Two events to report on this weekend and we have to lean heavily into the Dublin marathon! with this weekend’s event our club broke 500 annual races for the first time with our runners having donned race gear 505 times in 2023 so far!
DUBLIN MARATHON 2023
A record twenty of our runners were signed up to start this year’s Dublin Marathon but late illness, misfortune and injury whittled away Mark Willoughby, Anthony Breen and James McCarthy in the final days – leaving a glorious seventeen (an attendance record in the Dublin Marathon for us) securing two Club Records, 12 PBs, and 5 debuts!
In general it’s been a good year for marathon with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th fastest men’s times and the fastest women’s time being run in 2023.
RESULT
1. Kemal Husen (Ethiopia) 2:06:52
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
972. Marcus Murphy 3:04:49 (PB, M40 PB)
1452. Aran Lynham 3:13:01 (PB, MS PB, MS Club Record)
1589. Donna Quinn 3:14:59 (PB, Club Record, F40 PB)
2098. Philip O’Brien 3:20:53 (PB, M35 PB, M35 Club Record) – debut!
2274. Gavin Kennedy 3:23:14 (PB, M45 PB)
3288. Kevin Ferguson 3:32:02 (PB)
3357. Eoin Phelan 3:32:51 (PB, M35 PB)
5136. Mark Lindsay 3:47:25 (PB, M35 PB) – debut!
5209. Nora Butler 3:47:53 (PB, F40 PB) – debut!
5660. David Murphy 3:50:32 (PB, M50 PB) – debut!
6473. Annie Lowney 3:55:38 (PB, F40 PB)
6650. Ben Lewis 3:56:25 (PB, M45 PB) – debut!
8008. Donal Flanagan 4:05:58
12876. Dave Lawless 4:49:43
13707. James Heggie 5:01:17
13726. Gleb Reys 5:01:49
14100. Ross Thompson 5:08:24
Marcus Murphy – in only his second marathon (having run 3:57 in 2009)- led home the charge with a fine 3:04 despite a late hamstring cramp slowing him down from 36 km onwards. He was our only man in the top-1000. Marcus’ time is the 4th fastest run for our club and makes him the 6th fastest marathoner in the club currently.
Aran Lynham – club MS record holder
Next home was ‘young’ Aran Lynham who improved his PB by 16 minutes for a 3:13 lowering his own club record for the Male Senior category in the process. Donna Quinn was third and our first female finisher whilst taking just over 3 minutes from her best from 2022. She lowered her own overall and F40 club marathon record as well.
Donna showing the joy in Dublin
Fourth was Philip O’Brien nearly cracking 3:20 in his debut . Three minutes later Gavin Kennedy recorded 3:23 smashing his 2022 PB by 22 minutes. Kevin Ferguson just missed out on the sub-3:30 barrier but still got a 12 minute PB. Outdoing nearly everyone else Eoin Phelan washed away his DNF disappointment from EcoTrail 80k (four weeks earlier) by not only dipping under the 4 hour barrier for the first time but knocking 40 minutes off his PB (we may as well hand out the Most Improved award now!).
We had three debutantes next in a three minutes window as Mark Lindsay arrived 28 seconds ahead of Nora Butler followed by David Murphy. Annie Lowney knocked over 30 minutes off her 2022 time a bit later arriving in 3:55. Ben Lewis arrived nearly at the same time going under the 4 hour barrier in his first attempt.
Ross Thompson who supported his friend Alan (right)
In 4:05 was Donall Flanagan running his 11th DCM and then Dave Lawless arried in 4:49 and James Heggie and Gleb Reys in 5:01 with our man from Dynafit Ross Thompson (with a 3:20 PB) keeping a friend company and closing off our runners with 5:08.
PUMPKIN RUN 5k
Flora McKnight meanwhile continues to improve in the colourful Florida 5 kms she currently she attend finishing in 29:20 in the scary Pumpkin 5k and 15th in her age category. The event was well attended with nearly 1200 starters.
RESULT
Jeff Provenzano () 0:17:53 ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
Orange marking, orange branding and orange weather warning was the theme of this year’s Glendalough Trail Run in aid of Fighting Blindness.
Club coach Rene Borg had taken over as Race Director ably assisted by several locals including club members Derek Cullen at the upland water station and Yvonne Brennan keeping an eye on affairs in the Upper Lake while Graeme Warren got in his very long run in preparation for Tollymore by first running the long cousre as ‘course checker’ and then sweeping behind the last racers later!
GLENDALOUGH TRAIL 8.5 K AND 15K
The two fields were reduced to 50% of the entry – a very high figure likely driven in huge part by the heavy rain and orange weather warning the night before. The course was still wet but very runnable by the time a glorious Saturday morning dawned on the valley.
RESULT
1. Fran Morales (Corriendo el Fondo) 1:04:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. Diarmuid Kavanagh 1:10:25 (2nd MS)
28. Nora Butler 1:30:01
Diarmuid Kavanagh and Nora Butler were first in action with Diarmuid finishing 2nd behind runaway winner Fran Morales of Costa Rica (who broke six local Strava records as he rampaged around the course). Nora Butler also ran well finishing 28th overall and 5th woman.
Siobhan Brennan ran in the smaller 8.5 km race where she was not only first woman but also 2nd overall!
Since our last report we have 47 (!) more results to report on 30 of which were our massive attendance in EcoTrail Wicklow on the last day of September pushing this year’s racing tally to a stupendous 483 (the previous record being 383 in 2017).
EcoTrail Wicklow
Let’s begin with the 4th edition of the EcoTrail races which had gathered an entry of over 1600 with 1096 starters: the third largest start line in a trail run in Ireland after Gaelforce Bray 2019 (where 6 waves of runs gathered 1238 starters) and Run the Line 2022 (where two races drew 1210). It’ll be great to see one of these events breaking 1500 starters at some stage in the near future.
We had 30 runners in actions plus a further of our 12 members crewing many in core roles with club coach Rene Borg hired as course director, Graham Bush and Diarmuid Kavanagh on marking duties and Keith Mulvey acting as sector leader at Lough Tay not to forget Duncan Barrett – the Djouce marshal – who won ‘Crew of the Year’ for assisting an injured runner off the trail.
Duncan Barrett with his prize for ‘Crew of the Year’
80 KM
Mark Willoughby crossing the Ballyremon Commons
Graeme Warren had opted to move down to 47k leaving Eoin Phelan as our only 80k representative in his first attempt at the distance. He battled valiantly but had to concede defeat in Kilmacanogue after 67 km of running when it became clear he could not make the Belmont cut-off.
RESULT
1. Yoann Stuck () 6:34:16 CR
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
126. Eoin Phelan DNF
47 KM
Sergio Mansillo with a new PB in the 47k
The 47 km was the most competitive of all races on the day with international superstars like Hillary Allen at the line and Irish international Enda Cloake blasting home to victory ahead of Gavin Byrne. ‘Our lot’ of six men were not in contention for medals but all ran solidly with Philip O’Brien home first in 5:20. There was vindication for James Heggie after conceding DNFs at the Tucker Trail and Skyline 55k as he came through in 236th out of 262.
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 3:58:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
28. Philip O’Brien 5:20:11
55. Graeme Warren 5:40:08
96. Sergio Mansillo 6:04:23
147. Ross Thompson 6:29:52
187. Mick Greene 7:00:57
193. Gerard O’Rourke 7:06:05
232. Mark Willoughby 7:47:56
236. James Heggie 8:00:52
vindication for James Heggie
30 KM
Ross Thompson on his way up Bray Head
In the 30 km the women’s field as absolutely stacked with Finland’s Kasia Laapaz obliterating the course record by 8 minutes despite the 2023 course being 1 km longer than the 2022 edition. Catherine Devitt did well to finish 5th woman and 3rd in the F40 category.
The real drama involved John Conway who hit the Bray seafront unaware that Tudor Moldovan’s misfortune in Belmont meant he was in joint-3rd place. When the race announcer shouted out ‘and here’s the sprint for the podium’, John took off like a rocket to secure a chance to hold the trophy and get on that rostrum (a week later he’d finish 8th in the Killarney Quest Adventure race – just for good measure).
Richard Costelloe also ran well in his Tollymore Marathon final prep race finishing 10th whilst at the other end Graham Wheeler conceded our 13th DNF of the season (meaning we are well beyond our all-time high of 5 in 2015!).
RESULT
1. Luke Weldon (Greystones AC) 2:37:46
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
3. John Conway 2:50:26 (1st M40)
10. Richard Costelloe 2:57:44
22. Anthony Breen 3:09:03
29. Catherine Devitt 3:13:49 (3rd F40)
44. Mark Lindsay 3:21:44
67. Alan Kennedy 3:35:49
99. Jack Moore 3:48:40
102. Donal Flanagan 3:50:15
118. Niall MacCarthy 3:53:27
174. Rebecca Whineray 4:09:59
298. Gleb Reys 5:23:49
327. Graham Wheeler DNF
19 KM
Simon Lynch sprints home on a soaking day at EcoTrail
We only had eight in action in the ‘speedsters’ race over 19 km with four tough climbs and here Diarmuid Kavanagh led home with a 9th place with Dave Lawless next and Nora Butler next (placing 12th woman) dead-heating with Tadgh O’Brien.
RESULT
1. Des Kennedy (Raheny Shamrocks) 1:37:32
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
9. Diarmuid Kavanagh 1:51:35
72. Dave Lawless 2:19:40
84. Nora Butler 2:22:43
86. Tadgh O’Brien 2:22:43
129. Simon Lynch 2:32:02
180. Daniel Puflea 2:41:42
228. Brian Howard 2:52:58
326. Jonathan Cody 3:38:27
TEAM COMPETITION
Eleven teams had the minimum 2 men and 2 women to contest the team competition and here the combination of John Conway (3rd in 30k), Catherine Devitt (5th woman in 30k), Diarmuid Kavanagh (9th in 19k) and Nora Butler (12th woman in 19k) was enough to take the win with bit of breathing space down to Parnell AC and Simon Connaughton’s Inner Fight crew.
NAV CHALLENGE 1 – CARRICK MOUNTAIN
Having marked the Great Sugarloaf for EcoTrail, Graham Bush was well warmed up for the first IMRA Nav Challenge of the year finishing 9th ut of 28th in the short 15 km course.
RESULT
1. Robert McEvoy (Cork Orienteers) 1:21:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
9. Graham Bushe 3:03:00
Graham Bush (rightmost)
WASSENAAR 15 KM
Catherine Devitt took a few minutes of her time in the annual Wassenaar 15k (in reality 14.6k!) finishing 10th overall and winning the women’s race (and a big trophy to show for it!).
RESULT
1. Maikel Stolwijk (Leiden) 0:49:37
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
10. Catherine Devitt 0:58:25 (1st woman)
KILMAC RUNNING FESTIVAL
Ben Lewis at the Kilmac Running Festival
The third edition of the Kilmac Running Festival preceded the weekend’s cross-country action: Graham Bush remains a busy man matching up his own running with his marking at EcoTrail and then race directing the five events that are part of the festival.
WOMEN’S NIGHT CHALLENGE
Nora Butler and Rebecca Whineray were our representatives in the women’s only field on Friday evening’s loop of the Great Sugarloaf with Rebecca 4th overall and 2nd F45.
RESULT
1. Ciara Largey () 0:39:14
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Rebecca Whineray 0:42:36 (2nd F45)
10. Nora Butler 0:46:50
LONG HILL
Local men Richard Kieran and Ben Lewis were our only runners in the four races on offer on Saturday going for the shortest (12k) route from Kilmac to Paddock Hill finishing 3rd and 5th and takingsome category podiums.
RESULT
1. Rob Tobin (Trim AC) 1:08:17
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
3. Richard Kieran 1:14:05 (3rd M55)
5. Ben Lewis 1:16:49 (2nd M45)
WICKLOW INTERMEDIATE
The various trail running engagements along with a large group focusing on the marathon have depleted our cross-country squads for the early season and only Diarmuid Kavanagh and Anthony Breen toed the line on a glorious sunshine day in Avondale for the Wicklow Intermediate. In the end only Anthony finished as Diarmuid had to pull out – our third club DNF in this busy fortnight. Anthony claimed the 100 pts for the Club Championship but as he wore no watch nor were times recorded, we only know he finished 17th out of 25 in the race!
PARKRUNS GALORE!
Angus Tyner reported in with 7 ParkRun results between May and September with 2 top-3 finishes and 4 sub-20 runs. Claire Thompson meanwhile ran in Mullingar finishing 3rd woman in 22:28 in her first race since the Relay back in June.
RESULT
1. Susan Glennon () 0:19:24
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
15. Claire Thompson 0:22:48 (3rd F35)
BEER AND BRATS 5K!
We finish off with a report from our ‘woman in Florida’ : founding member Flora McKnight who battled heat and humidity in the superbly named ‘Beer and Brats 5k’ finishing 251st in a solid field of 829 runners.
RESULT
1. Jonathan Hulzebos () 0:15:46
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
251. Flora McKNight 0:30:20
Flora strikes a strong pose at the Beer and Brats 5k!
A belated report on the runs two weeks past while we wait for the full report on the nearly 30 runners who took place in EcoTrail Wicklow this weekend! It featured rugged action in Donegal and two half-marathon PBs on the roads!
SEVEN SISTERS SKYLINE 30K/55K
We begin the North-West where one of Ireland’s toughest and roughest mountain runs took place in County Donegal. Four of our runners were registered for the events but John Conway wasn’t quite ready after the Trans-Alpine and with Keith Mulvey falling ill, it was left to James Heggie (55k) and Catriona Healy (30k) to represent us.
James unfortunately had to DNF after nearly 6 hours of running but the day ended on a high with Catriona securing an impressive 8th place in the women’s race. This being only her second long mountain race (Run the Ridge in August being the first!).
55k
RESULT
1. Aidan McMoreland () 7:56:56
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
122. James Heggie DNF
30k
RESULT
1. Simon Duggan () 3:24:30
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
75. Catriona Healy 6:04:17
IRISH LIFE HALF-MARATHON
Speaking of firsts, we move back to Dublin where Ben Lewis ran his first road race and thus secured himself a half-marathon personal best in the Irish Life Dublin Half-marathon in a massive field of over 6000 runners.
RESULT
1. Peter Somba (Dunbyone AC) 1:07:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2550. Ben Lewis 1:53:15 (PB, M45 PB)
CEIDE COAST HALF-MARATHON
In the West, Eoin Syron also took a half-marathon personal best in a more intimate field of 132 runners in the Ceide Coast Half-marathon which was noticeable for being won outright by female runner NOrah Pieterse from Mayo AC.
Twelve of our runners were in action once or more over nine very challenging and/or interesting races since our last report.
We begin with the confusing ‘Lakes 10k’ double: the ‘Run for Lakers’ 10 km trail run around Roundwood Reservoir followed 7 days later by ‘The Lakes 10k’: the scenic and beloved 10 km road race in Blessington.
‘RUN FOR LAKERS 10K’
Paul Duffy at the Run for Lakers 10k (photo Independent)
Paul Duffy, Ben Lewis and Colm Kenna were our only representatives in a large front-loaded field at the Roundwood Reservoir with Paul securing back-to-back top 10s in this event taking fifth spot.
RESULT
1. Killian Mooney (DSD AC) 0:34:40
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
5. Paul Duffy 0:40:24
20. Ben Lewis 0:47:21
24. Colm Kenna 0:47:58
LUGGALA
Eoin Kennedy at Luggala
While the larger field was busy on the good trails of Roundwood a select field of 31 IMRA enthusiasts congregated for the super-steep Luggala race with 8 km covering Cloghoge and Luggala mountains. Eoin Kennedy was our lone representative and came home in 11th.
RESULT
1. Brian Furey (Brothers Pearse AC) 0:56:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
11. Eoin Kennedy 1:19:24
THE LAKES 10K
A sligthly smaller than normal contingent from our club travelled to the scenic ‘The Lakes 10k’ organised by our friends in Lakeshore Striders AC but it’s not always about quantity: Marcus Murphy secured a PB by nearly a minute as part of his Dublin marathon preparations while Colm kenna ran his fastest 10k since the Wicklow Hospice 10k in February 2022.
RESULT
1. Brian Maher (Kilkenny City Harriers AC) 0:31:16
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
11. Marcus Murphy 0:38:33 (PB)
46. Colm Kenna 0:46:08
TRANS-ALPINE RUN
John Conway left raising an eye brow at the start of the Trans-Alpine Run
While Paul and Colm ran in Roundwood, John Conway began his 7 day journey in the Trans-Alpine stage race: 268 km through the alps in seven stages. Despite having only 7 days rest after his 2nd place in the Kerry Way Ultra Lite John finished 29th and 6th in his category while his wife Laura was a comprehensive winner of the women’s race – times shown are the cumulative for the 7 stages in 7 days.
RESULT
1. Fabien Gering (ASICS Frontrunner) 23:08:06
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
33. John Conway 33:40:45
WORLD MASTERS MOUNTAIN RUNNING – MADEIRA (UPHILL ONLY/ 31 KM LONG)
Graham Bush showcasing the first international medal won by a current member
As John’s journey neared the end Graham Bush and Richard Kieran embarked on their own foreign adventure on the trail-running mad island of Madeira where the World Masters Mountain Running Championship hosted a large Irish contingent (including fellow Sli Cualann runners like Ronan King and Ann-Marie Kenny).
RESULT – uphill 9k
1. Eric Blake (USA) 0:43:11
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
101. Graham Bushe 1:00:37 (Team Silver m50)
141. Richard Kieran 1:09:16
Both our runners were signed up for both the 9 km uphill only race and the 31 km long trail race (which Kieran eventually opted not to do). It was a huge success with Graham Bush contributing to the Irish team’s Silver team medal – the first international medal won by a member of our club. He did lament that had he been a split second faster, then Ireland would have taken the gold!
RESULT
1. Shaban Mustafa (Bulgaria) 2:11:52
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
75. Graham Bushe 3:00:55
STONE CROSS TO LUG RELAY
While the boys in green were in action internationally, Alan Kennedy and Eoin Syron had a run-out in the cult classic ‘Stone Cross to Lug’ which has suffered from declining numbers in recent years (perhaps not helped by poor weather possibly contributing to 4 non-starters in a 14 person field in the solo).
RESULT – LEG 1
1. Gerry McGuinness () 2:49:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. Alan Kennedy 1:57:12
Both Alan and Eoin ran in the Relay version of the race with Alan running the 14 km leg 1 and Eoin the 21k leg 3 on a separate team. With 4 teams in competition and 1 non-competitive, a podium was assured and Alan’s team took 2nd with Eoin’s 3rd.
RESULT – LEG 3
1. Eoin Syron (Glendalough AC) 1:57:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
CAUSEWAY COAST ULTRA
Not quite as far outside the country – at the Causeway in Northern Ireland – Eoin Kennedy did his second race in 7 days completing the 64 km Causeway Ultra over a mixture of terrains ranging from path to beach to road and finished 36th out of 60 runners.
RESULT
1. Nick Weston () 5:18:27
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
36. Eoin Kennedy 8:12:16
BEEKSE 31 KM
Richard Costelloe continued his productive racing season on Sunday 17th in the Netherlands with a brilliant podium finish in the Beekse 31 km road race in a fine time of 2:06 leaving 53 runners behind him in a race that was part of a the Beekse marathon event where multiple distances were on offer.
Brian Lydon started the action running into the hot Kerry weather as he took the new ‘early start’ option at 6 am on Friday – only the 3rd Glendalough AC runner to undertake the full race (after Duncan Barret and Emma Hand).
John Conway (right) with fellow Sli Cualann runner Michael Dowling (of Parnell) who finished 2nd in the full ultra
Over 24 hours later – while Brian was somewhere midway towards the penultimate checkpoint in Kenmare – John Conway set off from Sneem for the 59 km journey to Killarney that is the ‘Kerry Way Ultra Lite’. This was John’s third attempt at the race having been 18th in 2020, and 4th in 2021. 1st in 2023?*
Coming into Templenoe, John sat in 4th overall – behind the eventual winner Sorcha Loughnane and Peter Power and Brendan Joy. Both slightly extended their leads on John by Kenmare but paid the price on the long slog towards Killarney where John first overtook Brendan (who lost nearly an hour on the Laragh man here and dropped to 5th overall) and then got himself into the rare situation of being the first man in the race – yet 2nd overall! It is worth noting that Sorcha Loughnane’s time – apart from being a new women’s record on the course – would have won the Kerry Way Ultra Lite every single year except when John McKeogh set the course record of 5:03 in 2020.
RESULT
1. Sorcha Loughnane (Donore Harriers) 5:17:51
(women’s CR)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. John Conway 5:54:48 (1st man, 1st M40, 2nd overall)
Eight minutes before John crossed the finish line to celebrate his trophy, Brian Lydon had completed the full Kerry Way in just under 33 hours – a proud moment in the warm air but over soggy ground (the output of our weird summer).
RESULT
1. Stephen Mangan () 23:30:41
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
33. Brian Lydon 32:46:02
* He thus matched the joint best result in this race for our club: Barry Murray’s 2nd place in 5:53 in 2017. then there was 44 finishers. Now: 157! John’s 5:47 from last year remains the fastest time run by a club runner.
VELUWSE TRAILRUN
Catherine Devitt continued her strong season on both Dutch and Irish shores when she finished 9th in a 187 strong field at Veluwze – a nearly 30 km trail race in the Netherlands. she had about 40 seconds gap to the next woman and took the overall women’s prize as a result.
RESULT
1. Taco Schaaf (Zwolle) 1:47:40
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
9. Catherine Devitt 2:16:53 (1st woman)
This was Catherine’s 14th race of the season and with a nice tally: 11 category wins and 2 second places. Only once has she run and not finished on the women’s podium in 2023.
We celebrated 3 PBs, one Master’s PB, 1 Leinster and 1 National gold medal and a new club record in a busy 5 days of racing from Wednesday to Sunday last week.
MOUNTAIN RESCUE BENEFIT RUN
The racing kicked off a mere 4 days after most of runners had bloodied themselves in the Wicklow Off-Road. Of the four runners who ran only one (Aoife) hadn’t raced the previous weekend – yet Paul Duffy secured himself a ‘surprising’ (to use his own words) top-10 finish while Loraine Creane and Aoife Joyce took 2nd and 3rd on the women’s podium with Aoife winning the F45 for good measure while Angus Tyner took the M55 once again.
Colm Kenna running at the MOuntain Rescue Benefit race
RESULT
1. Liam Mooney (Lakeshore Striders) 0:33:52
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
10. Paul Duffy 0:37:21
27. Angus Tyner 0:40:25
(1st M55)
32. Loraine Creane 0:41:19 (2nd woman, 2nd F40)
40. Aoife Joyce 0:43:05 (1st F45, 3rd woman)
42. Eoin Phelan 0:44:19
58. Colm Kenna 0:49:16
Paul Duffy on Paddock Hill
NATIONAL HALF-MARATHON (TULLAMORE)
Donna (799) with the successful Sli Cualann team
Donna Quinn was the third scorer for the successful Sli Cualann ladies team who won the Female Open teams six minutes ahead of Mullingar Harriers. The top trio of Sarah Baryga, Catherine O’Connor and Donna also took the Leinster team gold medals once again ahead of Mullingar.
In doing so she lowered her PB from 1:32:36 (her 2022 mark) to 1:29:56 – the fourth fastest time run by current female members of the club. Gavin Kennedy also reduced his PB from earlier in the year by 2.5 minutes – a positive result on his road to Dublin. Donna also increased her lead in our club medal table – now having 31 medals to Claire Thompson’s 21.
RESULT
1. Ryan Creech (Leevale AC) 1:05:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
290. Donna Quinn 1:29:56 (PB, Leinster Team Gold, National Team Gold)
313. Gavin Kennedy 1:31:07 (PB, M45 PB)
ANTRIM COAST HALF-MARATHON
Eoin Phelan had a breakthrough performance at the Antrim Coast half-marathon. Only 6 months ago his PB stood at 1:52 for the distance: he lowered that to 1:37:16 in Northern Ireland. Clearly doubling up with a mid-week hill run did him no harm!
RESULT
1. Daniel Mateiko (Kenya) 0:58:36
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
382. Eoin Phelan 1:37:21 (PB)
OYLEGATE HALF-MARATHON
Aoife Joyce at the Mountain Rescue Benefit race four days ahead of her half-marathon in Oylegate
On Sunday, Aoife Joyce also completed the ‘mid-week hill run/weekend half-marathon double’ when racing in Oylegate near her childhood home and followed the sub-1:45 around for a 1:43:17: an improvent of 2 minutes on her last run there in 2021 and her fastest time since her 2014 PB of 1:29:41. As a bonus a nice cash prize was on offer for her third place in the over-40s category for women.
A full race report on all the action to follow but below an overview of how our club members fared in this weekend’s Wicklow Athletics Off-road championship.
Donna Quinn cuts no corners in the Derrybawn 10k
Like in previous years the event was hosted under the umbrella of our joint fund-raiser with Laragh GFC: the Run the Ridge 20k and the Derrybawn Woods 10k. The event nearly didn’t happen as adverse weather knocked a tree down on the cousre but quick action by course director Keith Mulvey, NPWS and ESB ensured the race could go ahead only 30 minutes delayed.
A record 30 competitors from our club competed in the 2nd Athletics Wicklow Off-Road Championship yesterday. It could have been more with 3 drop-outs in the week leading in.
Yvonne Brennan on the climb of the Derrybawn Woodland 10k
In the end we had 20 runners in the 10k and 10 runners in the 20 km. The tactic was to try and be competitive in as many individual and team categories as possible as the club with the most medals (Gold counting most) would walk away with the overall Club Trophy.
It was a fast and competitive race despite conditions with seven Wicklow clubs in action and with new course records in the 20k and the women’s 10k.
DERRYBAWN WOODLAND 10K
The 10 km distance saw the biggest field and included the team competition where the best cumulative time of the first three scorers across the line counted.
Rachel Wisdom looks over her shoulder at Gav Kennedy with Anthony Breen further back
We got off to a strong start with two out of the three men’s teams securing gold (the M35+ and the M50+). Richard Costelloe ran particularly strongly finishing 3rd in the championship, 4th in the combined, winning his category (M45) and setting a Club Record for the cousre (43:57). When Graham Bush and Angus Tyner arrived far up the field it was evident that the M50 team would dominate their category and so they did – anchored by Anthony Breen.
M50 winning team (Anthony, Angus, and Graham Bush flanking Billy Porter)
We had women’s teams in two categories: FS and F35+. Parnell dominated the FS led home by women’s winner Sile O’Byrne with Bronze for a team of Sarah Foster, Claire Thompson and Siobhan Brennan (all of whom picked up category medals. Catherine Devitt led home a strong quartet including Rachel, Donna and Yvonne to Team Gold while she finished 2nd overall and 1st in the F40 category.
The F35 winning team of Rachel, Catherine and Donna
By the time all 10 km medals were tallied Parnell had a slender lead of one gold medal.
Claire Thompson and Siobhan Brennan
Placings below show the combined place (Open race plus Championship race)
RESULT
1. Derek Crammond (Parnell AC) 0:40:57
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Richard Costelloe 0:43:57 (1st M45, 3rd man, m35+ Team Gold)
11. Graham Bushe 0:46:52 (1st M50, m50+ Team Gold)
29. Rachel Wisdom 0:51:19 (2nd F40, F35+ Team Gold)
30. Gavin Kennedy 0:51:22 (3rd M45, M35+ Team Gold)
32. Anthony Breen 0:51:28 (3rd M50, M50+ Team Gold)
33. Donna Quinn 0:51:40 (3rd F40, F35+ Team Gold)
43. Yvonne Brennan 0:54:41 (2nd F45, f35+ Team Gold)
45. Eoin Kennedy 0:55:27
52. Colm Kenna 0:58:07
57. Claire Thompson 0:58:51 (FS Team Bronze)
59. Sarah Foster 0:59:17 (3rd FS, FS Team Bronze)
64. Siobhan Brennan 1:00:01 (1st F50, FS Team Bronze)
72. Mark Willoughby 1:02:02
75. Annie Lowney 1:03:20
91. Eleanor Carty 1:06:51
Richard Costelloe strides strongly uphill
RUN THE RIDGE 20KM
In the 20km race a top-3 of open racers including Irish international Edward O’Connor along with David Power and Italian skyrunner Emmanuelle Sacchi broke away early leaving the championship contenders in the chasing pack. This included our own Johnny Conway who led our team home in an impressive 1:43:19 – the second fastest time by a club athlete since Torben Dahl’s runaway time of 1:32:07 from 2018. He was beaten only by Parnell’s MIchael Dowling and Inbhear Dee’s Ben Mooney but rather than Bronze here he was awarded Silver in the M40 category.
Jack Moore in the later stages of the 20k
Next was René Borg who broke away from a tightly packed group on the ridge to take 3rd M40 and the 3rd fastest time run by a club runner on the course. In the next 49 seconds Philip O’Brien, Graeme Warren and Torben Dahl arrived (with Lee Borland of WW RC dead-heating with Philip) and all took Gold in their categories.
Coach Rene makes a splash on his way to 4th in the County ranking
Jack Moore arrived shortly before the first female GMACer to ever complete the 20k race: Loraine Creane who won the F40. Alan Kennedy, Ben Lewis and Rebecca Whinery came next all taking category medals in the process.
Torben Dahl striding out in hot pursuit
RESULT
1. Barry McEvoy (Brother’s Pearse AC) 1:29:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. John Conway 1:43:19 (2nd M40)
13. René Borg 1:48:49 (3rd M40)
15. Philip O’Brien 1:49:01 (1st MS)
16. Graeme Warren 1:49:18 (1st M50)
17. Torben Dahl 1:49:38 (1st M45)
26. Jack Moore 1:55:30
27. Loraine Creane 1:56:15 (1st F40)
40. Alan Kennedy 2:02:15 (1st M55)
43. Ben Lewis 2:03:48 (3rd M45)
66. Rebecca Whineray 2:22:00 (2nd F45)
WICKLOW ATHLETICS OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP
Overall all efforts added up to taking the overall Club Trophy narrowly ahead of defending champions Parnell AC winning out 12 Gold medals to 10. No doubt competition will only intensify and we expect a barnstormer of an event for 2024! for now club captain Rachel Wisdom get’s to keep the trophy in her house until August 2024.
FRANK DUFFY 10 MILER
Not to be forgotten was a very fine PB from Eoin Phelan running in the Frank Duffy 10 miler that same morning where he also finished well within the top-10% of the 2807 strong field.
With all eyes on the upcoming County Off-Road Championship where our biggest team yet is due to take the start line (32!), a few results went under the radar in the last few weeks.
TOUR DE PAIN – FLORIDA
Flora in Florida!
4 MILE BEACH RUN
RESULT
1. Jonathan Besse link () 0:21:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
278. Flora McKNight 0:43:09
Founding member Flora McKnight was back in action after a long period off and in Florida no less where she competed in Tour de Pain: three races in less than 24 hours starting with a 4 mile beach race Friday evening, a 5 km road run the next morning and finishing with a 1 mile race in the afternoon.
5 K
RESULT
1. Jonathan Besselink () 0:15:46
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
297. Flora McKNight 0:29:43
Flora finished 9th in her category after the three races were tallied together.
1 mile
RESULT
1. Jonathan Besselink () 0:04:32
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
302. Flora McKNight 0:08:36
BENBULBEN – LUKE’S BRIDGE
Eric Kelly did his second race in the new North-West League in Connacht up the majestic Benbulben. He suffered a fall on the way down – casting doubt on his participation on Saturday – but got through.
RESULT
1. Alex Hunter (Ratoath AC) 0:47:19
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
51. Eric Kelly 1:50:06
DARGLE FOUR PEAKS
Graham Bush at Dargle Four Peaks
Graham Bush was our sole representative in the Leinster Championship race at Dargle Four Peaks where runners could choose to attack the checkpoints clockwise or anti-clockwise. Despite struggling with a leg issue, he took 1st place in the M55 category again.
RESULT
1. Brian Furey (Brothers Pearse AC) 1:43:07
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. Graham Bushe 1:57:52 (1st M50)
Brian Howard at Gaelforce
GAELFORCE BELMONT 10K
Gaelforce moved into Belmont for their August 10k this year due to the ongoing works on the Bray cliff path. Three of our Wicklow Wolf RC flew the flag here among 563 others runners.
RESULT
1. Michael McMahon () 0:41:22
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
97. Jack Callaghan 1:01:14
131. Rebecca Whineray 1:03:33
354. Brian Howard 1:17:17
Jack Callaghan at Gaelforce
MOUNTAIN MEITHEAL FUND-RAISER
Eoin Phelan at the Mountain Meitheal fund-raiser
Congratulations to Niall Corrigan – former club president – who was first in the handicap race for Mountain Meitheal postscripting in the Leinster League.
RESULT
1. Denis McGlynn () 0:40:33
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Angus Tyner 0:45:37 (1st M55)
24. Alan Kennedy 0:49:16
62. Loraine Creane 0:48:20
81. Eoin Phelan 0:55:49
Angus Tyner had the 10th fastest time and finished 7th in the handicapped rankings with Alan Kennedy 24th and Loraine Creane 52nd and 12th woman with Eoin Phelan also running off scratch.
ARDERIN – CLEAR LAKE
Meanwhile this weekend, James Heggie was our only runner at Arderin – Clear Lake over 12.6 km.
Long overdue report on several reports as our Club Championship continued at Lug na Coille and Angus Tyner wraps up the ‘M55 prize’ in the Leinster League….
TROOPERSTOWN SUMMER
The Leinster League finished on the familiar slopes of Trooperstown Hil where Eoin Syron led the team home ahead of Torben. Diarmuid Kavanagh was going well but had to pull up with a muscle cramp early on the climb.
Eoin was our highest finisher in the League overall in 18th spot for the whole league (counted best 7 out of 13 races) followed by Angus Tyner in 23rd who narrowly took the over-55 ‘title’ ahead of Alan Kennedy in 27th. James Heggie was the fourth and final Glendalough AC runner in 66th out of the 73 runners who achieved 7 races (a total of 504 runners ran 1 race or more).
Torben Dahl at Trooperstown
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:40:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
29. Eoin Syron 0:50:00
56. Torben Dahl 0:54:04
62. Alan Kennedy 0:55:46
95. Ben Lewis 1:01:48
122. Eoin Phelan 1:09:11
129. James Heggie 1:16:09
151. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:00:00
SD SCP 6K (BHAA)
RESULT
1. Sean doran (Harrier Products) 0:20:36
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
31. Eoin Kennedy 0:28:48
35. Mark Willoughby 0:29:23
LUG NA COILLE
Eoin Syron (WW RC shirt front) breaks away from his club mates early (Kev in light blue, Rene and Diarmuid in the back 4th, 5th and 7th in the picture)
At the super-traditional Lug na Coille route runners had to brave the wet and mist. Slaney’s Enda Cloake won his 10th race in 11 outings this season and the fact his winning time was the slowest since 1999 spoke more to the conditions than Enda’s performance!
Kevin ahead of Rene and Diarmuid on the early fire-road
Eoin Syron detached himself early to finish first man home as he had at Trooperstown leaving the trio of Rene, Kevin, and Diarmuid to battle it out for further Club Championship points. Rene made his move late on Camarahill but Kevin would keep returning and trying to ‘drop’ the club coach before Rene eventually got a gap on the flat plateau which he extended on the descent. Diarmuid closed in significantly on the downhill – closing to within 8 seconds of Kevin. Alan Kennedy took a detour into the valley adding 2 km and plenty of time (but not as bad as two other runners who were lost for 4.5 hours!).
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:58:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. Eoin Syron 1:09:33
14. René Borg 1:11:50
20. Kevin Ferguson 1:16:17
21. Diarmuid Kavanagh 1:16:25
32. Alan Kennedy 1:40:00 (3rd M55)
Sliabh Daeane – Ox Mountains
While our quintet battled on Lug na Coille Eric Kelly had his IMRA debut in Sligo in the North-West League finishing 39th and having a good time by all accounts.
RESULT
1. Aiden McMoreland () 0:43:08
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
39. Eric Kelly 1:24:54
BLUESTACK WAY 50 KM
This weekend John Conway finished 2nd in the inaugural Bluestack Way 50 km – a fairly speedy trail route that includes several road sections in County Donegal. John had crossed the finish line in 3rd spot but a time penalty for the runner-up saw him promoted to 2nd behind Irish international Cillian Fleming. John’s wife Laura won the women’s race.
