35) - WW RC
36. Loraine Creane 0:39:55 (2nd F45)
37. Alan Kennedy 0:39:58 - WW RC
42. Anne Bromley 0:40:56 (3rd F40) - WW RC
111. Brendan Lawlor 0:51:24
124. Kara Fleischmann 0:54:41
144. James Heggie 1:01:31 - WW RC

Short Course

RESULT – SHORT COURSE
1. David Ayton (Parnell AC) 0:27:24
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
16. René Borg 0:42:05 (2nd M45)

Annaloughan Trail Race

Wayne Earls represented the club at the new Annaloughan Trail Race in Louth, finishing strongly in the challenging trail event.

It was the club’s sole representation at the race.

The event was won by Damien McCaffrey.

RESULT
1. Damien McCaffrey () 0:42:06
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
57. Wayne Earls 0:56:29 - WW RC

Askanagap Hill Race

While many club members raced at Moneystown, another group travelled to Askanagap Hill Race in south-west Wicklow.

The club secured several podium finishes including Ian Bromley winning the M45 category and Becky Quinn winning the F50 category.

Further strong performances came from Huw Thomas, Anne Bromley and Alan Kennedy.

RESULT
1. Titouan Savignoni () 0:45:00
----------------------------------
GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS
----------------------------------
8. Ian Bromley 0:54:18 (1st M45) - WW RC
15. Huw Thomas 0:56:45 (3rd M35) - WW RC
20. Becky Quinn 0:58:34 (1st F50) - WW RC
30. Anne Bromley 1:02:13 (2nd F40) - WW RC
32. Alan Kennedy 1:04:17 (2nd M55) - WW RC
38. Eoin Kennedy 1:06:33
58. Andy Walker 1:13:47 - WW RC
66. Eoin Phelan 1:17:59 - WW RC

REPORT: Early February roads and hills…

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

Glendalough AC members were out in force across multiple distances and locations this past weekend, from Sligo to Texas. Highlights included debut 50k performances from Angus and Tivon Tyner at the National Championships in Donadea, with Angus setting new club records in both the overall and M55 categories. PBs were achieved by Louis Byrne and Christina Byrne at Rathcoffey, while Claire Thompson marked her return to 10k racing after a two-year absence with a strong run in Enniscorthy. The weekend’s racing ranged from the technical challenge of the IMRA Winter League at Carrick to the marathon distance in Austin, Texas, showcasing the club’s diverse racing ambitions.

LOUGH TALT

We start in Sligo where Eoin Phelan had travelled across to bank his fourth race of the season and finished 35th in a field of 64.

RESULT
1. Ricki Wynne () 0:35:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
35. Eoin Phelan 0:47:59 – WW RC

RATHCOFFEY 5K AND 10K

The same day, Louis Byrne took around 9 seconds off his 10K PB from last year while mother Christina set a new PB in the 5 km distance. Nearly 800 runners competed across the two distances.

RESULT – 5K
1. Kevin Kelly (St. Cocas’ AC) 0:15:34
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
202. Christina Byrne 0:30:23 (PB)
RESULT – 10K
1. Brian Conroy (Clane AC) 0:31:39
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
34. Louis Byrne 0:38:22 (PB)

ENNISCORTHY 10K

Staying with 10ks it was great to see Claire out racing doing only her second 10 km race since 2021 and first in 2 years, knocking 4 minutes off her time from the Wicklow Gaol-Break 10k in 2024. Eoin Phelan was our first runner home despite having run at Carrick Winter the day before (more on that next).

RESULT
1. Evan Fitzgerald (West Waterford AC) 0:31:14
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
61. Eoin Phelan 0:43:31 – WW RC
75. Claire Thompson 0:45:12

CARRICK WINTER

The tough course at Carrick staged the second IMRA Winter League race of the season and we had only three participants with Ian Bromley first again and the near ever-present Graham Bush and Eoin Phelan next.

RESULT
1. Jude Wejchert () 0:48:21
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
17. Ian Bromley 0:56:36 – WW RC
22. Graham Bushe 0:57:21
65. David Gray 1:08:02 – WW RC

DONADEA 50K

At the National 50k championship in Donadea Forest, Angus and Tivon Tyner both made their debuts on the 50 km distance. Angus was first home in 4:10:11 (a new club overall and m55 record) with Tivon joining him at the finish just under 37 minutes later (in a new club Male Senior record for 50k)

RESULT
1. Henry Hart (Belgrave Harriers AC) 2:58:48
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
68. Angus Tyner 4:10:11 (PB)
219. Tivon Tyner 4:46:58 (PB)

AUSTIN MARATHON

We finish in Texas where under clear blue skies Ross Thompson in the middle of a big field of over 7000 runners with his son Dylan a bit ahead of him on the day.

Ross and son in Austin
RESULT
1. Joseph Whelan () 2:13:18
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
3338. Ross Thompson 4:25:11 – WW RC

REPORT: Top Performances in January Running Events

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

This race report covers the racing between 16th January and 2nd February and we start on the roads where we had runners competing in the Clonakilty and Raheny 5 milers the weekend of the 25th and at Naas ParkRun and the Dundalk Half-marathon on the last weekend of January.

We finished January with 28 race results – 8 down on 2025’s tally.

CLONAKILTY 5 MILE

While most eyes are on Raheny the penultimate weekend of January there was another 5 mile in Clonakilty with several thousand runners and Fiona Smyth had a solid run of 41:35 there.

RESULT
1. Gavin Sweeney () 0:25:41
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
307. Fiona Smyth 0:41:35

RAHENY 5 MILE

Aaron Cullen – not so quietly rewriting the club record books

Wicklow man Jonas Stafford won a hyper-competitive field of over 4000 runners in Raheny. Not to be totally outshone Aaron Cullen lowered Louis Byrne’s recent 5 mile club record by nearly 4 minutes and also erased the long-standing ‘all-time best’ of club coach Rene Borg (29:27) from 2012 from the books.

Mark Lindsay set his first club record for our club, lowering Rene’s 2017 M35 record by nearly two minutes.

RESULT
1. Jonas Stafford (UCD AC) 0:23:08
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
84. Aaron Cullen 0:27:34 (PB, Club Record MS / Overall) – WW RC
469. Mark Lindsay 0:31:36 – WW RC
513. Kevin Doherty 0:32:16
816. Graham Kearns 0:34:55 – WW RC

NAAS PARKRUN

Donna, Colm and Aoife travelled on a sociable trip to the flat and fast Naas ParkRun where they all got a solid training run in.

RESULT
1. Sean McAullife () 0:17:37
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
18. Donna Quinn 0:20:34
50. Aoife Joyce 0:23:50
94. Colm Kenna 0:26:51

DUNDALK HALF-MARATHON

Graham Kearns polished off his Tokyo Marathon preparations with a marathon pace run in the Dundalk Half-marathon finishing in the top-500.91 spots and 5 mintes ahead Eoin Phelan completed his fourth race of the year taking the lead in the ‘Most Prolific’ with 11 months to go!

RESULT
1. Alex Jones () 1:03:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
404. Eoin Phelan 1:41:52 – WW RC
495. Graham Kearns 1:46:47 – WW RC

In the mountains, the IMRA season has kicked off in earnest with the first two IMRA Winter League races: a new course at Sugarloaf and Howth Winter.

SUGARLOAF WINTER 26

Ian Bromley continued his great 2025 form with a fantastic 6th place finish on a wet and technical course at Sugarloaf (designed by club man Graham Bushe). Huw Thomas continues to work his way back to full fitness after long injury and was our second man home followed closely by fellow Wicklow Wolfer Niall MacCarthy. Eoin Phelan and Brendan Lawlor continue to be near-ever present in these races.

RESULT
1. Jude Wejchert () 0:40:40
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
6. Ian Bromley 0:45:07 (1st M45) – WW RC
80. Huw Thomas 0:58:15 – WW RC
82. Niall MacCarthy 0:58:28 – WW RC
115. Eoin Phelan 1:04:36 – WW RC
137. Brendan Lawlor 1:08:12

HOWTH WINTER

Huw Thomas

Huw and Eoin are clearly determined to get in all their Winter League counters and were our only members to travel across town for the second Winter League in Howth where Huw finished 40 spots further up than Sugarloaf and Eoin 58 spots further up.

RESULT
1. Barry McEvoy () 0:28:54
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
40. Huw Thomas 0:39:59 – WW RC
57. Eoin Phelan 0:43:15 – WW RC

Glendalough AC: Early Season Racing Highlights

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

The opening weeks of the season saw Glendalough AC members ease back into racing with a varied mix of hill, road, trail, and marathon events, combining steady returns, family-friendly outings, and some standout performances. From solid placings at the Pier Gates Remembrance Race and the MJ Bolton Memorial, to winter IMRA action at Ballyhoura, the early calendar also delivered notable milestones: Louis Byrne and Christina Byrne setting new club age-category records at Ferrycarrig, Aaron Cullen breaking a long-standing 5 km club record at the Coca Cola 5 km, and Monica Timmins opening her marathon account for the year with a Donadea PB.

PIER GATES REMEMBRANCE RACE

Last year’s racing season concluded for our members with the Pier Gates Remembrance hill race which was run on a course about 1 km shorter than the 2025 edition. Ian Bromley was our first man home with Kate Flynn next (and second FS) with Alan Kennedy next as the 3rd M55. It was also great to Huw Thomas back after long-term injury as he partook in the short race.

LONG

RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:33:30
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
25. Ian Bromley 0:44:08 – WW RC
31. Kate Flynn 0:45:58 (2nd FS) – WW RC
47. Alan Kennedy 0:49:18 (3rd M55) – WW RC
87. Andy Walker 0:56:14 – WW RC
93. Eoin Phelan 0:57:22 – WW RC
111. Brendan Lawlor 1:01:11
136. Joe Lalor 1:06:29 (2nd M70)
157. James Heggie 1:13:18 – WW RC

SHORT

RESULT
1. Finn McGurren (Clonliffe Harriers) 0:29:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
25. Huw Thomas 0:40:59 – WW RC

MJ BOLTON MEMORIAL RACE

The memorial 5 km for MJ Bolton has become the starting point for the racing calendar these last few years, and this year’s edition had a new (allegedly tougher) course with an uphill finish. Usually, taking more as a blow-out than a full on race, there was still a big field and fast times around the field although most of our participants took it easy with Aoife Joyce and Catherine Devitt running along with respective sons Cillian and Rowan.

RESULT
1. Dean Power () 0:26:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
135. Ciara Flynn 0:30:56
144. Aoife Joyce 0:32:09
153. Catherine Devitt 0:34:29

BALLYHOURA WINTER

Eoin Phelan was our most prolific runner both in 2024 and 2025 and he shows no sign of losing his desire to race with another outing at one of the first IMRA races of the year – the Ballyhoura Winter Moonlight Challenge on 3rd January.

RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 0:29:16
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
142. Eoin Phelan 3:51:03 – WW RC

FERRYCARRIG 5 MILE

On the 4th of January, Aoife Joyce returned to her home area to race the Ferrycarrig 5 mile (also on a new, allegedly tougher, course than previous edition), accompanied by the family trio of Louis Byrne, Christina Byrne and Ann Cunningham. Louis set a new 5 mile club and M40 record while Christina set the mark for the F70 category.

RESULT
1. Evan Fitzgerald (West Waterford AC) 0:26:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
34. Louis Byrne 0:31:02 (Club Record, PB)
98. Aoife Joyce 0:36:25
258. Ann Cunningham 0:47:11
285. Christina Byrne 0:49:56 (2nd F70, Club F70 record)

COCA COLA 5 KM

Today, Amidou Dembele’s 9 year old 5 km club record of 16:45 was finally beaten when Aaron Cullen took 8th place while recording a time of 16:44 in the Coca Cola 5 km race. This is both the new senior and overall record and, we have a feeling, not the last record Aaron will break this year.

RESULT
1. Danny Nugent (Ace AC) 0:29:16
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Aaron Cullen 0:16:44 (PB, Club Record PB) – WW RC

DONADEA MARATHON

Monica Timmins ran the first marathon of the year for our club, setting a new PB despite the trail surface of Donadea Forest.

RESULT
1. David Murphy (Clonliffe Harriers) 0:29:16
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
38. Monica Timmins 4:20:45 (PB)

REPORT: Ballyhoura, Clara, Jingle Bells, Shanganagh

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

Race results from the period 29th November to the 7th December.

BALLYHOURA AGM RACE

This weekend’s roundup starts in Ballyhoura on 29th November where Becky Quinn was our lone competitor in the pre-AGM run over 16.7 km. Becky was 3rd woman and 1st F50 (she has now won the F50 category in 33 of her 34 races this year).

RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 1:18:12
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
16. Becky Quinn 1:44:56 (1st F50, 3rd woman)

WATERFORD HALF-MARATHON

On the same day, a bit East, Eoin Phelan lined up next to nearly 600 other runners for the Waterford Half-marathon – his 52nd race of the season so far – where he ran a solid 1:42.

RESULT
1. Ryan Creech (Leevale AC) 1:05:58
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
598. Eoin Phelan 1:42:26

CLARA VALE VALE 3K , 5K AND 10K

Some hardy souls braved the torrential conditions and wet trails to support the fundraiser in Clara Vale: 20 people turned out for the 3k, 15 for the 5k and 46 for the 10k and we had a few good results including Yvonne Brennan winning the women’s 5k and Colm finishing 5th in the 10k while club coach Rene Borg ran with his son Cillian to finish 5th in the 3k. In total 8 of our runners turned out on the day.

RESULT 3k
1. Aidan Tchakana () 0:17:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
5. René Borg 0:21:25
19. Gary Neill 0:45:12
RESULT – 5k
1. Elliot Gethings () 0:24:22
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Yvonne Brennan 0:29:20 (1st F45)
RESULT – 10k
1. Thomas O’Byrne () 0:42:51
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
5. Colm Kenna 0:46:38
9. Andy Walker 0:47:34 – WW RC
19. Fiona Smyth 0:53:41
26. Cindy Doyle 0:59:42
27. Joe Lalor 1:00:18

JINGLE BELLS 5k

Despite nearly 2000 runners being out for the Jingle Bells 5k, we only had Nora Butler in the race and she ran a good 21:24 to finish 779th.

RESULT
1. Kevin McGrath (Bohermeen AC) 0:14:14
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
779. Nora Butler 0:21:24

SHANGANAGH PARKRUN

Tivon Tyner set his 7th PB of the year – most having been lowering his 5k time sequentially – and this time he went under 20 minutes for the first time at the Shanganagh ParkRun.

RESULT
1. Matthew Barry () 0:16:42
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. Tivon Tyner 0:19:45 (PB)

REPORT: Gaelforce, Run the Line, Western Way, LSA 4 mile, Chicago Marathon

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

The club is on course for a record number of annual racers and November brought a good mix of hill, trail and road performances. After many months without reports, we pick up again with some later October and November results.

CHICAGO MARATHON

Let’s start by wishing Mark Lindsay a belated ‘well done’ on his Chicago Marathon. Mark became the second club runners to run in Chicago and his PB of 3:12:53 is the 15th fastest time on our all-time list and the fifth best this year.

As we go back in our records also a belated congratulations to our varies IMRA championship and league winners: Joe Lalor, Ian Bromley and Anne Bromley for winning the M70, M45 and F40 Leinster League categories, Becky Quinn for her wins in the IMRA Leinster and Connact Championships, and Graham Bush who won the M55 Leinster Championship and Joe Lalor who won the M70 category in both the Leinster and Irish Championship.

RESULT
1. Jacob Kiplimo  (Kenya) 2:02:23
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
6804. Mark Lindsay 3:12:53 (PB)

LSA 4 MILE

Staying with roads, Aaron Cullen continues his terrific season on the roads by claiming the club senior and overall 4 mile record with a time of 22:10.

RESULT
1. Malcolm Kiplagat (Clonliffe Harriers) 0:20:14
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Aaron Cullen 0:22:10 (PB, Club Record)

CLANE 5K AND 10K

Angus Tyner has been on roll reducing first his 10k and marathon over-55 club records this Autumn and at the 5k in Clane his 18:56 took nearly 30 seconds off his previous record while son Tivon set a PB of 41:39. James Heggie finished out our representation with a solid 52:40.

RESULT – 10 km
1. Colm Roche (Cellbridge AC) 0:32:18
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
53. Tivon Tyner 0:41:39 (PB)
165. James Heggie 0:52:40 – WW RC
RESULT – 5K
1. Donal Mongey (Naas AC) 0:16:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
13. Angus Tyner 0:18:56 (3rd M55, Club M55 record)

TRAILS ROUND-UP

On the trails it has been a productive season with Becky Quinn winning the Leinster and Connacht Championships (finishing 2nd in the Irish Championship), Graham Bushe winning M55 category in the Leinster Championships with 2nd places in his category in the Irish Championship and Leinster League. Honourable mention must also go to Joe Lalor, Ian Bromley and Anne Bromley who won their age categories in the Leinster League (M70, M45 and F40 respectively).

Our members have recorded a stupendous 310 hill and 246 trail results this year – nearly 3/4 of all races run by our members.

WESTERN WAY

Becky Quinn secured her 27th individual or category win in 33 trail races this season at the Western Way 28 k races where Eoin Phelan brought his season tally to 50 – only 3 away from his all-time club record for races run in a season from 2024.

RESULT

  1. David Hernon () 2:23:10
    ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
  2. Becky Quinn 2:43:45 (1st F50)
  3. Eoin Phelan 3:34:01 – WW RC

RUN THE LINE 11.6 AND 26K

Our usual good contingent at Run the Line was out with Paul Duffy leading us home with a time nearly 10 minutes faster than his previous best on the course. He was closely followed by Ian Bromley with Kate Flynn our first woman home. The two Kevin’s came in under the 3 hour mark and then Andy Walker.

Alan Kennedy was our sole competitor in the 11.6 km race.

RESULT – 26k

RESULT
1. Niall Davis () 2:05:17
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
37. Paul Duffy 2:25:50
52. Ian Bromley 2:30:17 – WW RC
78. Kate Flynn 2:37:37 – WW RC
111. Kevin Doherty 2:44:10
123. Anne Bromley 2:46:25 – WW RC
169. Kevin Ferguson 2:55:59
264. Andy Walker 3:14:17 – WW RC

RESULT – 11.6 KM
1. Mark Fitzachary (Rathfarnham WSAF) 0:53:33
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
65. Alan Kennedy 1:11:55 – WW RC

RESULTS: Powerscourt Ridge and Marathon medals round-up

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

We begin this report by wrapping up the Dublin Marathon action. Apart from the results reported last week, we now have confirmation of how the club fared in the Wicklow Marathon Championship which yielded 8 individual medals and a team gold medal for the women’s F35 team where Donna Quinn, Anne Bromley and Nora Butler combined to distance Kilcoole’s team by 27 minutes. The senior men’s team won Silver with just over two minutes ahead of Lakeshore Striders and 36 minutes behind Kilcoole. The scorers were Niall MacCague, Aaron Cullen and Eoin Morton.

Our two M35+ teams did not medal but finished 4th with the first team seeing Louis Byrne, Angus Tyner and Jimmy Cullen combining. The second team finished 7th with Ian Bromley, Ben Lewis and Steve Cregan the scorers. Our club was the third most well represented in the race behind Bray and Kilcoole.

Powerscourt Ridge

Powerscourt Ridge briefing (photo: John Shiels)

In the first race since the Dublin Marathon, we have ten runners in action at the IMRA race at Powerscourt Ridge which yielded two age category podiums.

RESULT

  1. Matthew McConnell () 1:13:08
    ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
  2. Becky Quinn 1:37:44 (1st F50)
  3. Kate Flynn 1:41:26 (3rd FS)
  4. Christopher Shannon 1:43:42 – WW RC
  5. Alan Kennedy 1:50:40 – WW RC
  6. Eoin Kennedy 1:54:11
  7. James Fitzgerald 2:02:00 – WW RC
  8. Andy Walker 2:06:18 – WW RC
  9. Monica Timmins 2:13:44
  10. Eoin Phelan 2:26:52 – WW RC
  11. James Heggie 2:46:25 – WW RC

REPORT: DUBLIN AND VENICE MARATHONS

by glendaloughac, posted in Race reports, Road running

The Dublin Marathon is unsurprisingly one of the biggest events for our club every year: last year saw a record 27 participants and this year we broke that with 28 runners whilst Ross Thompson was also in action in Venica (with former member and Wicklow Wolfer Chris Willoughby).

This is a recent development as we didn’t have any participation in the Dublin Marathon until 2017, only two in 2019 and when things resumed in 2022 we had 8 before we began to see the rise with 17 in 2023. All in all, 91 Glendalough AC have runners have completed the Dublin Marathon in the 6 editions since 2017.

Fantastic to see so many out and running so well – congratulations to all the finishers and enjoy the well-deserved rest this week.

DUBLIN MARATHON

Several new club records were set on the streets of Dublin with Niall MacCague taking 1:28 off Paul O’Riordan’s overall and M35 record of 2:54:19 (set in Amsterdam in March). Torben Dahl retains his hold on the ‘all-time’ best time by a club athlete (of 2:50) run during his time with Crusaders AC.

Angus Tyner lowered his own m55 record by nearly 8 minutes with a time of 3:06 which also made him the highest placed category runner in Dublin (24th in the m55 category).

Aaron Cullen’s fine 2:55:34 took 17 minutes off Aran Lynham’s Male Senior record from 2023.

Louis Byrne took 63 seconds off Blaise Kinsella (now of Parnell AC) 2023 record with a fine PB of 2:58:58*. Both Aoife Joyce and Donna Quinn broke the previous best time for the F45 but it will be Donna’s impressive 3:18:10 that is now the new F45 mark.

We don’t yet have a full overview of Personal Bests – except we know there were a lot more than called out below – or of any of our runners being involved with team medals or individual regional or county medals. We will try to follow up with that at a later stage.

* Five runners have now banked sub-3 times while being members of our club: Torben Dahl (2017) and now in 2025 Paul O’Riordan, Niall MacCague, Aaron Cullen and Louis Byrne (in that order).

RESULT
1. Daniel Meslin () 2:08:51
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
504. Niall MacCague 2:52:51 (PB, Club Record – overall and M35)
641. Aaron Cullen 2:55:34 (PB, MS Club Record) – WW RC
1044. Louis Byrne 2:58:58 (PB, M40 Club Record)
1135. Eoin Morton 3:00:06 (PB) – WW RC
1426. Angus Tyner 3:06:06 (PB, M55 Club Record)
2060. Neil Fusco 3:13:41 – WW RC
2091. Jimmy Cullen 3:14:04 (PB)
2137. Gavin Kennedy 3:14:30 (PB) – WW RC
2307. Ian Bromley 3:16:22 – WW RC
2373. Sebastian Slotwinski 3:16:59
2507. Donna Quinn 3:18:10 (F45 Club Record)
3807. Anne Bromley 3:27:59 (PB)
4103. Nora Butler 3:29:27 (PB)
4399. Ben Lewis 3:31:49
4620. Kevin Ferguson 3:33:53
7400. Claire Thompson 3:50:46
7871. Eoin Phelan 3:53:24
8214. Emmet Bergin 3:55:04
9078. Alan McCarthy 3:58:23
9580. Aoife Joyce 4:01:15
11376. James McCarthy 4:14:19
11668. Philip O’Brien 4:16:23
12671. Fiona Smyth 4:23:59
13162. Steve Gregan 4:27:32
16469. Edson Ferreira 5:08:22
16719. Matthew O’Brien 5:13:53
18008. James Heggie 6:04:01

VENICE MARATHON

We couldn’t find Ross results yet but will update once we get them. In the meantime a shot from sunny Venice!

REPORT: Wicklow Road Champs 25

by glendaloughac, posted in Race reports, Road running

We are still working through a massive backlog of results so let’s start from near the end with last week’s Wicklow Road Championship. The tenth we attended and this time with our second biggest squad (13) we’ve sent to these events.

Paul Duffy (photo: Andrew Hanney)

First home was Paul Duffy, reigning club champion, taking 100 pts in our club championship but more importantly a personal best and first run under 18 minutes. Louis Byrne was next in a strong 18:32 with Gavin Kennedy third. Angus took another in a long line of category medals finishing 3rd in the M55 category while matching his own club M55 record of 19:24. Jimmy Cullen also had a strong run dipping sub-20 in his first championship appearance for our team.

Our women’s team have won many team and individual medals and continued the streak when Donna, Aoife and Claire combined for Team Bronze. Fourth woman was Monica Timmins with a PB of 24:30 and Chrissie Byrne who won individual silver in the F70 category and set the mark for any future F70 5 km to beat.

Chrissie Byrne (photo: Andrew Hanney)
RESULT
1. Ger Forde (Kilkenny City Harriers AC) 0:15:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
48. Paul Duffy 0:17:57 (PB)
64. Louis Byrne 0:18:32
82. Gavin Kennedy 0:19:11
91. Angus Tyner 0:19:24 (3rd M55, Individual Bronze)
109. Jimmy Cullen 0:19:51
114. Aran Lynham 0:20:03
138. Tivon Tyner 0:20:46 (MJ Club Record)
151. Donna Quinn 0:21:28 (Team Bronze)
159. Aoife Joyce 0:22:00 (Team Bronze)
163. Claire Thompson 0:22:06 (Team Bronze)
171. Colm Kenna 0:22:30
207. Monica Timmins 0:24:30 (PB)
258. Christina Byrne 0:32:06 (2nd F70, PB, Individual Silver, Club Category Record)