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.
Our trail runners were in action on Dutch dunes, in Clara Vale at Gaelforce and at the annual Run the Line event in Dublin whereas our road runners were kept busy at Run in the Dark or Clontarf Half-marathon. Finally, more ParkRun results from Angus Tyner….
Haagse Duinentrail
Catherine in the dunes
Catherine had another strong run in the Netherlands in the weekend of the 9th winnin the women’s race and finishing 8th overall in a race over mainly dune trails. Irishman Geraid O’Shea won the race.
RESULT
1. Geroid O’Shea () 1:50:59
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Catherine Devitt 2:03:36 (1st woman)
GAELFORCE WICKLOW 10K
Brian Howard – Wicklow Wolf RC alumni -at Gaelforce Wicklow
Our runners were out on a real variety of trails the last 10 days starting with the new Gaelforce 10k in Clara Vale where Edson Ferreira made it three out of three in the Gaelforce trilogy and finished first club runners with Brian Howard and Britta Luebbert next.
RESULT
1. Paul McKenna () 0:40:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
55. Eoin Phelan 0:48:53
129. Edson Ferreira 0:53:32
372. Brian Howard 1:06:19
568. Britta Luebbert 1:47:51
RUN IN THE DARK 10K
Brian and Edson did take much of a break from Gaelforce before embarking on a faster 10 k – on the roads of inner city Dublin.
RESULT
1. Tommy Foley () 0:33:42
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
1221. Brian Howard 1:03:42
1242. Edson Ferreira 1:03:50
CLONTARF HALF-MARATHON
Paul O’Riordan set a brilliant new PB of 1:24 in the Clontarf Half – the second fastest half-marathon run by a club runner this year (in 38 attempts – Richard Costello is fastest with 1:21). Eoin Phelan keeps extending the record for ‘most races in a season’ hitting his 50th race with this event and with 4 more planned this year!
Eoin Phelan shows off the Clontarf bling
RESULT
1. Peter Tuohy (Naas AC) 1:13:08
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
37. Paul O’Riordan 1:24:10 (PB)
365. Eoin Phelan 1:38:45
BRICKFIELD AND FATHER COLLINS PARKRUN
Angus Tyner ran his 10th and 11th 5 km (all ParkRuns) of the year at Father Collins and then Brickfield. His time has been coming steadily down through the season peaking wiht 18:49 and a category win at Father Collins before a slightly slower 19:46 at Brickfield.
FATHER COLLINS
RESULT
1. Shaun Conaghan () 0:18:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. Angus Tyner 0:18:49 (1st M55)
BRICKFIELD
RESULT
1. Ciarán Ó MEACHAIR () 0:19:07
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Angus Tyner 0:19:46 (1st M55)
RUN THE LINE (13K AND 25K)
Eoin O’Neill at Run the Line
We had eleven runners in this year’s Run the Line with Aoife O’Brien not only first club runner home but also taking second place in the women’s race. Eoin O’Neill was next followed by Kevin Doherty who had a solid pacer in newly crowned club champion Paul Duffy. Rebecca Whineray was next with Nora – in post marathon mode – next and Gerard O’Rourke rounding out the field.
Our full report on the Dublin City Marathon for 2024 which hosted the first Wicklow Marathon Championship where we came away with three individual and three team medals. We had a record entry of 28 with 26 making the starting line (all finished). Grace Curham lowered Claire Thompson’s long-standing Female senior club marathon record to 3:27 with Christine Sweeney setting the new mark for F50 (3:48) and
Grace’s time was also the third fastest ever run by a female membeR of the club.
Angus sets the new m55 club record
DUBLIN MARATHON / WICKLOW MARATHON CHAMPS
In the Wicklow Championship we secured six medals (three individual and three teams) winning the o50 team with Angus Tyner, Ross Thompson and Liam Sweeney and Angus taking individual Silver. the women’s team led home by Grace Curham (Silver in the F35 category) , Nora Butler (2nd in the F40 category) and Christine Sweeney took team silver as well.
Louis Byrne is our first man home
Below is not a complete list of PBs as we could not gather full confirmation of who ran PBs and who didn’t but we had at least 11 PBs and likely quite a few more.
11721. Ross Thompson 4:25:20 (Individual Silver, Team Silver)
11890. Liam Sweeney 4:26:38
12334. Mark Willoughby 4:27:35
14051. Tom Kilbride 4:46:48
16450. James Heggie 5:32:59
SHANGANAGH, father collin’s and AVONDALE PARKRUNS
One week post marathon Angus Tyner was at it again running his fastest 5 km of the year at the Shanganagh ParkRun and he improved that further this weekend at Father Collins (a slight net downhill course – about 1.2% faster than flat) with 18:49 (his second best time as an M55).
Marcus Murphy and Claire Thompson went to Avondale for the ParkRun and Marcus clinched 3rd place in 20:20
Shanganagh (2/11)
RESULT
1. Eamonn Staunton () 0:17:13
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
9. Angus Tyner 0:19:23
Father Collins (9/11)
RESULT
1. Shaun Conaghan () 0:18:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. Angus Tyner 0:18:49 (1st M55)
Avondale (9/11)
RESULT
1. Mick Byrne (Parnell AC) 0:19:30
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
3. Marcus Murphy 0:20:32 (3rd M40)
19. Claire Thompson 0:24:40
GAELFORCE HOWTH 10K AND GAELFORCE CLARA VALE
We missed a result from mid-October where Edson Ferreira competed at the Gaelforce 10k at Howth (report of this weekend’s Gaelforce Clara Vale to follow next week).
Twenty-three of our runners competed at EcoTrail Wickow this year where the team were hoping to defend their team win from 2023. While this fell short (we finished 2nd) there were plenty of good results to report on. In between we have a host of road race results including a new women’s 5 km club record before we finish with recent results from the Glendalough Trail and Wicklow Way Race off-road events.
Graham Bush (photo: Rob Tobin)
WICKLOW WAY RACE & NAV CHALLENGE 3
Graham Bush warmed up for his Wicklow Way Race by finishing 4th on the short course of IMRA’s last Nav Challenge of the year and five days later he was ready to go with a stellar 11th spot in 16:47.
RESULT– NAV CHALLENGE 3
1. John Bell () 1:31:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Graham Bushe 1:47:00 (3rd M55)
RESULT – WICKLOW WAY RACE
1. Keith Lane () 13:24:24
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
11. Graham Bushe 16:47:44 (1st M55)
ZUIDERPARKRUN
In the Netherlands Catherine Devitt lowered her own PB from earlier this year by 7 seconds to run 18:32 breaking her own women’s club record as well. It was a tough field as despite this Catherine was only 2nd woman!
RESULT
1. Tom Reep () 0:16:20
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Catherine Devitt 0:18:32 (2nd F40, PB, Club Record)
FIGHTING BLINDNESS 15 KM
Eoin Phelan clocked his 47th race of the season at Fighting Blindness – on a course lengthened to 16.4 km this year due to NPWS works on the Spinc.
No we are not talking craft beers but rather the racing action since 22nd of September which began in the US….
MAMMOTH 26 KM
John Conway ran off any lingering Dragon’s Back disappointment with a strong run in the 26 km race that was part of the Mammoth trailfest in California last event of the Golden Trail Series.
RESULT
1. Elhousine Elazzaoui () 1:49:35
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
132. John Conway 3:10:48
ECOTRAIL WICKLOW 2024
Our club’s finger and footprints were all over this year’s EcoTrail Wicklow with coach Rene Borg one of the main organisers and a large part of the crucial crew coming from our ranks. There was still time to compete as 22 of our runners took the 5 start lines (10k, 19k, 30k, 46k, and 80k) with some strong results.
We couldn’t quite defend our team title from 2023 but finished 2nd with Barra O’Duill, Paul O’Riordan and Blaise Kinsella the three scorers for the team (the 10k and 80k do not count in the tally).
10 KM
The shortest race ran last and here it was Dynafit representative and Wicklow Wolf RC representative Ross Thompson who was our lonely racer finishing 24th out of 123.
RESULT
1. Dale Gibney-Tarleton () 0:51:44
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
24. Ross Thompson 1:03:52
19 KM
Ben Lewis
It was a bit surprising perhaps that only one of our number (recent Wicklow Wolf joinees Barr O’Duill) opted for the 19 km. This made him a key cog as the scorer in the club competition for the 19 km race.
RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 1:26:14
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
74. Barra O’Duill 2:12:31
30 KM
Eoin Kennedy raising the first at Great Sugarloaf
Most of our runners (and our two only female representatives) had preferred the 30 km distance on the way and here Paul O’Riordan ran a stellar race to get in ahead of in-form Richard Allan. Anthony Breen suffered a nasty fall going down the Sugarloaf but recovered to finish third of our bunch. Julia Palma was our first woman home in 113th.
RESULT
1. Luke Weldon () 2:28:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Paul O’Riordan 3:09:39
29. Richard Allan 3:15:23
51. Anthony Breen 3:28:37
61. Neil Fusco 3:34:31
79. Ben Lewis 3:42:05
91. Eoin Kennedy 3:46:38
113. Julia Palma 3:51:33
134. Tadgh O’Brien 3:59:31
141. Andy Walker 4:01:19
149. Loraine Creane 4:02:53
185. Gerard O’Rourke 4:15:11
189. Edson Ferreira 4:16:23
Loraine Creane
46 KM
Blaise Kinsella led home our 46km men in his longest race yet and was followed by Eoin Phelan getting in a very long pre-marathon run and Alan Kennedy who may have avowed the ultras but not the ‘pseudo-ultras’.
RESULT
1. Asher Cook () 3:40:40
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
68. Blaise Kinsella 5:39:47
94. Eoin Phelan 5:53:53
111. Alan Kennedy 6:01:58
80 km
Graeme Warren
Philip O’Brien and Graeme Warren both ran very well blowing well below the 10 hour barrier and finishing in the top quarter of the field. Graeme also got to take the o50 prize courtesy of the an m50 finishing on the main podium while it was another tough day at the office for James Heggie who was counted out by the time limits after 52 km at Lough Tay.
RESULT
1. Andris Ronimoiss () 6:47:25
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
33. Philip O’Brien 9:33:43
37. Graeme Warren 9:44:44 (1st M50)
128. James Heggie DNF
* a faster time was run in 2023 but on a different course (shorter with less climb)
BERLIN MARATHON
Mark Lindsay in Berlin
Meanwhile in Berlin, David Murphy and Mark Lindsay took on the fast marathon course there and finished with some strong times. David Murphy took 28 minutes off his PB for a 3:32 with Mark Lindsay not wanting to be outdone and he lowered his PB from 3:47 to 3:23 (24 minutes). Super running from the chaps who now move into 13th and 16th position on our men’s ‘all time best marathon’ performances.
RESULT
1. Milkesa Mengesha (Ethiopia) 2:03:17
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
10247. Mark Lindsay 3:23:17 (PB)
13882. David Murphy 3:32:11 (PB)
Beer and PBs in Berlin
GALWAY BAY HALF-MARATHON
The wind also didn’t stop Paul Duffy lowering his PB by about a minute to 1:28:25 and moving past Gavin Kennedy and Aran Lynham in our half-marathon men’s rankings. Wife Sile ran her longest run ever as she finished in 2:23.
RESULT
1. Jake O’Regan () 1:10:24
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
33. Paul Duffy 1:28:25 (PB)
1205. Sile Keane 2:23:23 (PB)
3/4 MARATHON
Eoin Phelan continued his racing bonanza (and Dublin marathon preparation) running 2:44:09 in the Longwood 3/4 marathon to finish 257th and top-25% of the field. He was only the third Glendalough AC runner to race at this distance and, as only the second man, bettered Colm Kenna’s official time and set the club record.
RESULT
1. William Maunsell () 1:41:15
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
257. Eoin Phelan 2:44:09 (PB, Club Record)
CROSS-COUNTRY?
For the first time in our club history, we had no representatives in either the Novice or Intermediate cross-country events. Hopefully, we’ll have some results to report later in the cross season.
A bumper report follows from the World Mountain Masters Running Championship in Canfranc, the Dingle Half and Full marathon, the ‘2x Lakes’ races in Wicklow (Lakers 10k in Roundwood and The Lakes 10k in Blessington) spiced up with action from Ratoath, IMRA, and more! We have four medals, one podium and three PBs in today’s report….
we will start with the World Master’s and work our way back to some older results…
WORLD MASTERS MOUNTAIN RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIP
We had runners competing in all three of the races at the World Masters Mountain Running Championship in Canfranc that began with an uphill 6.5 km race on Friday.
UPHILL 6.5 K
Glendalough arrives in Canfranc….
Recent joinees Becky Quinn and Joe Lalor opened their World Master’s event at the Uphill with Becky securing an impressive Bronze medal in the women’s F50 category. Graham Bush was second home from the club and began his quest for three races in three days…
aforementioned Graham Bush made it two races out of two and it looked briefly like he and the Irish M55 team had secured a Bronze medal but a disqualification for Vasiliy Neumerzhitskiy (for discarding his jacket before the finish) meant the Irish teams was bumped out of the medals! Becky Quinn unfortunately had to pull out after the first checkpoint.
RESULT
1. Thomas Roach (UK M40 Team) 3:06:30
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
135. Graham Bushe 4:35:56
UP/DOWN CLASSIC 17K
On the final day it was time for Paul Duffy and Kevin Doherty to join the fray and for Joe Lalor to have his second outing. Paul Duffy was our first man home and second scorer for the Irish M40 team that secured team Silver ahead of the Italians. As a funny anecdote three men from Baldoyle had an involvement – Ian Conroy (first man home), Paul, and Kevin Doherty (who just missed out on scoring – coming in fourth Irishman).
Joe Lalor was third scorer for the Irish M70 team who won gold and got their turn on the top part of the podium for the national anthem.
This put a fine finish to a successful championship yielding one individual and three team medals (one gold, one silver, two bronze).
RESULT
1. Andrew Douglas (UK M35 Team) 1:22:56
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
148. Paul Duffy 1:59:36 (Team Silver)
186. Graham Bushe 2:05:01 (Team Bronze)
225. Kevin Doherty 2:12:17
353. Joe Lalor 2:35:45 (Team Gold)
Joe Lalor (right)
DINGLe MARATHON
Aoife O’Brien raced along three other members including partner Aidan Redmond and secured and impressive podium on the tough marathon course in Dingle.
RESULT
1. Ian Vanderven () 2:44:08
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
51. Aoife O’Brien 3:36:09 (3rd woman) – WW RC
51. Aidan Redmond 3:54:54 – WW RC
286. Edson Ferreira 4:25:39 – WW RC
330. Niall MacCarthy 4:35:05 – WW RC
RATOATH HALF-MARATHON
Eoin Phelan clocked another race and another PB lowering his half-marathon best to 1:35.
RESULT
1. Peter Somba (Ratoath AC) 1:10:05
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
382. Eoin Phelan 1:35:41 (PB) – WW RC
DRAGON’S BACK WALES
John Conway was on another adventure with wife Laura and friend from Parnell: Michael Dowling taking on the 6-day Dragon’s Back stage race event over some of the roughest terrain Wales’ has to offer. In the end Michael Dowling was the only finisher of the trio with Laura succumbing to injury and John having to throw in the towel after stomach issues after 3 days and just over 33 hours of running.
MEDIC HALF-MARATHON
Kevin Ferguson knocked 56 seconds off his PB to run 1:34:22 for the half-marathon at the Medic Half-marathon with wife Niamh knocking nearly 27 minutes off her own best.
RESULT
1. Kacper Czerpak () 1:16:13
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Kevin Ferguson 1:34:22 (PB)
NAV CHALLENGE 1 – BARRAVORE
Locally, Chris Willoughby tried his hands at the navigation challenge finishing 18th.
RESULT
1. John Bell (Sli Cualann AC) 2:26:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
18. Chris willoughby 4:18:00 (WW RC)
CARLINGFORD FOX’S ROCK
Angus Tyner and Graham Bush went head to head at the northern Leinster Championship counter in Carlingford and Angus used his navigational skills to get himself home first in a fine 5th overall with Graham Bush two spots behind. despite the lofty finishes Bernard Fortune took the M55 with Angus and Graham 2nd and 3rd.
RESULT
1. Brian Furey (Brother’s Pearse AC) 1:47:16
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
5. Angus Tyner 1:58:45
7. Graham Bushe 2:08:30
THE LAKES 10 KM
The trio of Aoife, Colm and Donna travelled to Blessington to attend the always worthwhile Lakes 10k. While there were no PBs, Donna secured 2nd F40 with Aoife improving on last year’s time.
RESULT
1. Colm Turner (Brothers Pearse AC) 0:33:12
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Donna Quinn 0:42:16 (2nd F40)
40. Aoife Joyce 0:46:37
80. Colm Kenna 0:51:04
ROUNDWOOD ‘RUN FOR LAKERS’ 10 KM
Same day, same distance and nearly the same name – a runner could be forgiven if they turned up on the trails of Roundwood instead of the roads of Blessington but thankfully our only representative – Nora Butler was where she was meant to be and finished well up in 34th out over over 300 starters in a great time of 45:50.
RESULT
1. Charlie White () 0:35:17
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
34. Nora Butler 0:45:50 (WW RC)
ZUIDERPARKRUN 5 KM
Meanwhile in Holland Richard Costelloe ran his second fastest 5 km of the season finishing 2nd in the Zuiderparkrun.
With the Off-Road County Championship done and dusted and many club runners looking towards Dublin Marathon, a post-season feel has fallen over mountains and trails and so it began with the traditional Leinster League ‘outro’ of the Mountain Meitheal Handicap Race and the Mountain Rescue Benefit Run on Paddock Hill.
This week’s report ends on a triple header from yesterday….
Colm Kenna blending in with the Heather
Mountain Meitheal Handicap
Angus Tyner took the win in the handicapped race up at Lough Tay and he set the 21st fastest actual time in the process with Graham Bush running well (7th fastest) and Loraine Creane (2nd fastest woman) not able to overcome their handicaps – finishing well down the handicapped ranking.
RESULT (actual ranking – not handicapped(
1. Daire Finn () 0:37:20
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Graham Bushe 0:45:56 (1st M55)
21. Angus Tyner 0:49:50 (winner on handicap)
49. Loraine Creane 0:53:44 (2nd F40)
Mountain Rescue Benefit Hill Run
Graham Bush
Graham Bush had a terrific run to finish 5th continuing his scintillating late summer form. Chris Willoughby also ran well and got 2nd M50 as a reward. Eoin Phelan , Andy Walker, Colm and James rounded out our six man contingent on the local slopes of Paddock.
RESULT
1. Andy Keeling (Brothers Pearse AC) 0:36:17
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
5. Graham Bushe 0:37:37 (1st M55)
16. Chris willoughby 0:40:13 (2nd M50)
31. Eoin Phelan 0:44:31
46. Andy Walker 0:49:32
48. Colm Kenna 0:51:23
52. James Heggie 0:53:02
Hardanger 43k
Paul Duffy took on one of the longest trail race he has ever undertaken (the longest?) and possibly his longest ever race and he chose the unforgiving hills and slopes of the Norwegian mountains as the staging ground for this in the Hardangervidda 43 km trail race with 1666m climb. He said ‘I think gruelling just about captures it’ and he finished in 8 hours 12 minutes in 129th place. The cross-country season will seem easy now….
Richard decided 7 hours and 55 minutes less running than that was just about right with another solid local Parkrun in The Haag – 17:54 and 2nd place (and 1st M45).
It was the 28th 5 km run by a club members this year and Richard has run the four fastest (three in Zuiderparkrun) and is the only club member to break 18 minutes this year (something Richard has done in 4 out of his 6 races on the distance).
RESULT
1. William Jardine (Durham City Harriers) 0:17:07
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
2. Richard Costelloe 0:17:54
Tullamore Half-marathon
Finally the National and Leinster Half-marathon took place on the fast course in Tullamore where Donna, Gavin, Nora and Fiona Smyth were in action. No club or county medals were secured this time around but Nora Butler got a club best by nearly three minutes of 1:40.
Saturday 27th saw a triple-decker of races with a road, trail and hill run on offer, we start in Monaghan before moving via the Netherlands to Wicklow….
BLANEY ROCKETS 10 MILE
Donna Quinn returned homewards to Monaghan for one of her local races – the Blaney Rockets 10 mile and completed an easy enough cruise winning the F40 category in the process.
RESULT
1. Alexander Wallace (St. Coca’s AC) 0:53:59
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
67. Donna Quinn 1:10:19 (1st F40)
LUGNACOILLE
Paul Duffy showing that the ‘short and singlet’ tradition is still alive even on the high peaks… (photo: Gill McLoughlin)
Six runners took on the hyper-traditional Lugnacoille race – a proper straightforward up and down mountain run with an average gradient of 14%. Graham Bush showed strong form in distancing everyone else including Club Championship leader Paul Duffy who was second home followed by Jeff Swords, Kevin Doherty and Eoin Phelan (breaking the record for most races in a season with 32 through this effort) and finally Joe Lalor – winning the M70 category.
Kevin Doherty (photo: Dillon Ryan)
RESULT
1. Sean Quirke (Bilboa AC) 0:59:22
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
24. Graham Bushe 1:12:42
29. Paul Duffy 1:16:58
39. Jeff Swords 1:26:27
43. Kevin Doherty 1:31:22
52. Eoin Phelan 1:45:40
56. Joe Lalor 1:36:20 (1st M70)
OTTERLO TRAIL RUN
Otterlo
Richard Costelloe did his 4th race of just around 30 km in this racing season this time mainly on dunes and trails finishing 8th out of 72.
The rocky descent on Kevin’s / Miner’s Way – part of the Tucker Relay / Ultra (blue dot is club coach Rene Borg)
We start our results catch-up with a tripple of 5 km results: Angus Tyner competed in two ParkRuns abroad (Livingston and Brecon in Wales) finishing 6th and 5th in 20:41 and 20:03 respectively.
Colm Kenna ran 21:53 in the Mellon Educate 5k fund-raiser in Ashford – as far as we know, no results are published.
GLENDALOUGH TUCKER TRAIL 80K
Catherine Devitt in talks with deputy race director James Tucker – son of the late Adrian for whom the race is named
On the trail side of things, Catherine Devitt had a wonderful debut on the 80 km distance (and ultra distances!) finishing 2nd woman in the Glendalough Tucker Trail in 10:01. Catherine sat in 2nd place from throughout all checkpoints although she was embroiled in a constant tit for tat with third-placed Denise Barrett- gaining on most sections but conceding times on others throughout – but winning by a comfortable enough 4 minute cushion by the end. John Conway was a DNS with fatigue after a big season catching up wiht him and James Heggie had to concede his third ultra DNF of the season.
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 7:42:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Catherine Devitt 10:01:19
48. James Heggie DNF
Rene Borg passing the miner’s ruins near Wicklow Gap on the return journey of leg 1
About an hour and a half later, Rene Borg was among the last two relay runners to start after a handicapped start for most teams. He was the fastest leg 1 runner on the day and while he caught back 3-4 runners on the first leg, ultimately he and team mates Sean and Christian couldn’t overcome the handicap finishing – 9th out of 16.
RESULT
1. Rene Borg (Glendalough AC) 1:25:31 (CR)*
* For the route run by relay runners. Some of the elite ultra racers have covered the leg fasterincluding this year’s 80k winner Enda Cloake who covered it in a shade under 81 minutes.
IRISH RUNNER MILE
On Sunday, Eoin Phelan smashed his 10 mile PB by over 4 minutes in the Irish Runner 10 mile in the Phoenix Park often an important milestone on the way to the Dublin Marathon.
This weekend had it all: track records, a downhill only race in the alps, a tough half-marathon on Croghan Kinsella and the congested madness at Clontarf Half-marathon and was folllowed by another busy week including the Leinster League race at Carrick, Docklands 5k, the Ridgeway Ultra in the UK and the Fingal 10k road race and we got plenty of podiums, a club record and personal bests to celebrate.
WESTVIlET LOPEN AND WERPEN TRACK MEET
Richard Costelloe only had three other competitors to spur him on in the 3000m discipline at the Westvliet Lopen and Werpen track meet but that did not stop him reducing his PB from 10:08 to 10:01. With that run he claimed the overall club record (his own) and the M45 club record (held by Angus Tyner) and now holds 9 of our 142 club records. Not bad at age 48!
RESULT
1. Richard Costelloe (Glendalough AC) 0:10:01 (PB, Club Record)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
CLONTARF HALF-MARATHON
Fergal Olohan ran a strong while Aran Lynham continued his recovery after the Lap of the Gap 100 km race by pacing girlfriend Ashley through the half in 2:01. First home, however, was Niall MacCague with a fine sub-90 minute performance.
RESULT
1. Wayne Waldron () 1:14:57
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
43. Niall MacCague 1:28:16
969. Aran Lynham 2:01:39
972. fergal Olohan 1:55:36
CROGHAN HALF-MARATHON
RESULT
1. Donatas Jocius (Crusaders AC) 1:46:53
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
24. Aoife O’Brien 2:09:33 (1st F35)
28. Chris willoughby 2:10:57 (3rd M50)
31. Alan Kennedy 2:13:21 (3rd M55)
41. Colm Kenna 2:20:57 (3rd M45)
43. Aoife Joyce 2:22:22 (3rd F45)
51. Eoin Phelan 2:31:23
MEGAVALANCHE DOWNHILL RACE
John Conway continues to be a glutton for punishment taking on the planned 21 downhill only races from Alpe d’Huez. Due to adverse weather conditions it was shortened to 16 km but that is still a lot of eccentric muscle damage. John took the M40 category finishing 12th out of 41 downhill demons.
Four of our runners joined 150 others for another Leinster League evening race and it was another close run between Paul Duffy, Richard Allan and Graham Bush. This time Paul turned the tables back – finishing first with Graham 2nd and Richard Allan 3rd. All three finished 3rd in their respectice age categories (M40, M55, M50) with Andy Hayes also finished the race in 87th.
RESULT
1. Oscar Durston (Kilcoole AC) 0:38:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Paul Duffy 0:45:56 (3rd M40)
23. Graham Bushe 0:46:18 (3rd M55)
25. Richard Allan 0:47:30 (3rd M50)
87. Andy Walker 1:00:54
DOCKLANDS 5K
Wednesday evening racing gave way to Thursday night racing at the hyper-traditional Docksland 5k where 1700 runners assembled. Matthew O’Brien represented us finishing just outside the top-third of the field.
RESULT
1. Peter Somba (Ratoath AC) 0:15:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
619. Matthew O’Brien 0:24:04
THE RIDGEWAY – RACE TO THE STONES ULTRA
Eleanor Carty bagged her first ever ultra in Essex running the Race to the Stones 50k finishing in the middle of the field with a solid 6:48:37 for the 50 km race.
RESULT
1. Daniel Wheller () 3:44:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
175. Eleanor Carty 6:48:37
FINGAL 10K
It was double-PB joy for Eoin Phelan (a week on from Croghan) and Graham Kearns at the Fingal 10km in Dublin.
Glendalough AC 