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.
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.
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….
Three from our club ventured down to the fast half-marathon in Waterford. Marcus Murphy and Gavin Kennedy were both in their post-Dublin phase but that didn’t stop Marcus running his second fastest half-marathon to date and Gavin smashing the 90 minute barrier first. Donall Flanagan also notched himself a PB.
RESULT
1. David McGlynn (Waterford AC) 1:05:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
190. Marcus Murphy 1:28:29
199. Gavin Kennedy 1:29:10 (PB)
847. Donal Flanagan 1:50:04 (PB)
AVONDALE PARKRUN
Meanwhile Angus Tyner took 2nd overall and first man in the Avondale in his 10th ParkRun of 2023. Angus is now only 2 races behind James Heggie and 1 ahead of Alan Kennedy in the race for ‘Most Prolific’ racer of the season with his 23 races to date.
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 on the podium in Florida
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!
Rene chasing a local club runner
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.
Two events to report on this weekend and we have to lean heavily into the Dublin marathon! with this weekend’s event our club broke 500 annual races for the first time with our runners having donned race gear 505 times in 2023 so far!
DUBLIN MARATHON 2023
A record twenty of our runners were signed up to start this year’s Dublin Marathon but late illness, misfortune and injury whittled away Mark Willoughby, Anthony Breen and James McCarthy in the final days – leaving a glorious seventeen (an attendance record in the Dublin Marathon for us) securing two Club Records, 12 PBs, and 5 debuts!
In general it’s been a good year for marathon with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th fastest men’s times and the fastest women’s time being run in 2023.
RESULT
1. Kemal Husen (Ethiopia) 2:06:52
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
972. Marcus Murphy 3:04:49 (PB, M40 PB)
1452. Aran Lynham 3:13:01 (PB, MS PB, MS Club Record)
1589. Donna Quinn 3:14:59 (PB, Club Record, F40 PB)
2098. Philip O’Brien 3:20:53 (PB, M35 PB, M35 Club Record) – debut!
2274. Gavin Kennedy 3:23:14 (PB, M45 PB)
3288. Kevin Ferguson 3:32:02 (PB)
3357. Eoin Phelan 3:32:51 (PB, M35 PB)
5136. Mark Lindsay 3:47:25 (PB, M35 PB) – debut!
5209. Nora Butler 3:47:53 (PB, F40 PB) – debut!
5660. David Murphy 3:50:32 (PB, M50 PB) – debut!
6473. Annie Lowney 3:55:38 (PB, F40 PB)
6650. Ben Lewis 3:56:25 (PB, M45 PB) – debut!
8008. Donal Flanagan 4:05:58
12876. Dave Lawless 4:49:43
13707. James Heggie 5:01:17
13726. Gleb Reys 5:01:49
14100. Ross Thompson 5:08:24
Marcus Murphy – in only his second marathon (having run 3:57 in 2009)- led home the charge with a fine 3:04 despite a late hamstring cramp slowing him down from 36 km onwards. He was our only man in the top-1000. Marcus’ time is the 4th fastest run for our club and makes him the 6th fastest marathoner in the club currently.
Aran Lynham – club MS record holder
Next home was ‘young’ Aran Lynham who improved his PB by 16 minutes for a 3:13 lowering his own club record for the Male Senior category in the process. Donna Quinn was third and our first female finisher whilst taking just over 3 minutes from her best from 2022. She lowered her own overall and F40 club marathon record as well.
Donna showing the joy in Dublin
Fourth was Philip O’Brien nearly cracking 3:20 in his debut . Three minutes later Gavin Kennedy recorded 3:23 smashing his 2022 PB by 22 minutes. Kevin Ferguson just missed out on the sub-3:30 barrier but still got a 12 minute PB. Outdoing nearly everyone else Eoin Phelan washed away his DNF disappointment from EcoTrail 80k (four weeks earlier) by not only dipping under the 4 hour barrier for the first time but knocking 40 minutes off his PB (we may as well hand out the Most Improved award now!).
We had three debutantes next in a three minutes window as Mark Lindsay arrived 28 seconds ahead of Nora Butler followed by David Murphy. Annie Lowney knocked over 30 minutes off her 2022 time a bit later arriving in 3:55. Ben Lewis arrived nearly at the same time going under the 4 hour barrier in his first attempt.
Ross Thompson who supported his friend Alan (right)
In 4:05 was Donall Flanagan running his 11th DCM and then Dave Lawless arried in 4:49 and James Heggie and Gleb Reys in 5:01 with our man from Dynafit Ross Thompson (with a 3:20 PB) keeping a friend company and closing off our runners with 5:08.
PUMPKIN RUN 5k
Flora McKnight meanwhile continues to improve in the colourful Florida 5 kms she currently she attend finishing in 29:20 in the scary Pumpkin 5k and 15th in her age category. The event was well attended with nearly 1200 starters.
RESULT
Jeff Provenzano () 0:17:53 ——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
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.
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 at the Run for Lakers 10k (photo Independent)
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
Eoin Kennedy at 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
John Conway left raising an eye brow at the start of the 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.
