Wexford was jam-packed with events with IMRA having an event both Saturday AND Sunday during the same weekend as the always popular Enniscorthy 10k. We had runners represented in all three as well as abroad, but first to our club races…
WINTER LEAGUE ROUND 12
Our weekend began in Clara Vale where the battle for the win in the annual Winter League came down to the wire. Donna ran closest to her predicted time to overtake Graeme Warren in the overall standings. Torben Dahl had a great run setting a new best time for the ‘Clara Against the Clock’ 9.1 km route in 39:47. The winter league resumes in October….
FORTH MOUNTAIN
Eoin Phelan at Forth Mountain
RESULT
1. Tom McCarthy () 0:48:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
15. Alan McCarthy 1:02:40
18. Eoin Phelan 1:06:00
ENNISCORTHY 10 KM
A huge Sli Cualann contingent travelled to Enniscorthy once again. The SC teams always does well in Wexford and this year was no different with the Sli Cualann team winning both the men and women’s competition. Donna was the third scorer for a strong women’s team (Parnell’s Sile O’Byrne was 2nd overall with Catherine O’Connor 3rd) with Parnell’s Caroline Ayton 4th scorer. Gavin Kennedy finished just three seconds behind Donna and set a new PB by nearly 2 minutes in the process.
RESULT
1. Shane Spring (Raheny Shamrocks) 0:32:25
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
68. Donna Quinn 0:41:23
70. Gavin Kennedy 0:41:26 (PB)
SLIABH BUI
The day after Forth Mountain , a separate IMRA event – this time part of the Winter Spring League rather than the South-East League- was held a bit north at Sliabh Bui. A few members were marshalling as the grim Saturday had given way to a beautiful sunny Sunday. Grace Curham was our only running representative – the new-joiner through Wicklow Wolf RC finished 6th woman and 1st in her category (female senior).
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:42:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
32. Grace Curham 0:58:13 (1st FS)
Langsingerland 30k
The weekend racing was not exclusive to Wexford with Richard Costelloe taking on his second 30 km race in two weeks – this time not on sand but on road that was ‘Paved, mucky and puddly bike paths’ according to Richard which yielded a club record and personal best on the rarely run distance. It was a solid run roughly equal to a 37:29 10 km performance.
A full on weekend with action on hills, road and mucky cross-country courses from 5 km to the ultra distances beginning at Trooperstown Hill Saturda morning and finishing at the 123.ie National Masters XC in Dundalk on Sunday afternoon.
TROOPERSTOWN WINTER
Let’s begin locally with the Trooperstown Winter run where we had six runners in action (seven if we count club coach Rene Borg accompanying son Cillian on the short course).
Graeme Warren nips ahead of Shane O’Malley last second
The winter course on this one of our key local hills was slightly changed – 400m shorter than 2023 (9.3 km distance), it featured a less direct ascent, more direct descent and more use of the mountain bike trails in the woods which were particularly slippy after the recent rainfalls. Torben and Graeme packed tightly separating by only one spot and a mere 19 seconds (it would have been two had Graeme not thrown his chip foot over the mat ahead of Dublin Runner’s Shane O’Malley. Alan Kennedy was next as the 4th M55 (like Graeme who was 4th in the M50 narrowly missing out on a category podium). Colm was next followed by Siobhan Brennan with a strong run and Eoin Phelan.
Eoin Phelan on the final descent (Photo Ben Conroy)
RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 0:39:48
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
39. Torben Dahl 0:52:41
41. Graeme Warren 0:53:00
78. Colm Kenna 1:00:20
98. Siobhan Brennan 1:04:31
104. Eoin Phelan 1:06:15
SLI CHORCHAI ULTRA
Further South, James Heggie took on the Sli Chorcai Ultra but ultimately had to abandon the race after around 50 km of hardship – the second DNF of the season since club coach Rene Borg stepped off the track in the Wicklow Indoor back in January.
RATHCOFFEY 5K
In Rathcoffey Mark Willoughby recorded our first 5 km race of the year in style running within 1:20 of his PB as he looks to get the year started.
RESULT
1. Fionnuala Mccormack (Kilcoole AC) 0:16:37
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
39. Mark Willoughby 0:23:43
DELFT 10K
Richard Costelloe kicked off the Sunday morning by revisiting the site of his Club Record in 2023 – the Delft 10k and he promptly improved his time running sub-36 minutes with 35:59 to finish 6th.
Unfortunately, it has proved the Delft 10k is 140-200m short meaning that Richard’s times on the course unfortunately do not count in our official 10 km reckoning – a pity as the extra 200m would easily leave him as the best 10 km runner in the club. Hopefully a properly measured course will see to this shortly! * His time would be equivalent to a 36:20 10 km.
RESULT
1. Koen Kuipers (De Koplopers) 0:31:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
6. Richard Costelloe 0:35:59 (PB effort but course short)
* from a club record perspective Richard retains both the overall and M45 club records with his 37:08 fastest from the Zoetemeer 10k with Amidou Dembele regaining the ‘All-Time Best’ with his 36:31 run for Crusaders AC
NATIONAL MASTER’S CROSS-COUNTRY – DUNDALK
The weekend’s running finished in Dundalk when Rene Borg was the lone adult Sli Cualann/Wicklow representative at the National Masters and Intermediate cross-country. This was his debut at National cross level and the first time a Glendalough AC runner has run a national cross-country event.
Running over the 7 km distance, he finished well within his goal of being in the first 3/4 of the field on a course so mucky it lead to the average times dropping 3-4 minutes on the 2019 incarnation and being described by one runner as ‘not fit to drive a tractor through’ – in other words nearly good old-fashioned cross-country event had the sunshine on the day been replaced by rain.
Rene gained more positions than he lost as the race went on and was narrowly beaten out in a sprint finish by Willie O’Donoghue, a former Master’s XC medal winner, of Moreabbey Milers. Their battle helped pull them nine seconds clear of the next chasing pack
The St. Brigid’s Bank Holiday weekend is a time for 10 milers and since Ballycotton stopped in 2017, the two heavy-weights are Trim and the John Treacy Dungarvan 10 mile. Angus and Nora Butler took the trip down south this year – our club’s third road trip to the race (the last in 2017 and 2018). We also had a good contingent travelling towards Trim – but rather than going on the roads they took on the tough Mullaghmeen forest course – a fitting location given the host club is St. Brigid’s AC!
JOHN TREACY DUNGARVAN 10 MILE
For Angus this was his first trip to the West Waterford race. He has set his other club records (including the overall of 59:38) in Trim. Angus our most prolific racer over the 10 mile distance (with 4 results) and also holds the all-time best and is the only runner in the club to dip under 60 minutes. He was philosophical about the race:
“Very mild… Almost too warm. and breezy… For too much of the race. Anyway, this will keep me away from road races for a while .“
This time around Angus set a new club record of 67:24 – 7 seconds faster than his M50 club record set in Trim in 2022. Nora Butler meanwhile banked a PB – having run 77:57 in Bundoran she loweered her time by 35 seconds.
RESULT
1. Oisin Spillane (Ennis Track Club) 0:51:56
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
326. Angus Tyner 1:07:24 (M55 PB, M55 Club Record)
997. Nora Butler 1:17:22 (PB)
MULLAGHMEEN
The dauntless trio of Eoin P. Keith Mulvey and James Heggie took on the forest tracks of Mullaghmeen where 99 runners took to the start. They described the route with words such as ‘savage’, ‘where dreams go to die’, ‘horrific’ with hints of the features of the Barkley Marathon. Eoin was first club man home in 59th followed by Keith and James in 88th and 95th.
James Heggie returned to his more familiar stomping ground of the long tough hills as he took on the 28 km night race in Ballyhoura this Friday past.
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 2:02:20
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
214. James Heggie 4:11:47
HOWTH WINTER
The morning after our first Wicklow Wolf run of the year saw only a duo of Glendalough runners make their way up to Howth where preparations had been disrupted by a disgruntled local removing marking ahead of the race but Eoin and Keith managed to get around with minimum incident. It was interesting to note that the winner of the race – Slaney’s Enda Cloake had also won the Ballyhoura Winter Challenge only about 13 hours earlier.
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
Master’s men take off (Anthony and Rene front right)
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.
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.
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.
Eoin Phelan in the senior men’s 1500m
WICKLOW INDOOR 800M
the anxious wait between events….
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.
The men’s 800m begins
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….
The year always begins fast with lots of county and provincial running action on cross-country and on indoor track as well as the IMRA mountain races looming towards the end of the month.
Our team came together for the first team in 2024 to run at the Wicklow Master’s hosted once more in Shanganagh by Bray Runners on a new course as the regular course was waterlogged.
Glendalough AC has competed in this event since 2019 and with 17 runners this year we beat our previous participation record of 13 from that year.
WOMEN’S RACE
The women began on the slightly shorter than 4 km course consisting of a short and two long laps at 10 am. They had a good record to defend having won the M35-49 teams in 2019 and having taken silver last year. This year’s course was flat like the previous incarnation but with several slippy sections including a small ‘mud-trench’ to occupy minds once per lap.
Aoife Joyce checks her time at a busy finish line…
In an incredibly tight race Loraine Creane set off strong after Parnell’s runaway leader Catherine O’Connor with Rachel Wisdom closing the gap towards the end only to be outsprinted near the line by Parnell’s Caroline Ayton. Donna Quinn followed 10 seconds later in 5th with Aoife Joyce (13th) and the returning Claire Thompson (16th) rounding out the team. Claire earned her 14th and 15th cross-country medals (a club best) at her first run-out as a Master’s athlete in this discipline.
How tight the finish was: Parnell’s Caroline Ayton squeezes in between Loraine and Rachel
In the end Parnell edged it 10 points to 11 but all members of the team earned individual medals with Loraine Creane’s gold medal in the F40 the pick up the crop.
The ‘Silver’ winning women of 23/24. (Photo: Irish Independent)
RESULT
1. Catherine O’Connor (Parnell AC) 0:14:48
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. Loraine Creane 0:15:46 (F40 Individual Gold, Team Silver)
4. Rachel Wisdom 0:15:51 (F40 Individual Bronze, Team Silver)
5. Donna Quinn 0:16:01 (Team Silver)
13. Aoife Joyce 0:17:09 (F45 Individual Bronze, Team Silver)
16. Claire Thompson 0:17:40 (F35 Individual Silver, Team Silver)
MEN’S RACE
Paul Duffy sprints home as our first finisher
Both men and women’s field had record numbers meaning good competitive races with plenty of action, passing and repassing and dramatic sprint finishes. Reigning club champion Paul Duffy carved out a 200m lead on our next runner (Rene borg early on) nearly from the gun and as the race progressed Angus Tyner drifted into 2nd place and led home the men’s M55 team to the first Team Gold medal in cross-country since our foundation 10 years ago.
Rene Borg (left) followed by Kevin Ferguson, Graham Bush, Angus Tyner and Gavin Kennedy on lap 1
Rene Borg came in next as second scorer for the M35 team in his 16th cross-country outing for the club (the most of any club member – Donna Quinn is next with 15).
Next was Graham Bush shortly after as the second scorer for the M55 team. Positions were crucial - Alan Kennedy was the third scorer as the M55 won by a single point (18 v 17) ahead of Kilcoole.
Double-medallist Graham Bush (left) and Angus Tyner (right)
Our O35 men finished a respectable 5th out of 7 teams with cross-country debuts to Kevin Ferguson, Corrie Adams, James Heggie and Tadeusz Cantwell. The men packed well with three runners between 23 and 24 minutes and 4 within 24 and 25 minutes.
Alan Kennedy (one of our 5 debutantes) ended up third scorer for the M50 gold winning team
RESULT
1. Tim Grummell (Inbhear Dee AC) 0:22:13
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. Paul Duffy 0:23:16
16. Angus Tyner 0:23:35 (M55 Individual Gold, Team Gold)
21. René Borg 0:23:50
23. Graham Bushe 0:24:02 (M55 Individual Bronze, Team Gold)
27. Gavin Kennedy 0:24:14
30. Marcus Murphy 0:24:19
37. Kevin Ferguson 0:24:41
47. Alan Kennedy 0:25:57 (Team Gold)
49. Anthony Breen 0:25:59 (Team Gold)
60. Corrie Adams 0:28:29
61. James Heggie 0:28:35 (Team Gold)
64. Tadeusz Cantwell 0:44:58
As a final anecdote on the day: Anthony Breen was not a scorer but still a counter on the M55 team and thus recipient of the Team Gold. This was his sixth cross-countrymedal: the most of any of our male runners (Angus Tyner has 5).
The year came to a close with 9 more race results bringing the 2023 tally up to 530 races breaking our record of 345 races in 2017 by a significant margin. We also recorded the first five results of 2024 as we look forward to a very busy January with a triple header of weekend races coming up: the Wicklow Masters (7th), Wicklow Indoors (14th) and Leinster Masters and Intermediate (21st).
Uithof Cross-country
Richard Costello had started his December with a solid 18:44 5 km run at the Zuiderparkrun (2nd Dec) and the following week he finished 10th overall and 2nd in the M45 category at the large cross-country race in Uithof on a 7 km course around a mountain bike track.
RESULT
1. Dominic Bersee (Olympus ’70) 0:26:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
10. Richard Costelloe 0:30:49 (2nd M45)
DJOUCE REMEMBRANCE RUN
Mark Willoughby on the uphill finish at the Djouce Remembrance race
Five runners did the post-Xmas run in remembrance of deceased IMRA stalwarts on December 27th in extremely wet and sloppy conditions and as usual both Angus and Alan were in the M55 podium spots with Angus in the top-20.
James Heggie secured his title as our ‘Most Prolific’ racer of the year with 28 races ahead of Angus Tyner (27) and Alan Kennedy (24). Catherine Devitt was our most prolific female runner for the year with 19 races.
RESULT
1. Ruairi Long (UCD AC) 0:27:22
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
18. Angus Tyner 0:33:37 (1st M55)
50. Alan Kennedy 0:39:09 (3rd M55)
71. Eoin Phelan 0:42:34
84. James Heggie 0:45:34
101. Mark Willoughby 0:50:05
PARKRUN – IN SUMMARY
Angus had gotten close to pipping James Heggie late partly courtesy of two ParkRuns in 3 days on the 23rd and 25th December at Hartstown and Ardgillan. he ran a very solid 18:45 in Hartstown for 2nd overall and 1st M55 and then held back a bit with a 20:43 in Ardgillan.
MJ Bolton Memorial Run
Another Remembrance run kicked off 2024 as we had five runners paying their respects to the Parnell junior coach MJ Bolton in an event that used the Avondale Parkrun 5 km course. Richard Costelloe was our first man home in 12th position. 99 runners attended the senior events with lots of participation in the 200m and 1 mile junior races as well.
Paul Duffy on lap 1 (all photos courtesy of Andrew Hanney)
Heavy rainfall Saturday had set the scene for true cross-country muckishness as the county’s finest lined up for the most prestigious of the year’s four championships in the discipline: the Wicklow Senior. A fitting warmup for those eager to rush home and watch the Irish in action at the European XC.
Rene Borg on the first downhill
The day started poorly for us with 3 out of our 6 man team being unable to make the start line due to illness and work commitments. This meant individual standings was the order of the day and particular interest was the battle between René Borg and Paul Duffy for who would take the title of Club Champion of the year. A victory to either would decide it in their favour regardless of how well the other ran. Diarmuid Kavanagh – also running – was unfortunately out of the running haven’t conceded a DNF in round 9 but as things went, he could not ultimately have won anyway.
Diarmuid (front) and Rene on lap 1 when field was still closely bunched
MEN’S SENIOR RACE
We had no women’s team this year so all eyes were on the three musketeers. Paul went out hard and gained 100m to Diarmuid and 200m to Rene. He would more or less hold this distance the whole way although he conceded a drizzle of spots to other club runners through the race.
Diarmuid Kavanagh on the second descent
Diarmuid sat in second spot until midway through lap 2 when René caught up. This would be the finishing order with Paul first, Rene 38 seconds later and Diarmuid a further 27s down. All placed in the middle of the field.
