Mountain running – Page 5

REPORT: Brockagh Burst, Madeira Half and the Leinster Masters XC in Avondale

A strong start to the year continued as the weekend took us to 50 race results for the year.

Event organisers raced against the clock to get their races done and runners dusted ahead of the forecast rain and wind warnings. Wicklow had two events running in short succession a mere 15 minutes apart: IMRA’s Brockagh Burst kicked off at 11 am (early starters a bit before) just as the Leinster XC kicked off with the juvenile relays on the same hour.

BROCKAGH BURST

Rainy conditions hit Laragh first so fair running was not on the cards at Brockagh Burst although neither was the snowy winterland of a few years ago.

Alan Kennedy (black jacket) and Paul Duffy (yellow jacket) at the start line

This year’s route used the slight variation without the Brockagh South-East summit. Despite this variation normally being faster, the general race conditions meant the course was anything but: times were down significantly on previous years and the race had a near-enough 20-25% no show rate (the Leinsters in Avondale saw similar DNS rates as some competitors clealry opted against making the trip).

Paul Duffy contributed his strong start to the season finishing 10th (3 spots up on 2023) and closer to the winner having sat in 12th position at the summit. He also secured 2nd in the M40 category. Next home was Alan Kennedy in 28th (3rd M55) followed by Eoin Kennedy, Conor Rossiter, Colm Kenna, Keith Mulvey and James Heggie for a total of six competitors from the club.

LEINSTER CROSS-COUNTRY

Donna Quinn in the 87 strong women’s master’s field

Having lost Gavin Kennedy and Claire Thompson to injury and with Marcus Murphy and Diarmuid Kavanagh having to literally take a rain-check due to illness, our representation on the Sli Cualann teams were whittled down to Donna Quinn (Master’s Women), Angus Tyner and Anthony Breen (on the M50 team) and René Borg as the lone M35+ representative.

Donna set off first as part of a 10 woman Sli Cualann team consisting of herself and nine Parnell runners. Donna finished 4th – one spot and not far behind team mate Emily Ryan. Crucially both where ahead of the 2nd and 3rd Donore Harriers finishers consigning them to 4th.

In the County teams, Wicklow were being chased hard by Offaly who had a 10 point lead by the time each team’s first and second scorers crossed the line. But as Emily Ryan, then Donna and then another 13 runners arrived before their third scorer, the County Bronze was made safe.

RESULT

1. Kate Purcell (Raheny Shamrocks) 0:15:32

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————- (RUNNING AS SLI CUALANN)

16. Donna Quinn 0:18:17 (F35+ Club Bronze, F35+ County Bronze)*

* this extends Donna’s record as our most decorated runner with 36 medals (17 individual, 19 team).

MASTER’S MEN

Next up were the men between 35 and 64 years of ago on the 7 km version of the course. Here coach René Borg delivered a battling performance to finish second Sli Cualann finisher behind Parnell’s Ray Kenny with Angus Tyner never far behind. Rene was first scorer for the M35 team and fourth scorer (behind three Kilcoole AC runners) for the Wicklow County team. Sadly both finished last on the day. Yet it was a good outing – the field was the same size as 2023 but Rene finished 15 spots further up in 78th: our club’s highest finish in a Leinster Master’s event.

*Anthony Breen battles in the 136 strong field*

Angus was only 29 seconds back in 87th and second scorer for the M50+ team. Third was Inbhear Dee’s Paul Kelly, 4th was our own Anthony Breen and 5th Cormac O’Ceallaigh of Parnell. The same team did slightly better in the county competition finishing 4th with Angus 2nd scorer and Anthony 4th – 38 points behind Meath.

The action finished with Intermediate men and women where we had no representation and the Sli Cualann men finished 6th out of 7 lacking one runner for a county team and with Robin Mooney the best placed Wicklow athlete in 8th.

FUNCHAL HALF-MARATHON

In warmer climates Bruce Phillips did his annual ‘warm half-marathon’ at the Funchal Marathon and Half-marathon event that doubled as the Portuguese Marathon Championship. He started strong but faded some on a bumpy course and finished around 4.5 minutes off the M60 PB he had set in Malaga the previous year.

RESULT

1. Amandio Correia () 1:11:12

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

272. Bruce Phillips 1:59:38

REPORTS: Smashing performance at The Spine

January 19, 2024 by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Trail running, Ultra running

The Montane Spine Race has grown into one of the most iconic events on the ultra running calendar and is often called ‘Britain’s most brutal endurance race’. This is certainly true of the winter edition and this year, we had John Conway in action for the 12th edition of the race. John took the start line of the so-called ‘Montane Spine Challenger North’ event – a ‘shorter’ (if such a term has any meaning for a 168 mile race) – version of the full spine inaugurated in 2022.

The first year the route was diverted due to storms, so this year’s race would be only the second running of the formal version of the course. Irishman Joe O’Leary set entirely new standards when he won the race in 44 hours 37 minutes. Our attention locally in Wicklow was fixed on John Conway, his wife Laura O’Driscoll and Parnell’s Michael Dowling who formed a formidable trio for much of the race. Laura was in the lead when she unfortunately had to withdraw from the race, leaving the duo of John and Michael to venture onwards.

Once Tom Hollins, a former winner of the full Winter Spine, and Nikki Arthur (the women’s winner who took 20 hours off the female record in her first outing at this distance) had crossed the line, John and Michael were leading the hunt for 3rd spot in the men’s race. They were hunted by Josh Ellis, who managed to claw back over 2 hours going into each of the two final split points called simply ‘Hut 1’ and ‘Hut 2’. He never got nearer: Michael and John ran the final checkpoint 8.5 minutes faster and had a solid gap of 1 hour 22 minutes by the end as they kissed Hadrian’s Wall.

RESULT

1. Joe O’Leary (Munster Trail Runners) 44:37:20

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

4. John Conway 58:49:58 (3rd men’s category)

REPORT: Art O’Neill and Wicklow Indoor Championship

January 15, 2024January 16, 2024 by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running, Track running, Ultra running

A weekend of extremes (in several senses) loomed for our runners this weekend past. On the one side the Friday evening winter escape from Dublin Castle in the Art O’Neill Challenge and on the other Sunday’s Wicklow Indoor Championship in the National Arena in Abbotstown. John Conway also began his Montane Spine Challenger North 100 mile run on the English Pennines – one of the toughest winter challenges in these parts of the world. Either way, we had runners competing on flat bouncy track in 24 degrees of dry heat while others trotted over uneven wet bog at night in sub-zero.

FERRYCARRIG 5 MILE

There was time for road action as well as Aoife Joyce took on her homestead run – the flat and fast Ferrycarrig 5 mile where she set her 31:11 personal best in 2013. This Sunday she had a convincing run of 35:26 despite having to make a stop to tie a shoe lace (!) – a new F45 personal best and club record.

RESULT

1. Dermot Cummins (West Waterford AC) 0:24:41

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

84. Aoife Joyce 0:35:28 (F45 PB, Club F45 record)

ART O’NEILL CHALLENGE

Rebecca Whineray crossing the line in Glenmalure!

Before this, Brian Lydon and Rebecca Whineray became our two finishers of this year’s Art O’Neill Challenge after Graeme Warren had to defer his race to 2025 due to illness. Brian had a stellar race finishing in the top-20 while Rebecca was 10th woman overall.

RESULT

1. Ricki Wynne () 5:46:36

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

17. Brian Lydon 8:21:17

76. Rebecca Whineray 10:59:48

WICKLOW INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP

*Happy innocence before the first race of the meet*

We had a large contingent planned to travel to the Wicklow Indoor Championship but in a repeat of the Wicklow Senior XC situation, we first lost Marcus (to illness) and then Anthony Breen (who once again had to look after the Wicklow roads in the middle of the night). Donna Quinn – our sole female competitor – also had to pull out wit a neck strain, leaving it down to senior runners Aran Lynham, Diarmuid Kavanagh, and Eoin Phelan to join with Masters’ runners James Heggie, Paul Duffy and Rene Borg.*

* Eoin was erroneously placed in the senior race as we misread his age! He should have competed in the Master’s race in the M35 category.

WICKLOW INDOOR 1500m

Aran Lynham with Diarmuid behind him in the Senior men’s 1500m

The 1500m is fast becoming a cult favourite for the club and our senior runners were sent off (somewhat grudgingly with the young guns of the u19 category) and Aran grabbed the race by the scruff of the neck to record a PB of 4:59 with Diarmuid Kavanagh and Eoin Phelan – both still recovering from recent bout of illness our 2nd and 3rd club scorers. It was a club senior men’s record for Aran (and briefly a club indoor record) with PB for Diarmuid and a debut for Eoin with a club M35 record of 5:49.

*Paul Duffy shadows the early leader Darragh Page (Kilcoole AC) before overtaking him and leading home for the win*

The over-35s got their own race and Paul Duffy grabbed hold of the lead early accompanied by a Kilcoole AC runner. 40m back Rene Borg tried to lay claim to the final podium spot but failed to notice he was pulling a train of 4 runners with him. On lap 5 he slowed enough that they came past, leaving him well out of the medals with a time 4 seconds slower than his M40 gold from 2023.

Rene Borg pulling ‘his train’ behind him

Paul ensured this medal stayed in the club though by holding off all challenges and recording a fabulous new club record of 4:52 (6.6 seconds faster than his outdoor lifetime best from 2023). This also erased Rene’s 5:11 M40 record from our club books and will take some beating.

WICKLOW INDOOR 800M

Due to some delays, our team spend around 2 hours waiting for the next race and trying to get the bodies right. There was the usual between race vomitting (person shall not be named!), plenty of talks of sore muscles and joints and the decision by Eoin Phelan to retire from the meet to not aggravate his cold but eventually four of our runners took to the start this time in a combined Senior/Masters race.

Bray Runner’s Drew Donohue (a commanding figure in the meet overall) led out with Paul sitting in second marked closely by Aran and Diarmuid a bit further back. The pace was fairly hot and had casualties – Tiernan Heany, St. Benedict’s pulled up first around the 400m mark followed by Rene Borg who both found the sub-3 min/km pace too fast to handle.

*St Benedict’s Tiernan Heany steps off the track just before the 400m point. Rene Borg* (behind) followed shortly after

This led three of our men in the chase and they secured 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the heat resulting in two PBs and the M40 gold medal for Paul Duffy along with the Silver and Bronze Male Senior for Aran and Diarmuid.

Paul Duffy outsprints Aran for 2nd place overall with Diarmuid behind them

Both Paul Duffy and Aran may have broken Diarmuid’s Overall and Senior 800m club record as they ran around 2:20 (his mark is 2:21.6) but we await official results to confirm.

WICKLOW INDOORS 400M/ 3000 M

With the withdrawal of the 800m and 1500m men and the no-show from Anthony and Marcus, we only had James Heggie facing a long wait to get started on the 400 and then immediately after the mentally tough 15 laps of the 3000m. But James hung tight and got both events done and we wouldn’t be surprised if he nicked the M50 gold in both.

More results to follow once official results are verified….

REPORT: Malta, Florida, Northern Ireland and a few local races….

November 22, 2023November 23, 2023 by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running, Trail running, Ultra running

This week’s report takes us from Florida to Malta to the Netherlands along with several local fixtures but we must first mention the unfortunate news that Donna Quinn has had to hand back her national team silver medal from the Dublin Marathon as the leading Sli Cualann runner (Catherine O’Connor) was disqualified for using a pacer in the race.

Now onto the 16 results from six different races. The weekend of the 11th/12th was particularly busy with our runners racing 4 races in 4 different countries!

Apart from running results John Conway also secured a fine 11th spot in the Sea to Summit adventure race on the long ‘Supreme’ course which included a 7 km run up Croagh Patrick and a 4 km greenway run to the finish line.

NAV CHALLENGE 3 – TICKNOCK

Our post-Dublin marathon reports began on the 4th November when Graham Bush participated in the 3rd IMRA Nav Challenge short course shortly before being confirmed also as the Leinster Championshp M55 winner.

*Graham Bush – Leinster Champs M55 winner*

RESULT

1. Brian Farren (Fingal Orienteers) 1:10:00

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

16. Graham Bushe 2:17:37 (2nd M50)

TOLLYMORE TRAILS – 10K, MARATHON, ULTRA

there was misfortune for Richard Costello in his big season goal. After several misfortunes on his way there last year, he was this time struck by a stomach bug in the week leading in and had to throw in the towel after 4 km.

Graeme Warren had a better day out finishing a fine 9th place in the 65 km ultra for a memorable top-10 finish. Tadeusz Cantwell took on the Tollymore 10k and cruised through in ‘zone 2’ to ease his body back in after a recent health scare.

RESULT – ULTRA

1. David Boyle () 5:14:43

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

9. Graeme Warren 6:04:28

RESULT – MARATHON

1. Joshua McAtee () 3:01:18

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

103. Richard Costelloe DNF

RESULT

1. Rob Hilis () 0:40:24

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

96. Tadeusz Cantwell 1:27:19

POWERSCOURT RIDGE

A very strong field came out as usual for Powerscourt Ridge – the race that always precedes that IMRA AGM and Killian Mooney blew the course away while Graham Bush, Torben Dahl and James Heggie represented our club well and Graham secured 2nd M55.

RESULT

1. Killian Mooney (DSD AC) 1:13:25

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

39. Graham Bushe 1:35:24 (2nd M55)

49. Torben Dahl 1:40:23

111. James Heggie 2:09:28

SALUTE TO THE VETERANS 5K

Flora McKnight got herself onto the F45 podium in sunny Florida with a 28:30 run-out – a last bit of chance to race in the sunshine before herself and her husband relocate to Minnesota this week! Her time was a club best for Flora.

RESULT

1. Britanny Eberson () 0:18:49

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

141. Flora McKNight 0:28:30 (3rd F45 F45 PB)

ZURRIEQ 10K

*Trophy for Aoife on Malta handed over by perhaps Europe’s longest serving race director: 39 years in the job!*

The weekend continued when Rene and Aoife – fresh off a Friday plane to Malta – had to drive across the island for the ungodly start hour of 6:45 Irish time (7:45 local time) partly to avoid excessive heat (it was ‘only’ 23 degrees by then) and the frisky traffic of Maltese roads. The event was one of the largest of the year on the island with over 460 finishers and club singlets everywhere. The route was ‘fast enough’ but consisted of some ups and downs and a particularly cruel long uphill finish!

René finished 10th in his category despite recording a personal career worst of 42:12 for the distance whereas Aoife got a better share of the spoils finishing 1st in the F45 category and getting a massive trophy to go with the hefty medal!

RESULT

1. Dillon Cassar (Mellieha AC) 0:31:16

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

46. René Borg 0:42:12

106. Aoife Joyce 0:47:23 (1st F45)

RUN THE LINE 11.5K/25 KM

This year we had five runners in the traditional event supporting mountain rescue on the Dublin border. Diarmuid Kavanagh got the worst of it by first twisting his ankle and then losing his car keys as he put on his jacket and DNFed.

RESULT

1. Killian Mooney (DSD AC) 1:52:50

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

186. Alan Kennedy 2:55:45

507. James Heggie 4:09:11

511. Brian Howard 4:19:16

523. Diarmuid Kavanagh DNF

This left Alan Kennedy as our first man home in 186th spot out of 523. James Heggie also completed the long course with Mark Willoughby our only representative in the short course.

RESULT

1. Alex Gray () 0:49:14

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

308. Mark Willoughby 1:27:33

Graef Castricum trail 35km

Catherine: the third lady to step onto a podium in this week’s reporting period!

We finish with Catherine Devitt who was 11th overall and the winning woman in the 35 km Graef Castricum trail/due race in the Netherlands.

RESULT

1. Joshua de Vriend (Schoorl) 2:28:34

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

11. Catherine Devitt 2:52:28 (1st woman)

REPORT: Wins and DNFs at Wassenaar, EcoTrail, Kilmac Running Festival, Nav Challenge and Wicklow Intermediate!

October 15, 2023October 16, 2023 by glendaloughac, posted in Cross-country running, Mountain running, Race reports, Track running, Trail running, Ultra running

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

30 KM

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

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

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!

REPORT: Skyline and Half-marathon time!

October 6, 2023 by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running

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.

RESULT

1. Norah NEWCOMBE PIETERSE (Mayo AC) 1:23:02

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

27. Eoin Syron 1:41:50 (PB, M40 PB)

REPORT: Nine super races as Graham Bush secures first international medal!

September 20, 2023 by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running, Trail running, Ultra running

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, 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

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

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.

RESULT

1. Martijn de Kok () 1:58:10

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

3. Richard Costelloe 2:06:24 (3rd M45Club Record)

RACES: Mountain Rescue Benefit and Half-marathons galore

August 30, 2023 by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running

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

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.

RESULT

1. Sean Hehir (Croghan AC) 1:12:10

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

46. Aoife Joyce 1:43:13 (3rd F40, F45 PB, F45 club record)

RACE REPORT: Wicklow Off-Road Championship / Frank Duffy 10 miler

August 20, 2023August 21, 2023 by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running

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.

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)

14. Angus Tyner 0:47:16 (2nd M55, m50+ Team Gold)

17. Marcus Murphy 0:47:35 (3rd M40)

18. Aran Lynham 0:47:56

19. Paul Duffy 0:48:15 (M35+ Team gold)

21. Catherine Devitt 0:48:51 (1st F40, 2nd woman, F35+ 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.

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.

RESULT

1. David Glynn (Waterford AC) 0:52:38

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

266. Eoin Phelan 1:15:33 (PB)

REPORT: Belated results from Irish trails and Florida!

August 16, 2023 by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running, Trail running

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

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 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)

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

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.

RESULT

1. Barry Minnock (Rathfarnham WSAF) 1:10:57

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

32. James Heggie 3:00:09