We celebrated 3 PBs, one Master’s PB, 1 Leinster and 1 National gold medal and a new club record in a busy 5 days of racing from Wednesday to Sunday last week.
MOUNTAIN RESCUE BENEFIT RUN
The racing kicked off a mere 4 days after most of runners had bloodied themselves in the Wicklow Off-Road. Of the four runners who ran only one (Aoife) hadn’t raced the previous weekend – yet Paul Duffy secured himself a ‘surprising’ (to use his own words) top-10 finish while Loraine Creane and Aoife Joyce took 2nd and 3rd on the women’s podium with Aoife winning the F45 for good measure while Angus Tyner took the M55 once again.
Colm Kenna running at the MOuntain Rescue Benefit race
RESULT
1. Liam Mooney (Lakeshore Striders) 0:33:52
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
10. Paul Duffy 0:37:21
27. Angus Tyner 0:40:25
(1st M55)
32. Loraine Creane 0:41:19 (2nd woman, 2nd F40)
40. Aoife Joyce 0:43:05 (1st F45, 3rd woman)
42. Eoin Phelan 0:44:19
58. Colm Kenna 0:49:16
Paul Duffy on Paddock Hill
NATIONAL HALF-MARATHON (TULLAMORE)
Donna (799) with the successful Sli Cualann team
Donna Quinn was the third scorer for the successful Sli Cualann ladies team who won the Female Open teams six minutes ahead of Mullingar Harriers. The top trio of Sarah Baryga, Catherine O’Connor and Donna also took the Leinster team gold medals once again ahead of Mullingar.
In doing so she lowered her PB from 1:32:36 (her 2022 mark) to 1:29:56 – the fourth fastest time run by current female members of the club. Gavin Kennedy also reduced his PB from earlier in the year by 2.5 minutes – a positive result on his road to Dublin. Donna also increased her lead in our club medal table – now having 31 medals to Claire Thompson’s 21.
RESULT
1. Ryan Creech (Leevale AC) 1:05:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
290. Donna Quinn 1:29:56 (PB, Leinster Team Gold, National Team Gold)
313. Gavin Kennedy 1:31:07 (PB, M45 PB)
ANTRIM COAST HALF-MARATHON
Eoin Phelan had a breakthrough performance at the Antrim Coast half-marathon. Only 6 months ago his PB stood at 1:52 for the distance: he lowered that to 1:37:16 in Northern Ireland. Clearly doubling up with a mid-week hill run did him no harm!
RESULT
1. Daniel Mateiko (Kenya) 0:58:36
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
382. Eoin Phelan 1:37:21 (PB)
OYLEGATE HALF-MARATHON
Aoife Joyce at the Mountain Rescue Benefit race four days ahead of her half-marathon in Oylegate
On Sunday, Aoife Joyce also completed the ‘mid-week hill run/weekend half-marathon double’ when racing in Oylegate near her childhood home and followed the sub-1:45 around for a 1:43:17: an improvent of 2 minutes on her last run there in 2021 and her fastest time since her 2014 PB of 1:29:41. As a bonus a nice cash prize was on offer for her third place in the over-40s category for women.
A full race report on all the action to follow but below an overview of how our club members fared in this weekend’s Wicklow Athletics Off-road championship.
Donna Quinn cuts no corners in the Derrybawn 10k
Like in previous years the event was hosted under the umbrella of our joint fund-raiser with Laragh GFC: the Run the Ridge 20k and the Derrybawn Woods 10k. The event nearly didn’t happen as adverse weather knocked a tree down on the cousre but quick action by course director Keith Mulvey, NPWS and ESB ensured the race could go ahead only 30 minutes delayed.
A record 30 competitors from our club competed in the 2nd Athletics Wicklow Off-Road Championship yesterday. It could have been more with 3 drop-outs in the week leading in.
Yvonne Brennan on the climb of the Derrybawn Woodland 10k
In the end we had 20 runners in the 10k and 10 runners in the 20 km. The tactic was to try and be competitive in as many individual and team categories as possible as the club with the most medals (Gold counting most) would walk away with the overall Club Trophy.
It was a fast and competitive race despite conditions with seven Wicklow clubs in action and with new course records in the 20k and the women’s 10k.
DERRYBAWN WOODLAND 10K
The 10 km distance saw the biggest field and included the team competition where the best cumulative time of the first three scorers across the line counted.
Rachel Wisdom looks over her shoulder at Gav Kennedy with Anthony Breen further back
We got off to a strong start with two out of the three men’s teams securing gold (the M35+ and the M50+). Richard Costelloe ran particularly strongly finishing 3rd in the championship, 4th in the combined, winning his category (M45) and setting a Club Record for the cousre (43:57). When Graham Bush and Angus Tyner arrived far up the field it was evident that the M50 team would dominate their category and so they did – anchored by Anthony Breen.
M50 winning team (Anthony, Angus, and Graham Bush flanking Billy Porter)
We had women’s teams in two categories: FS and F35+. Parnell dominated the FS led home by women’s winner Sile O’Byrne with Bronze for a team of Sarah Foster, Claire Thompson and Siobhan Brennan (all of whom picked up category medals. Catherine Devitt led home a strong quartet including Rachel, Donna and Yvonne to Team Gold while she finished 2nd overall and 1st in the F40 category.
The F35 winning team of Rachel, Catherine and Donna
By the time all 10 km medals were tallied Parnell had a slender lead of one gold medal.
Claire Thompson and Siobhan Brennan
Placings below show the combined place (Open race plus Championship race)
RESULT
1. Derek Crammond (Parnell AC) 0:40:57
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Richard Costelloe 0:43:57 (1st M45, 3rd man, m35+ Team Gold)
11. Graham Bushe 0:46:52 (1st M50, m50+ Team Gold)
29. Rachel Wisdom 0:51:19 (2nd F40, F35+ Team Gold)
30. Gavin Kennedy 0:51:22 (3rd M45, M35+ Team Gold)
32. Anthony Breen 0:51:28 (3rd M50, M50+ Team Gold)
33. Donna Quinn 0:51:40 (3rd F40, F35+ Team Gold)
43. Yvonne Brennan 0:54:41 (2nd F45, f35+ Team Gold)
45. Eoin Kennedy 0:55:27
52. Colm Kenna 0:58:07
57. Claire Thompson 0:58:51 (FS Team Bronze)
59. Sarah Foster 0:59:17 (3rd FS, FS Team Bronze)
64. Siobhan Brennan 1:00:01 (1st F50, FS Team Bronze)
72. Mark Willoughby 1:02:02
75. Annie Lowney 1:03:20
91. Eleanor Carty 1:06:51
Richard Costelloe strides strongly uphill
RUN THE RIDGE 20KM
In the 20km race a top-3 of open racers including Irish international Edward O’Connor along with David Power and Italian skyrunner Emmanuelle Sacchi broke away early leaving the championship contenders in the chasing pack. This included our own Johnny Conway who led our team home in an impressive 1:43:19 – the second fastest time by a club athlete since Torben Dahl’s runaway time of 1:32:07 from 2018. He was beaten only by Parnell’s MIchael Dowling and Inbhear Dee’s Ben Mooney but rather than Bronze here he was awarded Silver in the M40 category.
Jack Moore in the later stages of the 20k
Next was René Borg who broke away from a tightly packed group on the ridge to take 3rd M40 and the 3rd fastest time run by a club runner on the course. In the next 49 seconds Philip O’Brien, Graeme Warren and Torben Dahl arrived (with Lee Borland of WW RC dead-heating with Philip) and all took Gold in their categories.
Coach Rene makes a splash on his way to 4th in the County ranking
Jack Moore arrived shortly before the first female GMACer to ever complete the 20k race: Loraine Creane who won the F40. Alan Kennedy, Ben Lewis and Rebecca Whinery came next all taking category medals in the process.
Torben Dahl striding out in hot pursuit
RESULT
1. Barry McEvoy (Brother’s Pearse AC) 1:29:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. John Conway 1:43:19 (2nd M40)
13. René Borg 1:48:49 (3rd M40)
15. Philip O’Brien 1:49:01 (1st MS)
16. Graeme Warren 1:49:18 (1st M50)
17. Torben Dahl 1:49:38 (1st M45)
26. Jack Moore 1:55:30
27. Loraine Creane 1:56:15 (1st F40)
40. Alan Kennedy 2:02:15 (1st M55)
43. Ben Lewis 2:03:48 (3rd M45)
66. Rebecca Whineray 2:22:00 (2nd F45)
WICKLOW ATHLETICS OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP
Overall all efforts added up to taking the overall Club Trophy narrowly ahead of defending champions Parnell AC winning out 12 Gold medals to 10. No doubt competition will only intensify and we expect a barnstormer of an event for 2024! for now club captain Rachel Wisdom get’s to keep the trophy in her house until August 2024.
FRANK DUFFY 10 MILER
Not to be forgotten was a very fine PB from Eoin Phelan running in the Frank Duffy 10 miler that same morning where he also finished well within the top-10% of the 2807 strong field.
With all eyes on the upcoming County Off-Road Championship where our biggest team yet is due to take the start line (32!), a few results went under the radar in the last few weeks.
TOUR DE PAIN – FLORIDA
Flora in Florida!
4 MILE BEACH RUN
RESULT
1. Jonathan Besse link () 0:21:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
278. Flora McKNight 0:43:09
Founding member Flora McKnight was back in action after a long period off and in Florida no less where she competed in Tour de Pain: three races in less than 24 hours starting with a 4 mile beach race Friday evening, a 5 km road run the next morning and finishing with a 1 mile race in the afternoon.
5 K
RESULT
1. Jonathan Besselink () 0:15:46
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
297. Flora McKNight 0:29:43
Flora finished 9th in her category after the three races were tallied together.
1 mile
RESULT
1. Jonathan Besselink () 0:04:32
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
302. Flora McKNight 0:08:36
BENBULBEN – LUKE’S BRIDGE
Eric Kelly did his second race in the new North-West League in Connacht up the majestic Benbulben. He suffered a fall on the way down – casting doubt on his participation on Saturday – but got through.
RESULT
1. Alex Hunter (Ratoath AC) 0:47:19
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
51. Eric Kelly 1:50:06
DARGLE FOUR PEAKS
Graham Bush at Dargle Four Peaks
Graham Bush was our sole representative in the Leinster Championship race at Dargle Four Peaks where runners could choose to attack the checkpoints clockwise or anti-clockwise. Despite struggling with a leg issue, he took 1st place in the M55 category again.
RESULT
1. Brian Furey (Brothers Pearse AC) 1:43:07
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. Graham Bushe 1:57:52 (1st M50)
Brian Howard at Gaelforce
GAELFORCE BELMONT 10K
Gaelforce moved into Belmont for their August 10k this year due to the ongoing works on the Bray cliff path. Three of our Wicklow Wolf RC flew the flag here among 563 others runners.
RESULT
1. Michael McMahon () 0:41:22
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
97. Jack Callaghan 1:01:14
131. Rebecca Whineray 1:03:33
354. Brian Howard 1:17:17
Jack Callaghan at Gaelforce
MOUNTAIN MEITHEAL FUND-RAISER
Eoin Phelan at the Mountain Meitheal fund-raiser
Congratulations to Niall Corrigan – former club president – who was first in the handicap race for Mountain Meitheal postscripting in the Leinster League.
RESULT
1. Denis McGlynn () 0:40:33
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Angus Tyner 0:45:37 (1st M55)
24. Alan Kennedy 0:49:16
62. Loraine Creane 0:48:20
81. Eoin Phelan 0:55:49
Angus Tyner had the 10th fastest time and finished 7th in the handicapped rankings with Alan Kennedy 24th and Loraine Creane 52nd and 12th woman with Eoin Phelan also running off scratch.
ARDERIN – CLEAR LAKE
Meanwhile this weekend, James Heggie was our only runner at Arderin – Clear Lake over 12.6 km.
Long overdue report on several reports as our Club Championship continued at Lug na Coille and Angus Tyner wraps up the ‘M55 prize’ in the Leinster League….
TROOPERSTOWN SUMMER
The Leinster League finished on the familiar slopes of Trooperstown Hil where Eoin Syron led the team home ahead of Torben. Diarmuid Kavanagh was going well but had to pull up with a muscle cramp early on the climb.
Eoin was our highest finisher in the League overall in 18th spot for the whole league (counted best 7 out of 13 races) followed by Angus Tyner in 23rd who narrowly took the over-55 ‘title’ ahead of Alan Kennedy in 27th. James Heggie was the fourth and final Glendalough AC runner in 66th out of the 73 runners who achieved 7 races (a total of 504 runners ran 1 race or more).
Torben Dahl at Trooperstown
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:40:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
29. Eoin Syron 0:50:00
56. Torben Dahl 0:54:04
62. Alan Kennedy 0:55:46
95. Ben Lewis 1:01:48
122. Eoin Phelan 1:09:11
129. James Heggie 1:16:09
151. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:00:00
SD SCP 6K (BHAA)
RESULT
1. Sean doran (Harrier Products) 0:20:36
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
31. Eoin Kennedy 0:28:48
35. Mark Willoughby 0:29:23
LUG NA COILLE
Eoin Syron (WW RC shirt front) breaks away from his club mates early (Kev in light blue, Rene and Diarmuid in the back 4th, 5th and 7th in the picture)
At the super-traditional Lug na Coille route runners had to brave the wet and mist. Slaney’s Enda Cloake won his 10th race in 11 outings this season and the fact his winning time was the slowest since 1999 spoke more to the conditions than Enda’s performance!
Kevin ahead of Rene and Diarmuid on the early fire-road
Eoin Syron detached himself early to finish first man home as he had at Trooperstown leaving the trio of Rene, Kevin, and Diarmuid to battle it out for further Club Championship points. Rene made his move late on Camarahill but Kevin would keep returning and trying to ‘drop’ the club coach before Rene eventually got a gap on the flat plateau which he extended on the descent. Diarmuid closed in significantly on the downhill – closing to within 8 seconds of Kevin. Alan Kennedy took a detour into the valley adding 2 km and plenty of time (but not as bad as two other runners who were lost for 4.5 hours!).
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:58:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. Eoin Syron 1:09:33
14. René Borg 1:11:50
20. Kevin Ferguson 1:16:17
21. Diarmuid Kavanagh 1:16:25
32. Alan Kennedy 1:40:00 (3rd M55)
Sliabh Daeane – Ox Mountains
While our quintet battled on Lug na Coille Eric Kelly had his IMRA debut in Sligo in the North-West League finishing 39th and having a good time by all accounts.
RESULT
1. Aiden McMoreland () 0:43:08
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
39. Eric Kelly 1:24:54
BLUESTACK WAY 50 KM
This weekend John Conway finished 2nd in the inaugural Bluestack Way 50 km – a fairly speedy trail route that includes several road sections in County Donegal. John had crossed the finish line in 3rd spot but a time penalty for the runner-up saw him promoted to 2nd behind Irish international Cillian Fleming. John’s wife Laura won the women’s race.
A new club record and two podiums were the harvest as our runners sprung into action on Dutch trails, Wicklow hills and Monaghan roads…
Veluwezoom Trail Festival 32k
In the Netherlands, Rich Costelloe took on the 32 km distance in the Veluwezoom Trail Running Festival and zoomed (no pun intended!) around in 2:44.
RESULT
1. Niels Baljet (Rotterdam) 2:12:37
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
17. Richard Costelloe 2:44:07
Richard Costelloe in Nordwijk 10k a week before he took to the trails
CRONE COILLTE CAPER
Alan Kennedy led our team home at the tough race in Crone as he chased the possibility of catching club mate Angus Tyner for the overall M55 win in the Leinster League. Unfortunately, Paul Mahon and Paddy McLoughlin made a rare appearance knocking him into 3rd and removing the last mathematical chance of Alan catching Angus (who has 11 points – Alan can finish on 12 if he wins the M55 at Trooperstown).
Alan was followed home not by the regular summer crowd but by returnees and near-debutantees: Torben Dahl running his first race since the relay, Ben Lewis who was kept out by injury since May and Eoin Phelan enjoying only his second mountain race after making his debut at Ballinastoe last week!
Loraine Creane was out supporting some of the kids in the short race.
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:29:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Loraine Creane 0:44:24
42. Alan Kennedy 1:09:34 (3rd M55)
65. Torben Dahl 1:13:34
88. Ben Lewis 1:20:06
108. Eoin Phelan 1:29:11
121. James Heggie 1:37:45
BLANEY ROCKETS 10 MILE
Meanwhile further North, Donna Quinn lowered her 2017 PB in the 10 mile distance by 1m12s as she finished 3rd in the Blaney Rockets 10 miler.
With this she lowered both her own overall women’s 10 mile club record and also struck Nora Butler’s F40 record off the books.
Donna hits the podium at the Blaney Rockets 10 mile
RESULT
1. Mark McNally (Glaslough Harriers AC) 0:59:36
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
49. Donna Quinn 1:08:49 (3rd woman, 1st F40, PB, Club Record)
Serious racing this week as several gruelling mountain races where taken on and we also had plenty of action on the roads including a big contingent at the Clontarf Half-marathon as we report on fifteen more results from Ireland, Norway, Wales and the Netherlands.
GLENDALOUGH TUCKER TRAIL
James Heggie fell for the cut-offs in the Glendalough Tucker Trail 80k – 11 of the 38 starters suffered this fate. Tough luck but on the plus side he had energy enough left to run at Ticknock 4 days later….
RESULT
1. Keith Lane () 8:19:40
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
38. James Heggie DNF
THREE-ROCK TICKNOCK
Angus Tyner – 1st M55 – at Ticknock
James was one of four finishers from the club in this Leinster League race with Angus Tyner leading the team home ahead of Alan Kennedy and Mark Willoughby on a new course devised for 2023. Angus and Alan took 1st and 2nd in the M55 neary ‘as usual’.
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:37:42
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
38. Angus Tyner 0:47:55 (1st M55)
48. Alan Kennedy 0:49:28 (2nd M55)
146. James Heggie 1:11:05
171. Mark Willoughby 1:09:28
HORNINDAL ULTRA
Graeme in Norway
Graeme Warren was in Norway running a race described as ‘Norway’s toughest mountain race’ and it seemed correct once his report arrived:
A quick update from Norway. I dropped out of the ultra at half way (still got a medal as that was also a race!). 37.5km, 2900m vertical, which took 8.48 hours, for an blistering average speed of a smidge over 4km an hour. This was a different league, way beyond anything I’ve tried before Technically really challenging and with brutal climbs and descents. I think there were only two short sections in any way runnable. At that pace, it would have taken c20hours for the ultra, and I wasn’t ready for that. So I stopped in good form, having had one of the best mountain days of my life, and with no injuries after a great adventure. Very happy indeed!
While Graeme earned a medal for completing the ‘shortened’ 38.6 km it was not enough for a placing and he had to concede as a DNF in the 75k.
RESULT
1. Erik Vadla (Sandles IL) 11:11:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
34. Graeme Warren DNF
CLONTARF HALF-MARATHON
Eoin Phelan (middle) at a windy Clontarf
Diarmuid Kavanagh was our fastest man and set his first marker on this distance as 1:37:41. Starting in Wave 4 it took him 8 minutes to cross the line and he described the first 4 km as ‘being at a funeral’ and Eoin Phelan also reported the race had some issues this year:
“It was poorly organised. i had to run with the race-tshirt in my hand as we barely made it to the start line due to queues for race numbers. the wind was so strong that I could barely take a drink of water from their wide plastic cups. i end up having to stop at each water station just so could actually swallow some water. the parking was poorly organised aswell. on a positive note it was a nice course and medal.“
Our Wicklow Wolf RC contingent also ran well with PBs for Graham Kearns and Ben McGettigan.
RESULT
1. Yared Derese (Carrick Aces AC) 1:10:27
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
323. Diarmuid Kavanagh 1:37:55 (PB, MS PB)
464. Mark Lindsay 1:47:13 – WW RC
592. Graham Kearns 1:49:03 (PB, M45 PB)- WW RC
731. Eoin Phelan 1:54:08
1412. Ben McGettigan 2:04:09 (PB, M35 PB) – WW RC
2044. James McCarthy 2:18:08 – WW RC
SNOWDONIA XTERRA HALF-MARATHON
Rene Borg on the long ascent to Snowdon in the Xterra Trail
Around the same time in Wales, club coach Rene Borg (representing an EcoTrail Wicklow contingent over there to sell Wicklow on the locals) began the long climb towards Snowdon in a race the organiser’s described as ‘a race that is known as one of the most challenging half routes out there (some will say harder than the full!)’. Despite these hardships and a fall on the final descent, Rene finished in the top-10% of the field and was back to see the other EcoTrail Wicklow ‘workers’ take the overall win (Ricki Wynne), M50 win (Paul Mahon) and F40 win (Nicola Cleary) in the 57 km race.
RESULT
1. Oliver Radford () 1:51:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
38. René Borg 2:26:43
NORDWIJK 10 KM and 5 km
Also abroad – in the Netherlands – Catherine Devitt won the F40 category in the Nordwijk 10k finishing 6th woman and 35th overall in a race that drew nearly 600 competitors.
RESULT
1. Bereket Yeman (Leiden) 0:32:54
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
35. Catherine Devitt 0:39:25 (1st F40)
Hubby Richard Costelloe competed in the 5 km – in similarly warm conditions around 25 degrees – finishing 10th out of 198 anf was likewise first in this category (M45).
Eoin Phelan toughed it out in sweltering conditions at the Viking Waterford Marathon where our Lap of the Gap winner Tudor Moldovan from Clonliffe claimed another marathon win in a memorable season. Eoin didn’t paint a rosy picture but did well to get through:
“Finished with a bad time of 4hrs 41mins. the heat and humidity was awful and the gels were making me sick. glad to have just got through it.“
RESULT
1. Tudor Moldovan (Clonliffe Harriers) 2:30:55
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
215. Eoin Phelan 4:40:51
WOBBLY BRIDGE
Sarah Foster at Wobbly Bridge
On to the Club Championship and Trail League counter at Wobbly Bridge in Clara Vale – a new route brought to life by club man Barry O’Neill and finally allowing Clara Vale to be used for an IMRA race. This favourite training spot – used often by our club during the Winter League – has been out bounds due to lack of parking but now connected via the not-so eponymous ‘Wobbly Bridge’ (actually the ‘Samuel Hayes’ bridge) to Rathdrum and the great facilities of Hidden Valley, a race could finally be held.
Paul Duffy – currently our ‘leading man’ in the hills
155 runners celebrated this by taking on the ins and outs of the long course. Paul Duffy lead us home again and nine of our runners were out competing with Barry directing and Yvonne and Alan marshalling.
Derek Cullen continues his comeback season
Sarah Foster unfortunately fell foul of the ‘no jacket = DNF’ rule which was a pity as her time of 46:15 would have placed her 10th woman and 2nd FS.
Angus Tyner on his way to another M55 win
There was also misfortune for Diarmuid Kavanagh – sitting in 2nd ‘club man’ position just ahead of Aran, he went 400m wrong in the last kilometer losing about 2-3 minutes as he climbed up towards Ballygannon Wood. Aran and Angus took full advantage of this error and nipped in well ahead (Angus taking his near-customary 1st M55 placing).
Aoife Joyce (2nd woman) taking the Wobbly Bridge steps
Aoife Joyce continued her IMRA return season with her umpteenth podium finish (3rd woman overall) and 19th category win (winning the F45).
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:29:24
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
15. Paul Duffy 0:34:16
17. Aran Lynham 0:35:07
21. Angus Tyner 0:37:12 (1st M55)
27. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:38:02
35. Derek Cullen 0:39:18
45. Aoife Joyce 0:40:37 (2nd woman, 1st F45)
69. Colm Kenna 0:44:33
78 (DNF). Sarah Foster 0:46:15 (2nd FS)
88. Mark Willoughby 0:46:57
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND 6
Wobbly Bridge was the sixth of ten counters in the 2023 Club Championship and Paul Duffy’s win moves him up into 1st position – 4.2 points ahead of Rene. Diarmuid moves up to third and Sarah cements her lead in the women’s.
Two master’s PBs, a club record and two podiums last week as our runners took on a warm Docklands 5k, the Zuiderparkrun (again!) and the downpour at Grocer’s 5k.
Donna running rather than singing in the rain….
DOCKLANDS 5K
Marcus Murphy continued last week’s action on Thursday at the Dublin Docklands running 18:58 (matching his M40 best mark from Streets of Wicklow in December) and running within 26 seconds of his all-time PB.
RESULT
1. Pierre Murchan (Dublin City Harriers) 0:14:32
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
89. Marcus Murphy 0:18:58 (matched M40 PB)
ZUIDERPARKRUN
Richard Costelloe put in the season best 5k for our club with his 17:55 third place finish in Zuiderparkrun – the fastest 5 km time run for our club since 2020 (also then by Richard).
RESULT
1. Georoid O’Shea () 0:17:20
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
3. Richard Costelloe 0:17:55 (3rd M45, 3rd overall)
GROCER’S 5K
Aoife, Colm and Donna meanwhile travelled to the fast and low-key Grocer’s 5k and 10k event in Sandyford and it was a productive outing with 2nd place in the women’s for Donna and Aoife Joyce lowering her F45 club record from earlier in the year.
Aoife put’s on a drowned expression on her way to the F45 club record
RESULT
1. Lea Fulcher (ALDI) 0:16:57
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
9. Donna Quinn 0:20:13 (1st F40, 2nd woman)
22. Aoife Joyce 0:21:52 (1st F45, F45 Club Record)
With the Wicklow Way Relay filling a bit space this weekend, it would have been easy to overlook a few results. So here it goes…
VER VERDON CANYON TRAIL
John Conway with a game face on at the Var Verdon start (left) – photo Seanie Clifford
John Conway finished an impressive 11th place finish in the competitive Var Verdon Trail Canyon trail race in the spectacular Verdon Regional Natural Park in France over 60 km with more than 3000m vertical. Wife Laura competed in the 24 km race only a few days after her exertions in the World Championship finishing 2nd woman and 7th overall.
RESULT
1. Juste Raimbault (Avon Athletisme Club) 7:14:50
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
11. John Conway 9:11:19
Kráherwald ParkRun
Jonathan Cody and his son took on the bumpy forest ParkRun near Stuttgart.
RESULT
1. Linus Candeleria () 0:20:09
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
27. Jonathan Cody 0:31:21
Paul leads the yellow charge at Djouce
DJOUCE – THE AYLING ABYSS
Five club members took on one of the toughest of the IMRA Wednesday night races yesterday including Paul Duffy (‘fresh’ from sitting out the relay) joining four of our relay runners wanting to see what they could do on 3.5 days recovery.
Alan Kennedy (2nd M55) fought a tight intra-club battle with Angus Tyner
Paul led the team home in 15th while Angus and Alan had a tight battle for the M55 title with Angus securing it by a mere 17 seconds in the end. They were followed by Kevin Ferguson and James Heggie who may rightly have felt handicapped by their outings on the long leg 2 and leg 7 Saturday!
Two wins, two club records, and three PBs in the sunny weather around Ireland and in Holland – such is the summary of the June Bank Holiday efforts…
ZUIDERPARKRUN
Richard Costelloe took a one second victory in his local ‘Zuiderpark’ ParkRun in The Hague in 18:03 ahead of 179 other runners continuing his good form post-marathon.
RESULT
1. Richard Costelloe, Glendalough AC 0:18:03 (1st M45)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
The Skinbar Driedorpenloop
The next day things really heated up in the Netherlands where Catherine Devitt set a new half-marathon PB of 1:25:49 (beating her old mark by 4 minutes) whilst finishing 2nd overall and winning the ladies race by a 16 minute margin (!). This also erased Rachel Wisdom’s 1:28 half-marathon from her Clonliffe Harriers days from our club ‘All-Time Best’ list.
Catherine Devitt in a sprint finish with a runner from one of the shorter distances
The Leinster Championships continued on the route that arguably holds the most testing up and downhill of the summer – Fraughen Rock Glen which was won for the 7th time in a row by SBR man Bernard Fortune. Graham Bush took his race tally to 3 races in 8 days (Drumgoff and the Wicklow Road preceding this) and ran well. Not having enough he ventured off for a 9 km cooldown!
We still await final results from this race
WOMEN’S MINI-MARATHON
Next Sarah Foster took her second PB in 5 days when lowering her 10 km time to 44:38 after her 20:36 5k on Wednesday at the County Championship.
Sarah Foster clenches her fists as she secures another PB in the heat!
RESULT
1. Nakita Burke (Letterkenny AC) 0:34:27
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
73. Sarah Foster 0:44:38 (PB)
CORK CITY MARATHON
Last but not least Aran Lynham had his first crack at the marathon distance on the sweltering streets of Cork and was going well for his 3:17 target until his quad gave up on him at around 28 km. But Aran gritted through and secured a sub-3:30 time in his first attempt: not a bad foundation for future marathon ventures. He also beat John Conway’s club marathon record for the Male under-35 category which he can now claim.
RESULT
1. Pawel Kosek (Poland) 2:28:24
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
302. Aran Lynham 3:29:38 (PB, MS PB, Club MS record)
