REPORT: Wicklow Road Champs 25

We are still working through a massive backlog of results so let’s start from near the end with last week’s Wicklow Road Championship. The tenth we attended and this time with our second biggest squad (13) we’ve sent to these events.

Paul Duffy (photo: Andrew Hanney)

First home was Paul Duffy, reigning club champion, taking 100 pts in our club championship but more importantly a personal best and first run under 18 minutes. Louis Byrne was next in a strong 18:32 with Gavin Kennedy third. Angus took another in a long line of category medals finishing 3rd in the M55 category while matching his own club M55 record of 19:24. Jimmy Cullen also had a strong run dipping sub-20 in his first championship appearance for our team.

Our women’s team have won many team and individual medals and continued the streak when Donna, Aoife and Claire combined for Team Bronze. Fourth woman was Monica Timmins with a PB of 24:30 and Chrissie Byrne who won individual silver in the F70 category and set the mark for any future F70 5 km to beat.

Chrissie Byrne (photo: Andrew Hanney)
RESULT
1. Ger Forde (Kilkenny City Harriers AC) 0:15:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
48. Paul Duffy 0:17:57 (PB)
64. Louis Byrne 0:18:32
82. Gavin Kennedy 0:19:11
91. Angus Tyner 0:19:24 (3rd M55, Individual Bronze)
109. Jimmy Cullen 0:19:51
114. Aran Lynham 0:20:03
138. Tivon Tyner 0:20:46 (MJ Club Record)
151. Donna Quinn 0:21:28 (Team Bronze)
159. Aoife Joyce 0:22:00 (Team Bronze)
163. Claire Thompson 0:22:06 (Team Bronze)
171. Colm Kenna 0:22:30
207. Monica Timmins 0:24:30 (PB)
258. Christina Byrne 0:32:06 (2nd F70, PB, Individual Silver, Club Category Record)

REPORT: Brighton, Rotterdam and Westport Marathons, Wexford 10k/ and Half, Maurice Mullins 50k, Gaelforce and Strahahely Woods

Two road marathons and two trail races in our backlog of reporting.

ROTTERDAM MARATHON

Report pride of place goes to Catherine Devitt whose fantastic 3:01:39 marathon debut in Rotterdam knocked 13 minutes off Donna Quinn’s overall and F40 club records.

RESULT
1. Geoffrey Kamworor (Kenya) 2:04:33
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
919. Catherine Devitt 3:01:39 (PB, Club Record)

Brighton Marathon

David Murphy enjoyed good sunshine taking on the Brighton Marathon and reported: ‘Tough day, but got it done. 👍’

RESULT
1. Sam Cook () 2:26:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
1622. David Murphy 3:41:55

Westport Marathons

Wind, sun and hills were on offer at the Westport marathon where Nora Butler ran well to secure 4th female spot overall on a day where the course record was lowered to 2:33 by Sean Hehir.

RESULT
1. Sean Hehir (Croghan AC) 2:33:22
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
77. Nora Butler 3:35:57

WEXFORD 10K AND HALF-MARATHON

Before we turn to the trails, we had a few more road races – with Eoin Phelan building his lead in ‘Most Prolific’ racer to 11 running despite broken ribs in the half-marathon where new member Owen O’Connor ran in the 10k.

RESULT – 10 KM
1. Jack Butler () 0:35:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
193. Owen O’Connor 0:53:22
RESULT – HALF-MARATHON
1. Adam O’Connnor (United Striders) 1:16:12
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
575. Eoin Phelan 1:56:36
RESULT
1. Patsy O’Cualan (CG-258) 0:39:11
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
36. Tivon Tyner 0:48:55

Inis Oirr 10 km

Tivon Tyner ran the Lee Road ParkRun with his father – long-term club member Angus Tyner – in 22:52 (Angus ran 20:10 for 3rd overall) and then headed over to run the very bump Inis Oirr 10 km race in 48:55 – a club best for men aged 18-19 years in our club.

RESULT
1. Patsy O’Cualan (CG-258) 0:39:11
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
36. Tivon Tyner 0:48:55

STREETS OF KILKENNY 5K

The most recent result of our bunch where club secretary Donna Quinn had won tickets to the Streets of Kilkenny with daughter Lily (member of Parnell) to the Streets of Kilkenny 5k and ran a solid time while enjoying a night away!

RESULT
1. Cathal O’Reilly (Kilkenny City Harriers AC) 0:14:15
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
338. Donna Quinn 0:21:12

Maurice Mullins 50k

Only three GMACers took on the Maurice Mullins this year and it was Philip O’Brien leading the team home ahead of Graham Bush and James Heggie.

RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 4:21:48
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
66. Philip O’Brien 5:49:35
68. Graham Bushe 5:51:27
237. James Heggie 8:40:23

Strahahely Woods

Becky Quinn took yet another victory as she extends her women’s win record with IMRA with Graham Bush taking the M55 and Joe Lalor the M70 at Stranahelly where James Heggie DNFed.

RESULT
1. Ben Mangan (Setanta Orienteers / Running Coach Ireland) 1:14:49 (Course Record)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Becky Quinn 1:28:25 (1st woman)
10. Graham Bushe 1:31:15 (1st M55)
43. Joe Lalor 2:07:20 (1st M70)
53. James Heggie DNF

GAELFORCE BELMONT 10K

Edson participated in another Gaelforce event – this one in Belmont with Laura Cardiff also finishing.

RESULT
1. Joe Roche () 0:46:51
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
156. Edson Ferreira 1:05:47
418. Laura Cardiff 1:22:45

REPORT: Crone Night, Askanagap Hill, Devil’s Glen, Forth Mountain, KPMG Marathon, Dunboyne 10k and Wicklow Half-marathon!

A full six race to report on since the 14th of March including Devil’s Glen – the third counter of this year’s Club Championship and a (sort of) trial for the Wicklow Way Relay team and a new men’s club marathon record!

GMAC in the news!

KPMG Lentemarathon Amstelveen

Paul O’Riordan finally broke Torben Dahl’s long-standing club marathon record of 2:57 (run, it should be noted, on the Lap of the Gap course!) and moved up to second overall among the fastest marathoners in our club with his 2:54:19 PB in the Netherlands. Well done Paul – gauntlet thrown down to all other aspiring sub-3 marathoners in the club!

RESULT
1. Aidan Billington (South Africa) 2:31:13
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
29. Paul O’Riordan 2:54:19 (PB, Club Record) – WW RC

ST PATRICK’S DAY 5 KM (TALLAGHT)

Mark Willoughby returned after a 6 week injury spell to race the Tallaght 5k on Patrick’s Day in 27:30 on a cold dry day.

RESULT
1. Ben Guiden (Clonliffe Harriers) 0:15:09
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
288. Mark Willoughby 0:27:30

Crone Night challenge

Five of our runners took the chance to practice running in the dark (or ‘by head-torch’) with Graham Bush first home and 1st M55. This was first of a raft podiums – Chris Willoughby 2nd M50 (in his last race for us before he transferred to Kilcoole AC), with Alan Kennedy 2nd M55, Grace Curham 2nd FS and Rebecca Whineray 3rd F45.

RESULT
1. Peter O’Farrell () 0:39:05
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Graham Bushe 0:42:27 (1st M55)
13. Chris willoughby 0:45:10 (2nd M50)
22. Alan Kennedy 0:48:24 (2nd M55)
41. Grace Curham 0:52:39 (2nd FS) – WW RC
45. Rebecca Whineray 0:55:07 (3rd F45) – WW RC

Askanagap Hill

Three of our runners checked out the new route at Askanagap Hill with Becky Quinn taking another F50 win. Eoin Phelan was 42nd with Joe Lalor winning the M70 category in 45th spot.

RESULT
1. Zak Hannah (Newcastle AC) 0:38:32
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
13. Becky Quinn 0:51:15 (1st F50) – WW RC
42. Eoin Phelan 1:10:33
45. Joe Lalor 1:12:19 (1st M70)

Devil’s Glen

The new temporary 8.3 km course at Devil’s Glen (rerouted due to treefall) drew a big crowd as it was a championship counter and a key race to show form ahead of the selection for our Wicklow Way Relay team. Louis Byrne narrowly beat out Kevin Ferguson with Angus Tyner a further 34 seconds back as the first m55 on the dya. Becky Quinn was a further 20 seconds back and first F50 with Loraine Creane 1st F45 four places back. Paul O’Riordan – recovering from his marathon club record – ran home with partner Julia Palma in 64th and 65th.

RESULT
1. Barry Minnock (Rathfarnham WSAF) 0:34:50
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. Louis Byrne 0:39:39
15. Kevin Ferguson 0:39:46
19. Angus Tyner 0:40:20 (2nd M55)
21. Becky Quinn 0:40:40 (1st F50) – WW RC
25. Loraine Creane 0:41:51 (1st F45)
53. Colm Kenna 0:47:57
64. Julia Palma 0:49:50 – WW RC
65. Paul O’Riordan 0:49:50 – WW RC
70. James Heggie 0:50:47
85. Brendan Lawlor 0:54:01

Forth Mountain

Claire Thompson had a rare trail outing at the independent trail race at Forth Mountain where Fiona Smyth also ran.

RESULT
1. Brendan Dunne () 0:49:24
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
68. Claire Thompson 1:06:38
170. Fiona Smyth 1:20:25
Aaron Cullen on his way to 4th place at the Wicklow Codling Windfarm 10k

DUNBOYNE 10K (NATIONAL HALF-MARATHON)

Nora Butler was our only representative at the National 10k in Dunboyne and scored a good PB on a course that was widely hailed as ‘flat and fast’.

RESULT
1. Jack O’Leary (Mullingar Harriers) 0:29:15
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
646. Nora Butler 0:43:48 (PB)

Wicklow Codling Wind Farm Half-marathon and 10 km

Graeme Warren led home the team in the half-marathon in the Codling Windfarm half-marathon (formerly the Gaol-break!). Paul Duffy was coming on strong until a calf strain on the final 4 km slowed him down to a jog and ruined any chance of a PB. Five more runners competed in the distance with a PB from Tivon Tyner.

Rebecca Whineray at Wicklow Half

In the 10 km Grace Curham was the first woman home in a PB (and her first 10 km road race!) as our only runner on that distance on the day. Ahead of her Aaron Cullen had finished 4th overall removing Aran Lynham’s male senior club record of 39:48 from our club books as he romped home in 37:13. This was the sixth club record set this year and makes Aaron the fourth fastest 10k runner currently in the club and his team the third fastest run by an active Glendalough AC member.

half-marathon

RESULT
1. Daragh Keegan (Donore Harriers) 1:16:05
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
13. Graeme Warren 1:25:56
50. Paul Duffy 1:32:49
139. Eoin Phelan 1:38:54
239. Tivon Tyner 1:44:22 (PB)
458. Rebecca Whineray 1:54:32
495. Philip Nordmand Andersen 1:52:48
501. John Campbell 1:55:32
542. Edson Ferreira 1:56:45

10 km

RESULT
1. Alex Gray (Kilcoole AC) 0:35:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Aaron Cullen 0:37:13 (MS club record, PB – TBC) – WW RC
31. Grace Curham 0:44:13 (1st FS, PB) – WW RC

REPORT: Gorey 10 mile, Wicklow Way Half, CPC and Bohermeen Half and Annacurra Trail

Two road races and two trails races to catch up on….

Gorey 10 mile

We were represented by Sile Keane in Wexford, who delivered a strong performance to achieve a personal best time of 1:53:21, placing 279th overall.

RESULT
1. Sean Hehir (Croghan AC) 0:55:41
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
279. Sile Keane 1:53:21 (PB)

CPC HALF-MARATHON DEN HAAG

Catherine lowers the club half-marathon record for women again!

Also this previous Sunday Catherine Devitt lowered her own PB and women’s overall and F40 half-marathon record from 1:25:49 to 1:23:27 putting her five minutes clear of any other female runner in the club over the distance with a time that ranks as the seventh fastest PB overall in the club currently. this was enough for 562nd spot out of nearly 20,000 competitors!

Catherine also secured savage bragging rights on the homefront when husband Richard Costello (one of the six men ahead of her on the PB list) came in four minutes and 386 spots later in an otherwise fine 1:27:04 (about 5.5 minutes off his current PB and the club M45 record).

RESULT
1. Eric Sang (Kenya) 0:59:36
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
562. Catherine Devitt 1:23:27 (PB, Club Record)
948. Richard Costelloe 1:27:04

Wicklow Way Half

Alan near Pier Gates

We had a strong club turnout with notable performances across multiple age categories. Paul Duffy led us home, finishing in a commendable 30th position in 2:06:03, closely followed by Kevin Ferguson in 40th. Special congratulations go to Loraine Creane who secured 3rd place in the F40 category, Angus Tyner who placed 2nd in the M55, and Alan Kennedy who completed our podium successes with 3rd place in the M55 category.

RESULT
1. Adam Cunningham (Mourne Runners AC) 1:45:13
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
30. Paul Duffy 2:06:03
40. Kevin Ferguson 2:09:47
59. Loraine Creane 2:16:36 (3rd F40)
61. Angus Tyner 2:16:58 (2nd M55)
82. Eoin O’NEILL 2:21:58
85. Alan Kennedy 2:23:47 (3rd M55)
167. Andy Walker 2:42:01
183. Brian Hendley 2:46:46
186. Eoin Phelan 2:48:52
227. Monica Timmins 2:58:41
274. James Heggie 3:17:30

Bohermeen Half

Half-marathon action continued on the roads at the Bohermeen Half Marathon. Blaise Kinsella was our fastest finisher, placing 327th overall with an impressive 1:27:30. Mark Lindsay, Graham Kearns, and Paul O’Riordan all broke the 1:40 mark, showcasing solid mid-pack strength. Julia Palma rounded out our participation, crossing the line in 1:53:24.

RESULT
1. Michael Fox (Armagh AC) 1:07:23
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
327. Blaise Kinsella 1:27:30
718. Mark Lindsay 1:38:49
728. Graham Kearns 1:39:24
747. Paul O’Riordan 1:38:58
1203. Julia Palma 1:53:24

Annacurra Trail

Eoin at Annacurra

At the challenging Annacurra Trail race, Becky Quinn was a standout performer for us, winning the F50 category in a swift 49:59 and securing 23rd overall. Eoin Phelan also represented us ‘as usual’ as you’d be tempted to say as he racks up the races, finishing 49th in 57:17.

RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 0:37:45
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
23. Becky Quinn 0:49:59 (1st F50)
49. Eoin Phelan 0:57:17

REPORT: Hospice Half, Moneystown 4 mile, Annacurra Trail, and Carlingford 10k

Big focus on road races in this report with a slew of Club Records falling on the 4 mile and even the classical 10 km distance! A few of our runners also decided to skip the Moneystown 4 miler and head further south to the Annacurra Trail Race. Updated Club Records can be found here.

WICKLOW HOSPICE HALF

We had nine people in action at the annual Wicklow Hospice fund-raiser in Avondale. All copmeted in the half-marathon distance and Ben Lewis was our first man home with Nora Butler our first woman.

RESULT
1. Jason Reilly (Civil Service Harriers) 1:17:08
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
43. Ben Lewis 1:39:15
69. Nora Butler 1:42:38 (WW RC)
71. Jack Moore 1:42:44 (WW RC)
82. John Campbell 1:44:01 (WW RC)
115. Brian Hendley 1:48:09 (WW RC)
171. Julia Palma 1:53:19 (WW RC)
172. Paul O’Riordan 1:53:20 (WW RC)
200. Monica Timmins 1:57:23
330. Sam Fleming 2:12:04 (WW RC)

MONEYSTOWN 4 MILE

Catherine Devitt- women’s winner and course record holder…

In the Moneystown 4 Mile – the second counter in this year’s club championship – Catherine Devitt was our first runner home. She annihilated the existing 4 mile women’s record in the process lowering Rachel Wisdom’s ten year old 25:24 mark to 23:51 (a time also faster than Angus Tyner’s 24:02 men’s record – the first woman’s club record to be faster than a current men’s record) while lowering her own eight year old personal best. As if that was not enough it also constituted a new course record breaking Donna Quinn’s inaugural mark.

Last year’s winner Donna Quinn – 3rd this year in an improved time

Catherine was followed home by Gavin Kennedy who also hugely improved his PB from 26:15 to 24:55. Richard Allen – next in 25:55 – set a new club m50 record breaking Fergal Olohan’s 30:01 from last year. Donna Quinn was next as 2nd woman overall followed by Aoife Joyce (1st F45) and Siobhan Brennan who both won the F50 category and lowered her own club F50 record by over a minute and a half. We had several more finishers – most in PBs – including co-organiser David Clancy who would have been delighted to see 255 finishers.

RESULT
1. Ed O’Connor (Brother’s Pearse AC) 0:20:31 (Course record)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
15. Catherine Devitt 0:23:51 (1st woman, PB, Club Record, Course Record))
18. Gavin Kennedy 0:24:55 (PB)
26. Richard Allan 0:25:55 (PB, Club M50 Record) – WW RC
29. Donna Quinn 0:26:22 (2nd woman)
44. Aoife Joyce 0:28:44 (1st F45)
51. Rebecca Whineray 0:30:06 (PB)
52. Colm Kenna 0:30:20
54. Siobhan Brennan 0:30:26 (1st F50, PB)
64. David Clancy 0:31:42 (PB)
71. Cari Burke 0:32:24 (PB)
122. Ciara Flynn 0:38:54 (PB)
123. Sile Keane 0:39:24 (PB)
130. Hilary Minch 0:40:21 (PB)
137. Aine Doyle 0:40:45 (PB)
138. Mary Doyle 0:41:59 (PB)
139. Maria Doyle 0:42:39 (PB)

annacurra trail race

109 IMRA runners took the start in Annacurra on a fast course where Eoin Phelan kept building his early lead in the ‘most prolific’ and Becky Quinn was our first finisher and took the 1st F50 prize a day after collecting her Wicklow Star Award for her performances at the World Masters in Canfranc last year.

RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 0:37:45
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
23. Becky Quinn 0:49:59 (1st F50) – WW RC
49. Eoin Phelan 0:57:17 – WW RC

CARLINGFORD 10 KM

Paul O’Riordan had a terrific run at the Carlingford 10 km – finishing 4th overall in a field of 286. His time of 36:57 was not only a new personal best but also broke the overall and M35 club record’s breaking Richard Costelloe’s 37:08 (overall record) and Torben Dahl’s long-standing M35 record of 37:45. It also put’s places Paul joint 3rd on our ‘all-time ranking’ (times run by current club runners) with club coach Rene Borg with only Amidou Dembele’s all-time best of 36:31 and Torben Dahl’s 36:55 from 2015 faster.

RESULT
1. Noel McNally () 0:32:55
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Paul O’Riordan 0:36:57 (PB, Club Record, Club M35 record) – WW RC

REPORT: Sugarloaf Winter and Gap of Dunloe

Hills were the menu for this weekend: on the roads of Kerry and the flanks of our local Sugarloaf.

SUGARLOAF WINTER

Kevin Ferguson at Sugarloaf

Club man Graham Bush had scouted out a new course avoiding the newly busier summit (after the introduction of the staircase to the top) which seemed to be very well received.

We had a ‘lucky’ thirteen on the long course along with coach Rene Borg running the short course with son Cillian and collected category podiums galore (5) with Joe winning the M70, course creater Graham 2nd M55 (ahead of club mate Angus in 3rd), Loraine 2nd in the F45, and Kevin Ferguson 3rd in the M40. For Alan this was enough for 3rd M55 in the winter League overall and Joe Lalor winning the M70 trophy.

Long

RESULT
1. Garreth Davis () 0:40:18
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
17. Graham Bushe 0:46:56 (2nd M55)
20. Kevin Ferguson 0:48:06 (3rd M40)
26. Richard Allan 0:49:15
29. Chris willoughby 0:50:25
34. Angus Tyner 0:50:39 (3rd M55)
36. Loraine Creane 0:50:57 (2nd F40)
44. Alan Kennedy 0:52:25
66. Jeff Swords 0:55:50
78. John Campbell 0:58:23
90. Eoin Phelan 1:00:28
123. Gerard O’Rourke 1:07:52
129. Joe Lalor 1:09:46 (1st M70)
157. Brian Howard 1:20:38

Short

RESULT
1. Leo Charnecki () 0:23:27
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
13. René Borg 0:29:38

GAP OF DUNLOE HALF-MARATHON

Siobhan and Fiona at Gap of Dunloe

Siobhan Brennan and Fiona Smyth travelled to the Kingdom for the tough Gap of Dunloe Half organised by Hardman. Siobhan got a 1:58:27 PB in her debut (roughly equivalent to a 1:50 on a flat course) with Fiona running her PB (from Dingle) close to a few seconds.

RESULT
1. Derek Griffin () 1:20:31
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
158. Siobhan Brennan 1:58:27 (PB)
251. Fiona Smyth 2:10:27

REPORT: Howth, Wicklow Masters, Ballyhoura Winter, Trim 10

We begin with a ‘missed’ result (two in fact) from February where Eoin Phelan and James Heggie took on the Ballyhoura Winter Challenge.

BALLYHOURA WINTER CHALLENGE

RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 1:59:44
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
148. Eoin Phelan 3:26:40
204. James Heggie 4:46:51

HOWTH WINTER

The tradition of several leaders (and others in the field) getting lost continued at Howth despite a new course taking in more of the coastal trails. John Conway raced well to secure the first top-10 in the hills for the year finishing 9th and he was joined by Jeff Swords, Brian Hendley and Eoin Phelan.

RESULT
1. Niall Davis () 0:31:55
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
9. John Conway 0:37:01
58. Jeff Swords 0:43:11
89. Brian Hendley 0:46:42
113. Eoin Phelan 0:49:06

TRIM AC

A tale of two ten milers (photo: Angus Tyner)

Angus and son Tivon went to the Trim AC where Tivon had to settle for struggling through due to illness. It was a more rewarding day for Angus who beat his own M55 club record from 2024 by nearly a minute.

Keith Mulvey was also racing recording his best time since 2018 with an 85 minute mark.

RESULT
1. Peter Somba () 0:51:51
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
278. Angus Tyner 1:06:29 (M55 PB, M55 Club Record)
1101. Keith Mulvey 1:25:47
1694. Tivon Tyner 1:46:46

WICKLOW MASTERS – SHANGANAGH

With the reschedule of the Wicklow Masters most of our large contingent were no longer able to make the race leaving Eoin (racing his second race in 48 hours) and Alan Kennedy as our only two representatives. Both raced well – thanks for maintaining the colours lads!

RESULT
1. Paul McKenna () 0:21:38
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
43. Alan Kennedy 0:27:45
44. Eoin Phelan 0:27:02

REPORT: Upcoming Awards, ParkRuns and Glanageenty

This weekend saw us record three more race results to bring the club tally to 592 – eight more to get above 600 races for the first time.

QUEEN’S PARKRUN BELFAST AND SOME PARKRUN STATS

Angus Tyner ran his 12th Parkrun in 2024 – this time on the Northern side of the border and once again accompanied by son Tivon. This time he stayed just above 20 minutes but as so often before was the first home in his age category.

RESULT
1. Mike Boucher (Aldershot, Farnham & District AC) 0:18:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Angus Tyner 0:20:09 (1st M55)

Angus is the club’s most eager ParkRunner having raced 48 as a member of the club (of which we have record). Richard Costelloe and Catherine Devitt share 2nd place with 11 (mainly on their current ‘home turf’ in Zuiderpark in the Netherlands). In general our club is not the most Parkrun focused with only 123 Parkruns completed by 26 different members over our 10 year history.

RESULT
1. Vincent Kipkorir (Kenya) 2:08:06
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4890. Monica Timmins 4:34:28

MALAGA MARATHON

New member Monica Timmins ran the Malaga Marathon alongside just under 6000 other competitors as part of her training for this year’s Art O’Neill Challenge (where Graeme Warren and Eoin Phelan are also planning to compete). Monica had run Dublin earlier this Autumn and her marathon result is the 40th recorded this year by our club – by some distance the most (we had 26 marathon results in 2023 and never more than 12 before.

This mean marathons were the third most popular distance this year after the 1/2 marathon (46) and 5 km (45 km). This was a big drop in popularity for the 5 km distance where we had 70 competing in 2023!

The 5 km distance remains far and away our most raced distance with 449 results (10 km is second with 190 results).

RESULT
1. Vincent Kipkorir (Kenya) 2:08:06
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4890. Monica Timmins 4:34:28

GLANAGEENTY HALF-MARATHON AND THE RACE FOR ‘MOST PROLIFIC’ 2024

Eoin Phelan attended the Wicklow Wolf RC party and then was on the road the next morning at 5 am for the trip to Castleisland and the Glanageenty Trail running Festival.

As of this writing results are not yet available for the longest distance (the half-marathon) in which Eoin competed but he extended his record as ‘most prolific’ to 53 races and he is planning at least another 2 in 2024. He holds a 25 race lead over last year’s most prolific runner – James Heggie (currently on 28 which was the winning tally in 2023).

Despite being only a member for three years Eoin has moved up to 8th in the overall list of most races – a list led by Angus Tyner (138) and he now has 7th placed Rene Borg (80 races) in his sights. Most prolific woman in 2024 is Aoife Joyce with 13 races and the most prolific in club history is Donna Quinn with 112. Donna also holds the record for most races run by a woman in one season for the club at 26 races (in 2017).

It should be noted we do not count ParkRuns in this competition.

REPORT: Meijendellop win for Catherine, Bronze for our women at the Wicklow Senior

Our women’s department is finishing off the year in style with medals at the seniors while Catherine continues winning in the Netherlands. Also a shout out to Dave Lawless who was ‘missed’ in the finisher roll for the Waterford Half-marathon in our last report.

MEIJENDELLOP AND ZUIDERPARKRUN

Catherine recorded her st victory of the and then followed it up with a solid 19:02 Parkrun win at Zuiderparkun the following Saturday.

RESULT
1. Brent Pietersee (Waassenar) 1:25:30
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
32. Catherine Devitt 1:42:47 (1st lady)

WICKLOW SENIOR CROSS-COUNTRY

7 were rostered and 5 took the start line on the new course at Charlesland Golf Course for the Wicklow Senior Cross-country.

MEN’S RACE

Alan Kennedy and Neil Fusco became the 8th and 9th men to compete at this level for our club. Unfortunately, Neil had to pull the plug after 4 km leaving Alan as our only finisher in a very respectable 38th out of 44 and a good 7 minutes ahead of the last finisher.

RESULT
1. Richard Owens (Greystones AC) 0:20:39
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
38. Alan Kennedy 0:48:27
44. Neil Fusco DNF

Women’s race

Loraine overtook Donna on the final few metres the women’s 5000m distance to lead the team home in 7th position. Combining with Donna and Nora this was enough to secure our first ever medals at senior level in Wicklow as the women’s team took Bronze ahead of Bray Runners and behind Parnell and Kilcoole.

this was the first time we had a women’s team in the senior cross-country – Donna having been our only runner in this event previously.

RESULT
1. Sile O’Byrne (Parnell AC) 0:20:39
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Loraine Creane 0:22:47
8. Donna Quinn 0:22:48
14. Nora Butler 0:25:04

RACE: Half-marathons on the beach and in Wateford, IMRA ends, Valencia Marathon

Dunes, road and local hills where this menu for this belated update covering races from 10th of November to 3rd December.

STOOK 10 MILE

Wicklow Wolf RC alumni Andy Walker was our sole representative in the Stook 10 mile – only the fifth run over this classical distance by a club member this year.

RESULT
1. David Cullinane (Ferrybank AC) 0:58:09
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
145. Andy Walker 1:27:00

HALVE DEN MONSTER

Catherine Devitt ran the dune race – ‘Monster half-marathon’ – or ‘Halve den Monster’ in Dutch for the second time. She finished 3rd woman for the second time in a time just over a minute slower than 2 years ago in what continues to be a very impressive season for Catherine.

POWERSCOURT RIDGE

Torben and Eoin Phelan braved wet conditions ahead of the IMRA AGM at the tough 15 km Powerscourt Ridge course.

RESULT
1. Sasha Chepelin () 1:12:32
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
105. Torben Dahl 2:07:19
123. Eoin Phelan 2:18:37

VALENCIA MARATHON

David Murphy secured a marathon PB on a very fast day in Valencia in the 43rd marathon race run by a club member in 2024.

RESULT
1. Sebastian Sawe () 2:02:05
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12197. David Murphy 3:27:53 (PB)

WATERFORD HALF-MARATHON(ISH)

It’s tradition with the odd road trip for our club and county Waterford has been the destination for a few. This time it was a double quartet travelling to the Waterford half-marathon with several good runs and Louis Byrne leading the club home again after doing so in Dublin. Only real negatives on the day was that the course appears to have been roughly 300m short meaning times cannot be accounted for in the old PB reckoning and that Aoife Joyce had to DNF after roughly 8 miles.

Eoin Phelan extended his record of races per season for the club to 52.

RESULT
1. Ryan Creech (Leevale AC) 1:06:59
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
114. Louis Byrne 1:27:24
126. Angus Tyner 1:27:48
183. Blaise Kinsella 1:30:04
296. Donna Quinn 1:33:05
342. Marcus Murphy 1:32:55
556. Eoin Phelan 1:40:52
873. Colm Kenna 1:47:31
DNF Aoife Joyce