Meanwhile earlier in the week at Downshill, our runners kept polishing off the form for the Wicklow Way Relay. Torben finished a good 5th followed by Barry O’Neill in 13th and Richard Costelloe in 25th. Colm Kenna was 93rd.
The final chance to make a claim for our Wicklow Way Relay team was had in the Devil’s Glen where a new and faster course was inaugurated. Torben Dahl – already preselected – underlined his credentials finishing 10th as our first man across the line.
Barry O’Neill had another stomping run to finish 22nd and he was followed by Richard Costelloe in 34th and Colm Kenna in 98th. 136 runners competed. One round of the Trail League remains and Torben sits in 8th with Barry O’Neill joint-14th.
A millennium and some loose change since Brodir ran into Brian Boru’s tent and slew the old king, it was Richard’s time to do the running as he secured himself a 10 mile PB at the Leinster 10 mile championship at Clontarf. Performance wise it was another big step up from his half-marathon in February so Richard seems to be hitting form coming into the summer!
A great turn-out from the club at the first of the IMRA Trail League series: seven GMACers turned out to race AND we still managed to have a good group out for the subsequent Thursday evening group training. The IMRA race drew a good field of 171 for the race which is probably the closest trail race to the N11!
Torben Dahl was first GMACer across the post. Second home, and thus doing his chance of making the Wicklow Way Relay team no harm, was Barry O’Neill in 30th
As three or more runners competed in this race from our club, it automatically became a counter in the club championships – the first of the season.
Derek Cullen was next and he had a close battle with Richard Costello who was only 6 seconds behind. Yvonne was our only female representative finishing 5th lady and second F40.
Anthony Breen was running well on the trails last weekend. The Coole run 5k and 10k trail races were held again to raise funds for Ballymena GFC and Anthony competed in the 10 km race finishing 6th overall and first M40.
Barry Murray got a fine podium finish (2nd) at Annagh Hill this weekend – 31 seconds behind the legendary Robbie Bryson who continues to run strongly in his fifties. This was also Barry’s first run for his new club – West Kerry AC – so we bid him farewell (here in our race reports) but will continue to follow his exploits with interest in his new home.
A wrong turn lead some of the top-10 runners astray including Torben Dahl, who had also missed the start and came home in an uncharacteristic 23rd and Adrian Hennessey, former ‘Lap of the Gap’ and Run the Ridge winner, whose wrong turn dropped him to 9th.
On a day where three of the four course records were broken on the Maurice Mullins 25 km and 50 km races, it was fitting that our two representatives in the 50k also had personal bests.
For Keith Mulvey it was a mere second better than previous times whereas for Richard Costelloe it represented his first stab at the race and at any ultra-distance race. Well done lads on a mighty effort!
We got the excitement we had hoped for in the duel between Barry O’Neill and Bruce Phillips of who could ‘game the handicaps’ and run the best. Barry O’Neill knew that a 2 minute improvement of his previous best would secure him the league but this was easier set than done as he had run 44 minutes flat for the hilly 9.3 km course last time.
Result of Round 12 of 12 (Brockagh Woods)
Bruce came in without improving his tally – meaning ‘only’ beating his time by 1:57 would now be enough for Barry – a time of 42:03. BUT … it was not to be – despite lowering the best time for the course to 42:55 and taking 65 seconds off his best. To add injury to insult, Aoife Joyce improved her handicap the most of any runner on the day – taking 2 minutes 3 seconds off her mark and this moved her up into 2nd place overall.
Overall results (12 of 12): In bold the top-4 results of each runner
In the end 16 seconds separated Aoife and Bruce in the overall standings with Barry O’Neill a further 52 seconds adrift. Barry did secure the honorary title ‘King of the Hill’ for being the best performer on the hilly routes (Clara Vale and Brockagh) while King of the Road went to Derek Cullen who performed best on the Green Gapways course. In the end we had 19 runners competing of which 11 managed to get the minimum 4 to score.
Winner Bruce Phillips
In terms of individual wins Rene Borg did best with 5 victories followed by Barry O’Neill with 3. Bruce, Donna, Arne, and Aoife took 1 race each. Two runners completed all twelve races in the series: victor Bruce Phillips and Rene Borg followed by Aoife and Colm with 10 races each.
Barry O’Neill – 3rd despite his effort and new course record
Best improver in relation to handicap was Barry O’Neill – who improved it by 2 minutes 59 seconds ON AVERAGE in his races . No one was closer than Aoife Joyce who took 78 seconds off on average. Fastest average pace of the league was held by Rachel Wisdom with 4:26 min/km (but this was based on one race). Bruce Phillips ran by far the furthest – completing 97.4 km over his 12 races followed by René Borg with 69.2 km (this shows both who ran most races and who preferred the longer courses over the shorter).
All in all the short courses were more popular with 70 runs over them versus 36 people running long routes. Based on results, Brockagh Woods is the toughest course followed bye Green Gapways and Clara Vale
Course statistics after the Winter League 2018/2019
The twelfth and final round of the Glendalough AC Winter League takes place this Saturday (9th March) at Brockagh Woods – so if you fancy a last go at these two delightful hilly courses – come along for 9:30 am and join us for coffee after in the Glendalough Green around 10:30ish.
The final battle
In the final standings things are nearly decided but a late twist could still emerge:
2nd placed Aoife JOyce can only improve by 22 seconds (if she beats her handicap by 2 minutes) and she is 38 seconds adrift of Bruce Phillips. Aoife, however, is safe from Donna Quinn in the race to take the ‘lady’s crown’
3rd placed Barry O’Neill meanwhile can move ahead of Bruce if he beats his time by 1:58 or more AND Bruce does not improve his tally further.
Bruce can improve his total time by 2 seconds – should he do so, Barry O’Neill needs to beat his time by 2 minutes but will then by guaranteed a victory by 1 second overall!
Further down Donna Quinn can move ahead of Barry O’Neill in third if she beats her handicap by two minutes AND Barry O’Neill fails to improve his tally. Rene Borg in 5th can move ahead of Donna by improving his handicap by 33 seconds and Barry if he improves but this also requires that Donna does not improve her tally.
From 6th place below there are no further surprises coming: everyone in these places is 5 or more minutes behind and can move up no higher than 6th.
Glendalough AC 