Category: Mountain running

REPORT: Mixed trails, road races and ParkRuns!

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

Our trail runners were in action on Dutch dunes, in Clara Vale at Gaelforce and at the annual Run the Line event in Dublin whereas our road runners were kept busy at Run in the Dark or Clontarf Half-marathon. Finally, more ParkRun results from Angus Tyner….

Haagse Duinentrail

Catherine in the dunes

Catherine had another strong run in the Netherlands in the weekend of the 9th winnin the women’s race and finishing 8th overall in a race over mainly dune trails. Irishman Geraid O’Shea won the race.

RESULT
1. Geroid O’Shea () 1:50:59
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Catherine Devitt 2:03:36 (1st woman)

GAELFORCE WICKLOW 10K

Brian Howard – Wicklow Wolf RC alumni -at Gaelforce Wicklow

Our runners were out on a real variety of trails the last 10 days starting with the new Gaelforce 10k in Clara Vale where Edson Ferreira made it three out of three in the Gaelforce trilogy and finished first club runners with Brian Howard and Britta Luebbert next.

RESULT
1. Paul McKenna () 0:40:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
55. Eoin Phelan 0:48:53
129. Edson Ferreira 0:53:32
372. Brian Howard 1:06:19
568. Britta Luebbert 1:47:51

RUN IN THE DARK 10K

Brian and Edson did take much of a break from Gaelforce before embarking on a faster 10 k – on the roads of inner city Dublin.

RESULT
1. Tommy Foley () 0:33:42
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
1221. Brian Howard 1:03:42
1242. Edson Ferreira 1:03:50

CLONTARF HALF-MARATHON

Paul O’Riordan set a brilliant new PB of 1:24 in the Clontarf Half – the second fastest half-marathon run by a club runner this year (in 38 attempts – Richard Costello is fastest with 1:21). Eoin Phelan keeps extending the record for ‘most races in a season’ hitting his 50th race with this event and with 4 more planned this year!

Eoin Phelan shows off the Clontarf bling
RESULT
1. Peter Tuohy (Naas AC) 1:13:08
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
37. Paul O’Riordan 1:24:10 (PB)
365. Eoin Phelan 1:38:45

BRICKFIELD AND FATHER COLLINS PARKRUN

Angus Tyner ran his 10th and 11th 5 km (all ParkRuns) of the year at Father Collins and then Brickfield. His time has been coming steadily down through the season peaking wiht 18:49 and a category win at Father Collins before a slightly slower 19:46 at Brickfield.

FATHER COLLINS

RESULT
1. Shaun Conaghan () 0:18:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. Angus Tyner 0:18:49 (1st M55)

BRICKFIELD

RESULT
1. Ciarán Ó MEACHAIR () 0:19:07
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Angus Tyner 0:19:46 (1st M55)

RUN THE LINE (13K AND 25K)

Eoin O’Neill at Run the Line

We had eleven runners in this year’s Run the Line with Aoife O’Brien not only first club runner home but also taking second place in the women’s race. Eoin O’Neill was next followed by Kevin Doherty who had a solid pacer in newly crowned club champion Paul Duffy. Rebecca Whineray was next with Nora – in post marathon mode – next and Gerard O’Rourke rounding out the field.

LONG

RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 1:56:44
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
40. Aoife O’Brien 2:31:38 (2nd F35)
140. Eoin O’NEILL 2:56:15
172. Kevin Doherty 3:00:15
173. Paul Duffy 3:00:15
300. Rebecca Whineray 3:19:17
307. Nora Butler 3:20:34
417. Gerard O’Rourke 3:42:15

SHORT

RESULT
1. Ivan Regal () 0:57:35
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
162. Edson Ferreira 1:20:26
255. Dave Rooney 1:25:37
364. Mark Willoughby 1:31:32
669. Britta Luebbert 3:04:11

RESULTS: New women’s 5k record and Wicklow Way Race results

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

Twenty-three of our runners competed at EcoTrail Wickow this year where the team were hoping to defend their team win from 2023. While this fell short (we finished 2nd) there were plenty of good results to report on. In between we have a host of road race results including a new women’s 5 km club record before we finish with recent results from the Glendalough Trail and Wicklow Way Race off-road events.

Graham Bush (photo: Rob Tobin)

WICKLOW WAY RACE & NAV CHALLENGE 3

Graham Bush warmed up for his Wicklow Way Race by finishing 4th on the short course of IMRA’s last Nav Challenge of the year and five days later he was ready to go with a stellar 11th spot in 16:47.

RESULT – NAV CHALLENGE 3
1. John Bell () 1:31:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Graham Bushe 1:47:00 (3rd M55)
RESULT – WICKLOW WAY RACE
1. Keith Lane () 13:24:24
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
11. Graham Bushe 16:47:44 (1st M55)

ZUIDERPARKRUN

In the Netherlands Catherine Devitt lowered her own PB from earlier this year by 7 seconds to run 18:32 breaking her own women’s club record as well. It was a tough field as despite this Catherine was only 2nd woman!

RESULT
1. Tom Reep () 0:16:20
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Catherine Devitt 0:18:32 (2nd F40, PB, Club Record)

FIGHTING BLINDNESS 15 KM

Eoin Phelan clocked his 47th race of the season at Fighting Blindness – on a course lengthened to 16.4 km this year due to NPWS works on the Spinc.

RESULT
1. Stephen Kennedy () 1:16:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
23. Eoin Phelan 1:32:08

REPORT: Mammoth and EcoTrail Wicklow sprinkled with a bit of Berlin and Galway Bay….

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

No we are not talking craft beers but rather the racing action since 22nd of September which began in the US….

MAMMOTH 26 KM

John Conway ran off any lingering Dragon’s Back disappointment with a strong run in the 26 km race that was part of the Mammoth trailfest in California last event of the Golden Trail Series.

RESULT
1. Elhousine Elazzaoui () 1:49:35
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
132. John Conway 3:10:48

ECOTRAIL WICKLOW 2024

Our club’s finger and footprints were all over this year’s EcoTrail Wicklow with coach Rene Borg one of the main organisers and a large part of the crucial crew coming from our ranks. There was still time to compete as 22 of our runners took the 5 start lines (10k, 19k, 30k, 46k, and 80k) with some strong results.

We couldn’t quite defend our team title from 2023 but finished 2nd with Barra O’Duill, Paul O’Riordan and Blaise Kinsella the three scorers for the team (the 10k and 80k do not count in the tally).

10 KM

The shortest race ran last and here it was Dynafit representative and Wicklow Wolf RC representative Ross Thompson who was our lonely racer finishing 24th out of 123.

RESULT
1. Dale Gibney-Tarleton () 0:51:44
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
24. Ross Thompson 1:03:52

19 KM

Ben Lewis

It was a bit surprising perhaps that only one of our number (recent Wicklow Wolf joinees Barr O’Duill) opted for the 19 km. This made him a key cog as the scorer in the club competition for the 19 km race.

RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 1:26:14
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
74. Barra O’Duill 2:12:31

30 KM

Eoin Kennedy raising the first at Great Sugarloaf

Most of our runners (and our two only female representatives) had preferred the 30 km distance on the way and here Paul O’Riordan ran a stellar race to get in ahead of in-form Richard Allan. Anthony Breen suffered a nasty fall going down the Sugarloaf but recovered to finish third of our bunch. Julia Palma was our first woman home in 113th.

RESULT
1. Luke Weldon () 2:28:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Paul O’Riordan 3:09:39
29. Richard Allan 3:15:23
51. Anthony Breen 3:28:37
61. Neil Fusco 3:34:31
79. Ben Lewis 3:42:05
91. Eoin Kennedy 3:46:38
113. Julia Palma 3:51:33
134. Tadgh O’Brien 3:59:31
141. Andy Walker 4:01:19
149. Loraine Creane 4:02:53
185. Gerard O’Rourke 4:15:11
189. Edson Ferreira 4:16:23
Loraine Creane

46 KM

Blaise Kinsella led home our 46km men in his longest race yet and was followed by Eoin Phelan getting in a very long pre-marathon run and Alan Kennedy who may have avowed the ultras but not the ‘pseudo-ultras’.

RESULT
1. Asher Cook () 3:40:40
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
68. Blaise Kinsella 5:39:47
94. Eoin Phelan 5:53:53
111. Alan Kennedy 6:01:58

80 km

Graeme Warren

Philip O’Brien and Graeme Warren both ran very well blowing well below the 10 hour barrier and finishing in the top quarter of the field. Graeme also got to take the o50 prize courtesy of the an m50 finishing on the main podium while it was another tough day at the office for James Heggie who was counted out by the time limits after 52 km at Lough Tay.

RESULT
1. Andris Ronimoiss () 6:47:25
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
33. Philip O’Brien 9:33:43
37. Graeme Warren 9:44:44 (1st M50)
128. James Heggie DNF

* a faster time was run in 2023 but on a different course (shorter with less climb)

BERLIN MARATHON

Mark Lindsay in Berlin

Meanwhile in Berlin, David Murphy and Mark Lindsay took on the fast marathon course there and finished with some strong times. David Murphy took 28 minutes off his PB for a 3:32 with Mark Lindsay not wanting to be outdone and he lowered his PB from 3:47 to 3:23 (24 minutes). Super running from the chaps who now move into 13th and 16th position on our men’s ‘all time best marathon’ performances.

RESULT
1. Milkesa Mengesha (Ethiopia) 2:03:17
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
10247. Mark Lindsay 3:23:17 (PB)
13882. David Murphy 3:32:11 (PB)

Beer and PBs in Berlin

GALWAY BAY HALF-MARATHON

The wind also didn’t stop Paul Duffy lowering his PB by about a minute to 1:28:25 and moving past Gavin Kennedy and Aran Lynham in our half-marathon men’s rankings. Wife Sile ran her longest run ever as she finished in 2:23.

RESULT
1. Jake O’Regan () 1:10:24
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
33. Paul Duffy 1:28:25 (PB)
1205. Sile Keane 2:23:23 (PB)

3/4 MARATHON

Eoin Phelan continued his racing bonanza (and Dublin marathon preparation) running 2:44:09 in the Longwood 3/4 marathon to finish 257th and top-25% of the field. He was only the third Glendalough AC runner to race at this distance and, as only the second man, bettered Colm Kenna’s official time and set the club record.

RESULT
1. William Maunsell () 1:41:15
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
257. Eoin Phelan 2:44:09 (PB, Club Record)

CROSS-COUNTRY?

For the first time in our club history, we had no representatives in either the Novice or Intermediate cross-country events. Hopefully, we’ll have some results to report later in the cross season.

REPORT: World Masters medals, Dingle Half podiums and much more

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

A bumper report follows from the World Mountain Masters Running Championship in Canfranc, the Dingle Half and Full marathon, the ‘2x Lakes’ races in Wicklow (Lakers 10k in Roundwood and The Lakes 10k in Blessington) spiced up with action from Ratoath, IMRA, and more! We have four medals, one podium and three PBs in today’s report….

we will start with the World Master’s and work our way back to some older results…

WORLD MASTERS MOUNTAIN RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIP

We had runners competing in all three of the races at the World Masters Mountain Running Championship in Canfranc that began with an uphill 6.5 km race on Friday.

UPHILL 6.5 K

Glendalough arrives in Canfranc….

Recent joinees Becky Quinn and Joe Lalor opened their World Master’s event at the Uphill with Becky securing an impressive Bronze medal in the women’s F50 category. Graham Bush was second home from the club and began his quest for three races in three days…

RESULT
1. Eduoard Hernandez (Spain M40 Team) 0:43:45
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
100. Becky Quinn 1:00:02 (3rd F50, Individual Bronze)
166. Graham Bushe 1:04:41
294. Joe Lalor 1:20:59

LONG TRAIL 34K

aforementioned Graham Bush made it two races out of two and it looked briefly like he and the Irish M55 team had secured a Bronze medal but a disqualification for Vasiliy Neumerzhitskiy (for discarding his jacket before the finish) meant the Irish teams was bumped out of the medals! Becky Quinn unfortunately had to pull out after the first checkpoint.

RESULT
1. Thomas Roach (UK M40 Team) 3:06:30
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
135. Graham Bushe 4:35:56

UP/DOWN CLASSIC 17K

On the final day it was time for Paul Duffy and Kevin Doherty to join the fray and for Joe Lalor to have his second outing. Paul Duffy was our first man home and second scorer for the Irish M40 team that secured team Silver ahead of the Italians. As a funny anecdote three men from Baldoyle had an involvement – Ian Conroy (first man home), Paul, and Kevin Doherty (who just missed out on scoring – coming in fourth Irishman).

Joe Lalor was third scorer for the Irish M70 team who won gold and got their turn on the top part of the podium for the national anthem.

This put a fine finish to a successful championship yielding one individual and three team medals (one gold, one silver, two bronze).

RESULT
1. Andrew Douglas (UK M35 Team) 1:22:56
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
148. Paul Duffy 1:59:36 (Team Silver)
186. Graham Bushe 2:05:01 (Team Bronze)
225. Kevin Doherty 2:12:17
353. Joe Lalor 2:35:45 (Team Gold)
Joe Lalor (right)

DINGLe MARATHON

Aoife O’Brien raced along three other members including partner Aidan Redmond and secured and impressive podium on the tough marathon course in Dingle.

RESULT
1. Ian Vanderven () 2:44:08
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
51. Aoife O’Brien 3:36:09 (3rd woman) – WW RC
51. Aidan Redmond 3:54:54 – WW RC
286. Edson Ferreira 4:25:39 – WW RC
330. Niall MacCarthy 4:35:05 – WW RC

RATOATH HALF-MARATHON

Eoin Phelan clocked another race and another PB lowering his half-marathon best to 1:35.

RESULT
1. Peter Somba (Ratoath AC) 1:10:05
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
382. Eoin Phelan 1:35:41 (PB) – WW RC

DRAGON’S BACK WALES

John Conway was on another adventure with wife Laura and friend from Parnell: Michael Dowling taking on the 6-day Dragon’s Back stage race event over some of the roughest terrain Wales’ has to offer. In the end Michael Dowling was the only finisher of the trio with Laura succumbing to injury and John having to throw in the towel after stomach issues after 3 days and just over 33 hours of running.

MEDIC HALF-MARATHON

Kevin Ferguson knocked 56 seconds off his PB to run 1:34:22 for the half-marathon at the Medic Half-marathon with wife Niamh knocking nearly 27 minutes off her own best.

RESULT
1. Kacper Czerpak () 1:16:13
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Kevin Ferguson 1:34:22 (PB)

NAV CHALLENGE 1 – BARRAVORE

Locally, Chris Willoughby tried his hands at the navigation challenge finishing 18th.

RESULT
1. John Bell (Sli Cualann AC) 2:26:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
18. Chris willoughby 4:18:00 (WW RC)

CARLINGFORD FOX’S ROCK

Angus Tyner and Graham Bush went head to head at the northern Leinster Championship counter in Carlingford and Angus used his navigational skills to get himself home first in a fine 5th overall with Graham Bush two spots behind. despite the lofty finishes Bernard Fortune took the M55 with Angus and Graham 2nd and 3rd.

RESULT
1. Brian Furey  (Brother’s Pearse AC) 1:47:16
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
5. Angus Tyner 1:58:45
7. Graham Bushe 2:08:30

THE LAKES 10 KM

The trio of Aoife, Colm and Donna travelled to Blessington to attend the always worthwhile Lakes 10k. While there were no PBs, Donna secured 2nd F40 with Aoife improving on last year’s time.

RESULT
1. Colm Turner (Brothers Pearse AC) 0:33:12
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Donna Quinn 0:42:16 (2nd F40)
40. Aoife Joyce 0:46:37
80. Colm Kenna 0:51:04

ROUNDWOOD ‘RUN FOR LAKERS’ 10 KM

Same day, same distance and nearly the same name – a runner could be forgiven if they turned up on the trails of Roundwood instead of the roads of Blessington but thankfully our only representative – Nora Butler was where she was meant to be and finished well up in 34th out over over 300 starters in a great time of 45:50.

RESULT
1. Charlie White () 0:35:17
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
34. Nora Butler 0:45:50 (WW RC)

ZUIDERPARKRUN 5 KM

Meanwhile in Holland Richard Costelloe ran his second fastest 5 km of the season finishing 2nd in the Zuiderparkrun.

RESULT
1. Aaron McConkey (Saltaire Striders) 0:17:22
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. Richard Costelloe 0:17:42

REPORT: Hardanger 43k, Tullamore Half, and the IMRA post-season…

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

With the Off-Road County Championship done and dusted and many club runners looking towards Dublin Marathon, a post-season feel has fallen over mountains and trails and so it began with the traditional Leinster League ‘outro’ of the Mountain Meitheal Handicap Race and the Mountain Rescue Benefit Run on Paddock Hill.

This week’s report ends on a triple header from yesterday….

Colm Kenna blending in with the Heather

Mountain Meitheal Handicap

Angus Tyner took the win in the handicapped race up at Lough Tay and he set the 21st fastest actual time in the process with Graham Bush running well (7th fastest) and Loraine Creane (2nd fastest woman) not able to overcome their handicaps – finishing well down the handicapped ranking.

RESULT (actual ranking – not handicapped(
1. Daire Finn () 0:37:20
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Graham Bushe 0:45:56 (1st M55)
21. Angus Tyner 0:49:50 (winner on handicap)
49. Loraine Creane 0:53:44 (2nd F40)

Mountain Rescue Benefit Hill Run

Graham Bush

Graham Bush had a terrific run to finish 5th continuing his scintillating late summer form. Chris Willoughby also ran well and got 2nd M50 as a reward. Eoin Phelan , Andy Walker, Colm and James rounded out our six man contingent on the local slopes of Paddock.

RESULT
1. Andy Keeling (Brothers Pearse AC) 0:36:17
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
5. Graham Bushe 0:37:37 (1st M55)
16. Chris willoughby 0:40:13 (2nd M50)
31. Eoin Phelan 0:44:31
46. Andy Walker 0:49:32
48. Colm Kenna 0:51:23
52. James Heggie 0:53:02

Hardanger 43k

Paul Duffy took on one of the longest trail race he has ever undertaken (the longest?) and possibly his longest ever race and he chose the unforgiving hills and slopes of the Norwegian mountains as the staging ground for this in the Hardangervidda 43 km trail race with 1666m climb. He said ‘I think gruelling just about captures it’ and he finished in 8 hours 12 minutes in 129th place. The cross-country season will seem easy now….

RESULT
1. Steffen Brufladt (Romerike Ultraløperklub) 4:07:52
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
129. Paul Duffy 8:12:37

Zuiderparkrun

Richard decided 7 hours and 55 minutes less running than that was just about right with another solid local Parkrun in The Haag – 17:54 and 2nd place (and 1st M45).

It was the 28th 5 km run by a club members this year and Richard has run the four fastest (three in Zuiderparkrun) and is the only club member to break 18 minutes this year (something Richard has done in 4 out of his 6 races on the distance).

RESULT
1. William Jardine (Durham City Harriers) 0:17:07
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. Richard Costelloe 0:17:54

Tullamore Half-marathon

Finally the National and Leinster Half-marathon took place on the fast course in Tullamore where Donna, Gavin, Nora and Fiona Smyth were in action. No club or county medals were secured this time around but Nora Butler got a club best by nearly three minutes of 1:40.

RESULT
1. Colin Maher (Ballyfin AC) 1:09:05
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
207. Donna Quinn 1:32:18
267. Gavin Kennedy 1:36:05
377. Nora Butler 1:40:57 (Club Best, PB?)
1150. Fiona Smyth 2:18:35

REPORT: Gaelforce Belmont 10k / Ballineddan

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

A quick report before the Athletics Wicklow Off-Road Championship will occupy most of our hands and minds for the next few days!

This weekend saw mainly action on trail and hills. Firstly, three of our ‘Wicklow Wolfers’ took part in the large (523) field at the popular Gaelforce Bray 10 km which for the second year had moved into the Belmont demesne due to the ongoing repair of the Bray Cliff Path.

GAELFORCE BRAY 10K

Edson Ferreira showed good form ahead of his county championship debut coming up this weekend being first over the line followed by Brian Howard and Britta Luebbert.

RESULT
1. Joe Roche () 0:43:44
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
33. Edson Ferreira 0:57:05 – WW RC
299. Brian Howard 1:18:07 – WW RC
504. Britta Luebbert 2:16:15 – WW RC

BALLINEDDAN

The new Leinster Championship up Lugnacoille via Slieve Maan and Ballineddan was the second hill counter in our Club Championship with normalised results being combined into one score where Graham Bush took the win – finishing first club runner on both occasions in nearly identical times (72 minutes for both 10.5 km routes).

Ballineddan is the easier of the two – slightly more runnable and less technical than the traditional Camarahill approach. Behind Graham (in impressive 8th place) was Angus Tyner and Alan Kennedy who together swept the M55 podium. Eoin Phelan was next in his 34th race of the year as 3rd M35 followed by Joe Lalor (1st M70) and James Heggie (1st M50).

35 attended a route that probably deserved a bigger turn-out!

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP – AFTER ROUND 11

With 11 of 16 rounds completed Graham Bush is the big mover going into 5th spot with only 3 counters. Winning the next two will put him within striking distance of leader Paul Duffy. One trail counter (the Off-road counter), three cross-country races and 1 road race (Dublin Marathon) remain for runners to get the minimum 5 to complete the championship.

RankNameRaces#Best 5Wins
1Paul Duffy6500.05
2Gavin Kennedy5481.62
3Kevin Ferguson5448.90
4Eoin Phelan7411.10
5Graham Bushe3396.32
6René Borg4379.00
7Alan Kennedy4349.10
8Aoife Joyce4321.50
9Mark Willoughby5313.20
10Aran Lynham3279.90
11Angus Tyner3270.70
12James Heggie4259.10
13Colm Kenna3247.00
14Chris willoughby2232.10
15Richard Allan2189.51
16Anthony Breen2180.30
17Catherine Devitt2179.40
18Loraine Creane2177.50
19Kevin Doherty2169.60
20Jeff Swords2164.50
21Donall Flanagan1152.00
22Claire Thompson2144.80
23Andy Walker2130.60
24Rebecca Whineray2127.20
25Gerard O’Rourke2122.50
26Joe Lalor1107.60
27Graeme Warren1100.01
28Diarmuid Kavanagh196.20
29Torben Dahl195.60
30Marcus Murphy195.50
31Blaise Kinsella194.60
32Rachel Wisdom187.40
33Graham Kearns186.80
34Philip O’Brien186.60
35Donna Quinn186.20
36Ben Lewis183.40
37Grace Curham181.60
38Corrie Adams177.60
39Niall MacCarthy176.90
40fergal Olohan176.40
41Neil Fusco171.80
42Richard Kieran164.20
43Brendan Farrell163.50
44Sam Fleming154.00
45Aaron Kedward148.90
46Tadeusz Cantwell16.70

with none of our women competing in rounds 8, 9, 10 and 11 over the summer, the status quo remains locked where it was after race 7 with Aoife ahead on four races with most sitting on only 2 and needing to do at least 3 of the last 5 to complete.

RankNameRaces#Best 5
1Aoife Joyce4367.2
2Catherine Devitt2200.0
5Loraine Creane2200.0
7Rebecca Whineray2188.0
3Claire Thompson2162.9
6Rachel Wisdom199.5
4Donna Quinn198.4
8Grace Curham185.8

REPORT: 12-hours in Leixlip, a few hours at Keeper Hill

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Track running, Ultra running

Two results ahead of tonight’s Leinster League finisher race at Trooperstown Hill and we begin with another IMRA race: the Keeper Hill – Killoscullen Half-marathon.

KEEPER HILL – KILLOSCULLEN HALF-MARATHON

Eoin Phelan notched his 33rd race of the season at the Keeper Hill – Killoscully Half-marathon  coming round in 2 hours 21 minutes

RESULT
1. Michael Costello () 1:39:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
58. Eoin Phelan 2:21:24

Trasna Na Uaireanta24

Louis Byrne took the win in the Trasna Na Uaireanta24 track ultra event in Leixlip where he was running in the 12-hour race. Louis spend much of the race ahead of Don Hannon who faded away a bit in the latter stages of the race leading two women (Caroline McCabe and Arlene Moore) nearest. In the end Louis held on for a comfortable 9 lap gap – completing 99.2 km with Caroline McCabe getting in 95.5 km. Lous held well under 3 minutes for the first 51 laps and only started to noticeably slow down from the 222nd lap onwards. His mother Christina Byrne finished a great da for the family with 6th place.

As the first 12-hour race completed by a club member, Louis’ time now sets the standard as a new Club Record.

1. Louis Byrne (Glendalough AC) 11:59:52 (CR)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

TROOPERSTOWN HILL – LEINSTER LEAGUE FINAL

Donall Flanagan at Trooperstown

The Leinster League finished on a new version of the traditional course at Trooperstown Hill where despite the hill being ‘super local’, we only had 6 runners in action this summer – 5 in the long course and Chris Willoughby (inadvertently?) in the short course.

Graham Bush led us home and was 1st M55 with Donal Flanagan 2nd. While Eoin and James Heggie were faster than Joe Lalor (only 2nd in the m70 this week), they finished behind him having taken the early start.

Chris Willoughby

Richard Allan whilst not competing on the day was our highest placed finisher in the League overall finishing 21st with Graham Bush 24th, Alan Kennedy 35th, Angus Tyner and Eoin Phelan neck on neck in 59th and 60th, Joe Lalor 86th (and 2nd overall in the M70 category), and James Heggie 97th. 111 out of the 751 league contestants completed the minimum 7 races required to score (a completion rate of 14%).

RESULT – long
1. Cian Taylor (Inbhear Dee AC) 0:55:29
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
18. Graham Bushe 1:02:00 (1st M55)
61. Donall Flanagan 1:15:37
101. Joe Lalor 1:39:19 (2nd M70)
103. Eoin Phelan 1:17:22
116. James Heggie 1:32:13
RESULT – short
1. Colm O’Neill (Inbhear Dee AC) 0:25:21
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
11. Chris willoughby 0:37:40 (1st M45)

REPORT: Church Mountain

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports

Only one midweek result to report this week….

CHURCH MOUNTAIN

Eoin Phelan descending at Church Mountain

We had five representatives travelling to the new course at Church Mountain (replacing Sorrell Hill as one of the West Wicklow fixtures) joining 136 other IMRA hopefuls for the penultimate LL fixture. The last time an IMRA race was held on this mountain was in 1991.

On a tough course, Graham Bush excelled as our first man home in 13th position followed by Alan Kennedy, Jeff Swords and Eoin Phelan (clearly hoping to set an unbreakable record for ‘Most Prolific’). Graham, Jeff, Eoin and Joe had all been in action at Lugnacoille only 4 days earlier.

RESULT
1. Mark McAdden () 0:49:49
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
13. Graham Bushe 0:57:12 (2nd M55)
35. Alan Kennedy 1:04:00
60. Jeff Swords 1:09:36
112. Eoin Phelan 1:13:20

REPORT: Lugnacoille, Otterlo, Blaney 10 mile

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

Saturday 27th saw a triple-decker of races with a road, trail and hill run on offer, we start in Monaghan before moving via the Netherlands to Wicklow….

BLANEY ROCKETS 10 MILE

Donna Quinn returned homewards to Monaghan for one of her local races – the Blaney Rockets 10 mile and completed an easy enough cruise winning the F40 category in the process.

RESULT
1. Alexander Wallace  (St. Coca’s AC) 0:53:59
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
67. Donna Quinn 1:10:19 (1st F40)

LUGNACOILLE

Paul Duffy showing that the ‘short and singlet’ tradition is still alive even on the high peaks… (photo: Gill McLoughlin)

Six runners took on the hyper-traditional Lugnacoille race – a proper straightforward up and down mountain run with an average gradient of 14%. Graham Bush showed strong form in distancing everyone else including Club Championship leader Paul Duffy who was second home followed by Jeff Swords, Kevin Doherty and Eoin Phelan (breaking the record for most races in a season with 32 through this effort) and finally Joe Lalor – winning the M70 category.

Kevin Doherty (photo: Dillon Ryan)
RESULT
1. Sean Quirke (Bilboa AC) 0:59:22
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
24. Graham Bushe 1:12:42
29. Paul Duffy 1:16:58
39. Jeff Swords 1:26:27
43. Kevin Doherty 1:31:22
52. Eoin Phelan 1:45:40
56. Joe Lalor 1:36:20 (1st M70)

OTTERLO TRAIL RUN

Otterlo

Richard Costelloe did his 4th race of just around 30 km in this racing season this time mainly on dunes and trails finishing 8th out of 72.

RESULT
1. Izak Hanse (Arnhem) 2:09:25
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Richard Costelloe 2:25:01

REPORT: Alps, track, Croghan, Clontarf, Carrick, Ridgeway Ultra, Docklands 5k and Fingal 10k

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

This weekend had it all: track records, a downhill only race in the alps, a tough half-marathon on Croghan Kinsella and the congested madness at Clontarf Half-marathon and was folllowed by another busy week including the Leinster League race at Carrick, Docklands 5k, the Ridgeway Ultra in the UK and the Fingal 10k road race and we got plenty of podiums, a club record and personal bests to celebrate.

WESTVIlET LOPEN AND WERPEN TRACK MEET

Richard Costelloe only had three other competitors to spur him on in the 3000m discipline at the Westvliet Lopen and Werpen track meet but that did not stop him reducing his PB from 10:08 to 10:01. With that run he claimed the overall club record (his own) and the M45 club record (held by Angus Tyner) and now holds 9 of our 142 club records. Not bad at age 48!

RESULT
1. Richard Costelloe (Glendalough AC) 0:10:01 (PB, Club Record)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

CLONTARF HALF-MARATHON

Fergal Olohan ran a strong while Aran Lynham continued his recovery after the Lap of the Gap 100 km race by pacing girlfriend Ashley through the half in 2:01. First home, however, was Niall MacCague with a fine sub-90 minute performance.

RESULT
1. Wayne Waldron () 1:14:57
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
43. Niall MacCague 1:28:16
969. Aran Lynham 2:01:39
972. fergal Olohan 1:55:36

CROGHAN HALF-MARATHON

RESULT
1. Donatas Jocius (Crusaders AC) 1:46:53
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
24. Aoife O’Brien 2:09:33 (1st F35)
28. Chris willoughby 2:10:57 (3rd M50)
31. Alan Kennedy 2:13:21 (3rd M55)
41. Colm Kenna 2:20:57 (3rd M45)
43. Aoife Joyce 2:22:22 (3rd F45)
51. Eoin Phelan 2:31:23

MEGAVALANCHE DOWNHILL RACE

John Conway continues to be a glutton for punishment taking on the planned 21 downhill only races from Alpe d’Huez. Due to adverse weather conditions it was shortened to 16 km but that is still a lot of eccentric muscle damage. John took the M40 category finishing 12th out of 41 downhill demons.

RESULT
1. Mathieu Burban (SERRE CHEVALIER BRIANÇON ATHLÉTISME) 1:02:59
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. John Conway 1:21:40 (1st M40)

CARRICK MOUNTAIN

Four of our runners joined 150 others for another Leinster League evening race and it was another close run between Paul Duffy, Richard Allan and Graham Bush. This time Paul turned the tables back – finishing first with Graham 2nd and Richard Allan 3rd. All three finished 3rd in their respectice age categories (M40, M55, M50) with Andy Hayes also finished the race in 87th.

RESULT
1. Oscar Durston (Kilcoole AC) 0:38:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Paul Duffy 0:45:56 (3rd M40)
23. Graham Bushe 0:46:18 (3rd M55)
25. Richard Allan 0:47:30 (3rd M50)
87. Andy Walker 1:00:54

DOCKLANDS 5K

Wednesday evening racing gave way to Thursday night racing at the hyper-traditional Docksland 5k where 1700 runners assembled. Matthew O’Brien represented us finishing just outside the top-third of the field.

RESULT
1. Peter Somba (Ratoath AC) 0:15:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
619. Matthew O’Brien 0:24:04

THE RIDGEWAY – RACE TO THE STONES ULTRA

Eleanor Carty bagged her first ever ultra in Essex running the Race to the Stones 50k finishing in the middle of the field with a solid 6:48:37 for the 50 km race.

RESULT
1. Daniel Wheller () 3:44:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
175. Eleanor Carty 6:48:37

FINGAL 10K

It was double-PB joy for Eoin Phelan (a week on from Croghan) and Graham Kearns at the Fingal 10km in Dublin.

RESULT
1. Hugh Armstrong (Ballina AC) 0:29:39
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
307. Eoin Phelan 0:42:39 (PB)
439. Graham Kearns 0:44:55 (PB)