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.
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!
Next: report from Stuttgart ParkRun and Var Verdon Trail Canyon.
Twenty current full and affiliate members (via WW RC) took part in this weekend’s 20th edition of the Wicklow Way Relay running either for Glendalough AC, the Laragh Legends or Wicklow Wolf RC. Robin Seymour was drafted in to run for Team Luna and showed that he would have slotted nicely into the official Glendalough AC team running the 4th fastest leg 4 of the day and the fastest ever by a current and past member of the club!
Rachel and Angus joined the club of runners with 10 or more legs run in the relay this year while twelve members made their debut!
Once the anxiety and pressure of running a leg is done – teams can relax
THE GOAL
Our base goal is always to try and defend our streak: never having finished outside the top-10 in six years of trying (this being year 7). Last year’s peak performance (4th) looked a hard repeat facilitated as it was by 3 top teams being disqualified. When it became clear we would miss our top-2 ranked men and our top-ranked female of the season, we settled on a healthy goal of just trying to maintain our top-10 status in what looked to be a highly competitive line-up of teams including local rivals Kilcoole and Parnell AC (the latter bolstered by Bernard Fortune of SBR and Lucy O’Malley of Inbhear Dee but missing Daire Finn who would run superbly for ‘Ain’t No way Relay’).
Robin Seymour – running for Team Luna on the day
To Club or not to club
Since 2022, we have pursued a policy of not having ‘non-club’ runners on the Glendalough AC team (tempting as it is) since the interest within the club itself is sufficiently high and selection was devilishly difficult this year with our runners beating each other near-randomly. Thus in the end our official team consisted of the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 11th, and 14th ranked men in the club and the 2nd and 3rd ranked woman.
While the days of relying on Amidou Dembele dropping a ‘low-60s’ time are over both Angus and Torben packed tightly on leg 1 set their teams off to a decent start with Alan Kennedy leading out his Wicklow Wolf team. The hunt for top-10 had begun….
RESULT
1. Paul Stephenson (Rathfarnham WSAF) 0:56:25
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
14. Angus Tyner 1:10:40 (1st M55) – Glendalough AC
Late addition to the Wicklow Wolf team Martin Cullen outran both our runners with an 85 minute time and pulled the wolf pack to their highest position of the day as he gained 5 spots into 21st.
Diarmuid Kavanagh at the start of leg 2
Diarmuid and Kev were neck on neck through most of the leg finishing 2 spots and only 16 seconds apart on the most action-packed leg of the day featuring 102 positional changes for the 36 teams!
As Diarmuid lost two spots and Kevin gained two, the Laragh Legends moved right behind us. The top-10 seemed to be slipping….
Rachel is nothing if not consistent and ran nine seconds faster than 2022 to finish 5th overall and move the team up one spot by putting nearly 3 minutes into Trailrunner’s Aoife McKernan. It was also fantastic to see Claire making a mini-comeback with a very promising time of 44:33 and even better to see one of our ‘beginners’ graduate to the big leagues – Siobhan Brennan running a strong 43:47 and finishing third F50.
Leg 3 featured only seven male runners this year including the two oldest competitors in the race (Leo Mahon in the over-75 and Francis Conroy in the over-80!)
Marcus hands over to Rene in Glendalough having gained 4 spots
Five runners extended their stay out on the trails of leg 4 including three of expected top finishers from the Raheny, Rathfarnham and Parnell AC. Parnell’s mistake was particularly important as it allowed Marcus to leap-frog them AND pass out a further 3 athletes to move the team up to 11th. Gavin Kennedy was only a further four spots behind but our eye-brows were raised highest by Robin Seymour – running for team Luna – setting a new club best for the current version of the leg.
Gerard O’Rourke looking spent as Simon Lynch takes off
RESULT
1. Barry Minnock (Tullamore Harriers (TT Racers)) 0:42:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Robin Seymour 0:43:59 (1st M50) – club all-time best for leg – Team Luna
7. Marcus Murphy 0:46:38 (3rd M40) – Glendalough AC
Rene puts on a fake smile on the early km of the long climb
Rene, running his 8th relay, worked to keep Bernard Fortune (running on the Parnell team) behind him and succeeded until the 4 km point where Bernard carved out a 200m lead which he held to the top of the climb and then extended on the downhill so that Parnell gained a 48s lead by Glenmalure. The team stayed 11th when Rene made up 5 minutes on Polish Athletic’s Katarzyna Bobka and overtook her on the descent.
Simon Lynch cools down after the tropical forest sojourn in Drumgoff
Raheny moved further out of contention here with another extension but their runner still finished 12th. Simon Lynch secured a key goal for Wicklow Wolf: beating the mass start by 6 minutes!
RESULT
1. Conall Whelan (Ballyroan Abbeyleix AC (Mountain Swifts)) 0:54:24 (CR on new 2022+ course)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
16. René Borg 1:09:11 – Glendalough AC
23. Eoin Kennedy 1:16:51 – Laragh Legends
31. Simon Lynch 1:32:51 – Wicklow Wolf
Graham Bush (yellow) and Eoin Kennedy (white) at Ironbridge
Graham Bush hands over to a determined Graeme Warren
Sli Cualann’s Martin Breen was a late call-up when Derek Cullen withdrew ith a back injury and ran well finishing only a few minutes behind Graham Bush and moved the Legends up a spot. After an almighty ding-dong battle with Raheny’s Graham Ahearne, Graham just came up short finishing 24s behind him but storming to the Ironbridge finish in a time only a bit slower than his 2022 effort.
It’s hard to look good on leg 7 when Tim O’Donoghue is running but Graeme Warren managed his leg debut well and moved the team into the top-10 for the first time. Behind him Anthony also improved his team’s position by one and set a new club record: first man to run leg 7 five times! Sugar-coating? He improved on his 2022 time.
Everyone gained an unexpected place when third-placed David Naylor went parallel to the route for a few km and was ruled non-competitive.
RESULT
1. Tim O’Donoghue (East Cork AC) 1:15:23
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
14. Graeme Warren 1:41:39 (3rd M50) – Glendalough AC
The final leg brings the most pressure and Donna Quinn nearly decided to ‘check out early’ going 100m up the wrong fork at the start of the leg before being courteously called back by a Clane AC runner. From then on she grit her teeth and kept the hard chasing Lucy O’Malley behind her to secure the covetted top-10 spot!
It appears there was only one second in it and while it was tight, it was not THAT tight: Donna had stopped at the traditional finish at the wall and was only called to the table in the car park at the last second! Aoife and Nora packed well in 18th and 19th.
RESULT
1. Ciara Hickey (Brothers Pearse AC) 0:38:14
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
9. Donna Quinn 0:45:24 (2nd F40) – Glendalough AC
18. Aoife Joyce 0:49:24 – Laragh Legends
19. Nora Butler 0:51:11 – Wicklow Wolf
SUMMARY
(Finish: 10th, 8 hours 45 minutes)
A seventh straight year in the top-10 was secured although as always many things could have swung it another way: what if Darren Mooney of Parnell had not got injured on leg 1, what if their runner on leg 4 had not taken an extension, what if Raheny hadn’t been beset by a deluge of navigational errors? What if, what if, what if. Such is the relay – a clean run with minimal mishaps and errors and you always have a chance.
Race Director (Jason Kehoe) and coach Rene (Results secretary on the day) posing with the trophies – we didn’t get one!
Teams did reasonably well on a hot day compared to predictions with the teams overall times off only by 0.9% to 9.2% with many debutantes making predictions that much harder. Teams did run slower than expected but overall statistics show that was true of most of the field.
HISTORY
All relay performances by current and former runners.
Road and trail racing coincided on both sides of the N11 as one of the main club goals of every season came around with the third running of the 5km course at Jack White’s pub for the Wicklow Road Championship 2023. 15 minutes later the traditional – and popular – Devil’s Glen Trail League race began.
DEVIL’S GLEN
With so many runners in action at the road championship, it was great to see we still had ‘resources’ to be present in old Glanmore at the Devil’s Glen. Derek Cullen continues to show signs of a good comeback season finishing 36th and matching his second best effort for the course (from 2017). He was followed by Alan Kennedy (46th) and James Heggie also having a good run with 51:16 for 119th out of the 160ies finishers.
RESULT
1. Karol Cronin 0:31:33 (Sportsworld AC)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
36. Derek Cullen 0:41:31
46. Alan Kennedy 0:42:56
119. James Heggie 0:51:16
WICKLOW ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP
Where do we even start with this report? We had a great crowd of 13 runners (not unlucky tonight) grouped into a strong M50 team (Graeme, Graham, Angus and Anthony), a six man M35-49 team and the trinity of Donna, Sarah and Aoife making up a senior women’s team.
Paul Duffy came through well in the 2nd half of the race for a new PB
Brian Lydon led the team out followed by Rene Borg (setting a suicidal pace). Graeme and Paul Duffy slowly worked their way up passing out Rene at the halfway point before Graeme went full tilt past Brian to take the individual M50 gold medal and leading the M50 team to team Silver. Brian wasn’t far behind – both men recorded PBs – the first two of seven personal bests (set by Graeme, Brian, Gavin, Graham, Sarah and Mark).
Graeme first home for the M50 gold!
Donna Quinn did not get a PB but in the 14 months since she first broke the 20 minute barrier, she has broken it five times. The real prize was winning the gold medal in the women’s F40 category – her fifth medal in this event and fourth gold medal (2x F35 titles and now 2x F40).
Donna Quinn strides home for the F40 gold medal
Gavin Kennedy broke his PB by 1:18 in what was a seminal run for him, Mark Willoughby dropped his best by 1:09, Graeme by 51s (breaking 19 for the first time), Brian Lydon by 35s, Paul Duffy by 31s (also breaking 19 for the first time), Sarah by nearly a minute and Graham Bush – having not run a 5 km we know of – put down a 19:10 marker despite having raced Drumgoff 3 days earlier. He missed out on a bronze medal by less than a second finishing 4th – a fate shared by Angus Tyner who also finished 4th in the M55 category.
Rene Borg just holds off Gavin Kennedy and Marcus Murphy at a period of the race when we had four runners coming in during a 5 second period (!)
Finally we could celebrate three new club records: Graeme’s M50 mark, Angus Tyner’s M55 and Aoife Joyce in the F45.
Apart from the M50 men’s Silver team medal, the M35-49 team won the Bronze medal by the tightest of margins, Kilcoole AC’s first two runners had arrived ahead of our guys but their third man coming in at 19:41 meant we secured the last medal by 7 seconds accumulated.
RESULT
1. Robin Mooney (Inbhear Dee AC) 0:16:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
40. Graeme Warren 0:18:23 (1st M50, PB, Individual Gold, Team Silver, M50 club record)
44. Brian Lydon 0:18:31 (PB, Team Bronze)
54. Paul Duffy 0:18:49 (PB, Team Bronze)
60. René Borg 0:19:05 (Team Bronze)
61. Gavin Kennedy 0:19:06 (PB)
62. Marcus Murphy 0:19:08
65. Graham Bushe 0:19:10 (PB, Team Silver)
70. Angus Tyner 0:19:24 (M55 club record)
84. Donna Quinn 0:19:49 (1st F40, Individual Gold)
The Lap of the Gap Marathon kept our club sufficiently busy that this report has been delayed for a while leaving us 11 (!) races, 2 DNFs, 5 podiums, 2 club records and two county medals….
CLUB RUNNERS HITTING 50 AND 100 RACES
Also of note club coach Rene Borg hit ’50 caps’ in the Glendalough jersey with the recent run-out at EcoTrail Copenhagen. the next to approach milestones are Colm Kenna (three races from 100), Claire Thompson (2 from 50) and Richard Costelloe (3 from 50). Only eight members have run 50 or more races for the club and only Angus Tyner and Torben Dahl more than 100.
DYSART WOODS
We begin our catch up nearly a month back on 30th April where Lillian Deegan kicked off her season finishing 47th in Dysart Woods.
RESULT
1. Barry McEvoy () 0:26:44
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
47. Lillian Deegan 1:00:55
ARDGILLAN
The more northerly races are always less popular among our runners but we did have Torben Dahl and James Heggie in action around the Ardgillan estate and James Heggie leads our ‘most prolific racer’ now with 11 races this year.
RESULT
1. Mark McAdden () 0:35:39
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
32. Torben Dahl 0:42:28
122. James Heggie 0:50:42
CARRICK MOUNTAIN
A week later at Carrick, the local troops were out in force and this time it was Kevin Ferguson’s time to lead the men home followed by Graeme Warren and a welcome outing for Loraine Creane.
Kevin Ferguson battling uphill at Carrick
RESULT
1. Peter Roche (Dunbyone AC) 0:38:41
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
34. Kevin Ferguson 0:50:09
40. Graeme Warren 0:51:03
52. Alan Kennedy 0:51:49 (3rd M55)
77. Loraine Creane 0:58:04
163. James Heggie 1:22:08
WICKLOW OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD 1500M AND 5K
We had intended to bring our biggest group yet to several events at the Wicklow Track and Field but a mixture of illness, dog-bites and niggles, meant only Diarmuid Kavanagh (5k) and Paul Duffy (1500m) ended up competing. This was productive for Paul who claimed a gold medal in the M40 category (meaning our club now holds the m40 Indoor AND Outdoor titles for 2023), a personal best and a club record!
For Diarmuid – in the new 5000m distance at the championships – it was a third track medal of the year (this time silver) to accompany a 5K PB.
1500m
RESULT
1. Finn Buck (Parnell AC) 0:04:24
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
17. Paul Duffy 0:04:58.5 (1st M40, PB, Club Record, Individual Gold)
5000m
RESULT
1. Robin Mooney (Inbhear Dee AC) 0:16:21
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:18:37 (2nd MS, PB)
UTS 50K / BEARA WAY ULTRA
Duncan Barrett started his season big going to the prestigious and stacked Ultra Tour Snowdonia to take part in the ‘fun run’ over 50k finishing in a very decent 460th position in a large field full of DNFs!
Only eight days later he toed the line in the inaugural Beara Way Ultra and perhaps that a few mountains too far as he was the one succumbing to the DNF rate on that occasion.
Ultra Tour Snowdonia 50k
RESULT
1. Thomas Evans (Adidas Terrex) 5:27:11
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
460. Duncan Barrett 11:17:22
Beara Way Ultra
RESULT
1. Stephen Mangan () 21:53:52
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
30. Duncan Barrett DNF
SCARR
We had an impressive 9 runners testing out the newly revised course from Gaffney’s Lane where Brian Lydon continued a recent trend of being our ‘first man across the post’ followed by an impressive run by Kevin Ferguson who is really beginning to find his hill legs and Angus Tyner securing another podium in his newly minted M55 category.
Aoife Joyce returns to the LL after 12 years! (photo Andrew Hanney)
It was also a welcome return to the Leinster League for Aoife Joyce – 12 years after her last Leinster League race, the 2008 league winner was back.
RESULT
1. Eoin Flynn () 0:42:57
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
26. Brian Lydon 0:50:59
29. Kevin Ferguson 0:52:12
39. Angus Tyner 0:53:32 (3rd M50)
44. Torben Dahl 0:54:15
47. Philip O’Brien 0:54:29 (WW RC)
53. Alan Kennedy 0:55:16 (WW RC)
67. Aoife Joyce 0:59:48
124. Keith Mulvey 1:13:43
166. James Heggie 1:29:51
GOLDEN TENLOOP DELFT
Catherine Devitt took husband Richard’s ticket for the well-attended 10 km in Delft (with his consent we believe) for her 10th race of the season finishing 5th woman in a field of over 2500 runners!
Finish Line Director (Donna Quinn) and Safety Director (Keith Mulvey) have time for a smile at Lap of the Gap
GLEN TO GLEN HALF / LAP OF THE GAP MARATHON
We hope to do a separate race report on a memorable 6th edition of our club fund-raiser Lap of the Gap which saw a new marathon course record and record numbers for the 6th consecutive edition (the race now having grown every year!).
With most of our runners playing key roles in organisation it was left to a select few to make their mark on the competition and Rachel Wisdom did so brilliantly securing our first podium in the event since 2017 whilst finishing 2nd in the women’s half-marathon race.
Rachel Wisdom 2nd lady home in the half (photo: Lindie Naughton)
Graeme Warren knocked 18 minutes off his best for the full marathon course to finish a fine 12th in the fastest field ever assembled on ‘Ireland’s highest road marathon’ continuing a good tradition for us in this race which was won by Torben Dahl in 2016 and saw a 9th place finish by Anthony Breen in 2017. New member Aaron Kedward also completed his long build-up for the race successfully dipping well under the 5 hour barrier.
Leaving their duties at one of (or the?) toughest road race in Ireland behind, our PB hunting runners instead opted for the Fastlane 10k
RESULT
1. Jake Russell-Carroll () 0:32:10
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
11. Blaise Kinsella 0:38:02 (PB, M40 PB)
17. Paul Duffy 0:39:25 (PB, M40 PB)
346. Sile Keane 1:03:37 (PB, F40 PB)
GREAT SUGARLOAF
A slightly new course, mapped out by club man Graham Bush, was on offer as the Great Sugarbowl race arrived earlier than normal in the Leinster League. Angus led home with another M55 podium ahead of Ben Lewis and James Heggie with Lillian Deegan conceding a DNF.
Angus Tyner continues to do well in the M55 category finishing 2nd at Sugar Bowl
RESULT
1. Peter Roche () 0:36:37
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
34. Angus Tyner 0:46:45 (2nd M55)
80. Ben Lewis 0:52:59
160. James Heggie 1:13:44
170. Lillian Deegan DNF
NEXT UP
This week the Wicklow Road Championship 5k is on Wednesday doubling up as always as a counter in our club championship before Aran Lynham takes on the Cork Marathon over the weekend….
After a busy last weekend, the racing continued unabated as we enter the breathless May/June period and this one offered 2 podiums, 2 personal bests and 1 club record…
PRINCE WILLIAM’S SEAT
Wednesday action kicked us of with six of our runners attacking Prince William’s Seat – the fun and tricky 8.5 km Leinster League classic. Brian Lydon had taken the early start as he had to head home early which was a pity as he would have had an almighty battle with Graeme to be our first man home (three seconds separated them) but had to accept a 147th position as early starters are automatically moved behind the main field. This left Graeme Warren well clear as our first finisher and 2nd in the M50 category.
Brian Lydon relieved to see daylight
Laragh-born Martin Cullen had another great run finishing 19th.
RESULT
1. Peter Roche (Dunbyone AC) 0:40:43
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
31. Graeme Warren 0:51:00 (2nd M50)
92. Ben Lewis 0:59:47
105. Colm Kenna 1:01:30
147. Brian Lydon 0:51:03
158. Mark Willoughby 1:09:15
192. James Heggie 1:23:28
LEINSTER NOVICE AND MASTER’S ROAD RACE (GOWRAN)
In Gowran Donna ran within 8 seconds of her 3 km PB to help the Sli Cualann Master’s women’s team to finish 4th in both the Club competition as the 2nd scorer behind Parnell’s Catherine O’Connor and ahead of Debbie Griffin. In the County medals, the trio were likewise just edged out by Laois and finished 4th.
Donna didn’t romanticise her race report:” I was a few seconds slower than last year, but much tougher competition too. I was way down the field in comparison. Ah well, box ticked!” (ed: she ran her second fastest 3k – 8 seconds slower than her PB).
Donna Quinn battling away in Gowran over the 3k distance
RESULT
1. Fiona Kehoe (Kilmore AC) 0:10:32
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
17. Donna Quinn 0:11:35
WATERVILLE TRAIL FESTIVAL 3-DAY AND 43K
John Conway was in a war of attrition taking on 3x 43 km trail runs in Waterville together with his wife Laura . Sitting pretty in 3rd after the first day John lost a bit of ground on the second day dropping to 4th a position he held. This was enough to gain 3rd in the men’s category as wife Laura held on to second overall and won the women’s race being pegged back on the last day by Sean Meehan.
RESULT
1. Sean Meehan () 13:23:26
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. John Conway 14:43:34 (3rd man)
Richard Kieran and Keith Mulvey joined in on the lap for the final day (Sunday) placing 51st and110th respectively It was a welcome return for Keith after recent surgery and he celebrated his 29th marathon/ultra-marathon and gained a sense of completeness after having DNFed in the 3-day WTF at his last attempt in 2022 (but having finished 8th in 2019). Richard Kieran was solidly mid-pack – a nice way to celebrate his 5th anniversary with Olivia Galvin.
Keith Mulvey completing his WTF43K
RESULT
1. Nick Hogan () 3:54:35
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
51. Richard Kieran 5:53:18
110. Keith Mulvey 8:01:48
LIMERICK MARATHON
Everything built up to the crescendo at the Limerick Marathon where our club were willing Blaise on to a sub-3 hour finish after a long and punishing marathon build-up. Blaise would be the second runner this month to make a concerted attempt at joining the sub-3 hour club (in his debut!) after Richard Costelloe had fallen slightly short in Rotterdam. Things looked rosy as Blaise came through the first half along with the sub-3 hour pacers in 1:28:32. He never really lost much pace but slowed down just enough to slip above in 3:00:59.
Despite missing out this was a fabulous debut on the distance and just rewards for some very tough work put in by Blaise over the last few months including an injury set-back that nearly scuttled the build-up entirely. He got a personal best and broke Barry O’Neill’s long-standing 3:08 M40 club record.
Blaise’s time was also the second fastest run in the club’s history (after Torben Dahl’s 2:57 in 2016) and put’s Blaise 4th on the ‘all-time best’ marathon list of our current members with only three members having faster life-time bests.
Marathon number 11 for Eoin Phelan and…
Not to be outdone Eoin Phelan recorded a great 9 minutes personal best of 4:13 one week after doing the Connemarathon (!) .
RESULT
1. Tudor Moldovan (Clonliffe Harriers) 2:25:16
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
56. Blaise Kinsella 3:00:59 (PB, M40 PB)
571. Eoin Phelan 4:13:12 (PB, M35 PB)
IRISH ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIP
And whilst we don’t generally report on our members extra-curricular achievements in other sports, we have to make an exception to congratulate Angus Tyner on his triple-haul of gold medals at the Irish Orienteering Championships on home turf in Wicklow.
Eleven Glendalough AC athletes did well wherever they went this weekend with five PBs, three top-10 placings and four category podiums as our runners roved from the hills of Wicklow to the roads of Connemara, London, and Wexford to the forest trails of Copenhagen.
WICKLOW GLACIER LAKES
Graham Bush put in a real honest shifts in one of the roughest mountain races on the IMRA calendar – the 41.6km connecting of all Wicklow’s glacier lakes finishing 7th and 2nd in the M55 category in an exclusive field of 23 runners! (yes it’s not for the faint-hearted!).
RESULT
1. Andrew Tees (BARF) 4:44:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Graham Bushe 6:15:00 (2nd M50)
ECOTRAIL COPENHAGEN 20K
Rene Borg and Diarmuid Kavanagh joined a contingent of 17 other Irish residents for a trip to EcoTrail Copenhagen and our two athletes were taking on the 20 km distance through the bumpy forest trails North of Copenhagen city.
Showing off the Wicklow brand in Copenhagen
Two strong French athletes separated from the field early and Clement le Touze would go on to win by a minute. The EcoTrail regular had a hard time when he visited Wicklow in 2019 languishing in 53rd place but on Danish soil and with 4 more years running in his leg, he was a different man.
Rene reports from behind them:
“Diarmuid said ‘”they are in a rush aren’t they” as we settled into the main chasing pack. Aggressive running from both of us whittled that pack down to three: the two of us and former orienteering world champion Jamie Stevenson. Diarmuid held the lead until 7k after which I took over until about the 14k mark. Myself and Jamie worked together and talked for a little while before he built a break on the toughest of the later hills. From here it was pure attrition as Diarmuid’s second wind saw him begin to chase me down. I thought I had fourth nailed and kept a faint hope of 3rd in my heart when I took a wrong turn that cost 600m. Diarmuid managed to correct the error earlier but not before a Norwegian runner snuck in between us. Desperate and on fading legs I tried to take my position back but the lads kept what they had got and it was a respectable 4th and 6th place for us. With legs up we saw our travelling companion Julie McNamee (a runner of mine in Running Coach Ireland) take 2nd place after Enda Cloake – of Slaney Olympic – had won the 48k earlier. Great day for the Irish and the Hiberno-Norse.I was also happy to finish first Dane – beating all my countrymen in the race at least.”
RESULT
1. Clément Le Touze (France) 1:21:46
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Diarmuid Kavanagh 1:31:18 (3rd MS)
6. René Borg 1:31:39 (2nd M40)
Diarmuid on the chase at around 12.5 km in EcoTrail Copenhagen
WEXFORD 10 KM AND HALF-MARATHON
In Wexford club captain Marcus Murphy was our first man home in the half-marathon breaking his 2017 PB by 2 minutes and 19 seconds despite carrying a few niggles going into the race. This was his 2nd PB of the year in what is proving a productive season. Gavin Kennedy got himself a 93 minute finish and also a PB despite not quite reaching his aspiration of sub-90.
Aoife Joyce nearly missed the start of the 10k and had to make a sprint for it but still managed 3rd in the F45 category with Colm Kenna following within the minute.
Suitably yellow-bellied in Wexford (Colm Kenna, Gavin Kennedy, Marcus Murphy)
RESULT – 10k
1. Dmytro MUSIIATCHENKO () 0:32:01
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
63. Aoife Joyce 0:47:00 (3rd F45)
103. Colm Kenna 0:47:59
RESULT – HALF-MARATHON
1. Sean Hehir (Croghan AC) 1:10:31
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
30. Marcus Murphy 1:27:38 (PB, M40 PB)
80. Gavin Kennedy 1:33:53 (PB, M45 PB)
CONNEMARATHON (AND HALF!)
Paul Duffy took 2.5 minutes off his PB from Wicklow Gaol-Break despite the tough Connemarathon course dipping under the 90 minute barrier for the first time with Nora Butler running within two minutes of her own PB on the course too.
Paul Duffy struggling with the Connemara sun but not the course as he records a new half PB
RESULT
1. John Lee () 1:16:39
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
22. Paul Duffy 1:29:33 (PB)
185. Nora Butler 1:49:22
Eoin Phelan took part in the full marathon finishing solidly in the middle of the field in 4:28:29 and dipping under this 4:33:30 PB from Dublin last year – a great sign of progressgiven the much tougher course.
Eoin in Connemara (and no, he did not use the ladies’ tent!)
RESULT
1. George Snee () 2:36:21
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
236. Eoin Phelan 4:28:29 (PB)
LONDON MARATHON
Finally, Wicklow Wolf RC alumni David Murphy was in action in the London Marathon (a covetted spot) where all the drama unfolded this weekend and where the world saw the second-fastest ever marathon time run. David got a tidy PB of 4:24:21 running with his brother.
Our club had it’s single busiest weekend so far with 20 runners racing over Saturday and Sunday in the Maurice Mullins 50k, the Wicklow Gaol Break 10k and Half and two events in the Hague. it was fruitful as well with 7 PBs, 1 club record, 2 category wins, 3 category podiums and four top-10 results.
Graham Bush during his wrist-breaking double-record on the Glendalough Circuit
The big event on the hills was the Maurice Mullins 50k and 80k double-headers both featuring class fields chasing World Championship qualification.
MAURICE MULLINS 50K
Graham Bush was our first man home despite nursing a broken wrist suffered on his record-setting run on the Glendalough Circuit mountain challenge last weekend (where he set the clockwise best of 1:39:22 on Saturday and the counter clockwise best of 1:32:01 on Sunday). He took 2nd in the M55 category having won the M50 category in 2022.
Eoin Kennedy also returned for a second consecutive go at the new 50 km course finishing slightly slower but higher up in his category than 2022. James Heggie – scheduled as our lone competitor in the 80k unfortunately was a DNS due to injury.
RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 4:08:12
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
50. Graham Bushe 5:55:35 (2nd M55)
88. Eoin Kennedy 6:23:29
WICKLOW GAOL BREAK 10K AND HALF-MARATHON
Gavin and Marcus posing post-run with their medals
We had a total sixteen runners going at it on the hilly courses in Wicklow Town with the finish at the old Wicklow Gaol. The races were nominated as the first Club Championship counter of the year to add needle to it
Graeme Warren and Paul Duffy would set off first in the half-marathon and both got caught out when the top-20 runners in the field took a 400m detour. Back on course both recovered – Graeme not only set a 2 minute PB (improving his 2018 mark) but also a new Club M50 record. Paul Duffy was managing himself after recent injury but still nearly broke the 90 minute mark and shattered his previous best. Behind them we had six Wicklow Wolfers also running with an 8 minute PB for Mark Willoughby and a 13 minute PB for Conor Diamond.
Our ‘social division’ – Wicklow Wolf RC was also represented at the Gaol Break 10k with Nora Butler along with one of our Beginner’s Group runners making her 10k debut – well done to Sile Keane!
Coach Rene Borg just about comes out on top in a sprint for 6th place in the 10k
The 10 km started shortly after with 8 of our runners in it. Marcus took the early lead shadowed from a short distance by Diarmuid and coach Rene Borg. By the early hill the trio were together but Diarmuid was distanced by about 20 seconds leaving Marcus and Rene to battle it out for the club win. The lead exchanged several more times until late in the 6th km where Rene got a gap that he held to the finish. This was a sweet moment for the coach in his return to the distance after a 10 year ‘absence’.
Marcus fourteen seconds later 10th followed and while his time was slightly slower than his PB from Enniscorthy in February, his 40:09 is a better performance considering the course.
Diarmuid was next (16th) making it two men in the top-10 and three in the top-20 then Gavin setting a 1 minute PB and a category PB for m45 followed by Colm (squeezing under 50) and Sile Keane in her debut on the distance.
RESULT
1. Cian O’Reilly (Annalee AC) 0:37:58
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
6. René Borg 0:39:55 (2nd M40, M40 PB)
10. Marcus Murphy 0:40:09
16. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:41:28 (PB)
30. Gavin Kennedy 0:43:55 (PB, M45 PB)
101. Colm Kenna 0:49:47
119. Nora Butler 0:49:20 – WW RC
794. Sile Keane 1:10:32 (PB)
ZUIDERPARKUN AND HAGUE ROAD RUNNERS 10K
Richard Costelloe in action in The Hague again
Meanwhile in our near-weekly bulletin from The Hague, Catherine Devitt was first lady at Zuiderpark for the sixth time in sixth attempts
RESULT
1. Joey Fishbeen () 0:17:28
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
5. Catherine Devitt 0:19:35 (1st F40)
Husband Richard Costelloe continued to polish off his (impromptu) Rotterdam Marathon preparations at the Hague Road Runners 10k. At a course that was about 400m short, he sat in with the leaders for 2 km before dropping off and running home in 37:21 to win the M45 category for the race and for the series overall.
The racing is slowly ramping up towards relentless with seven runners in action this past weekend and another busy weekend coming up (with the Maurice Mullins / Wicklow Gaolbreak double-header).
Nora Butler outbound in the Wicklow Way Half
We had six runners entered for the fourth running of Wicklow Way Half – the successor race to the now defunct classics (the Wicklow Way Trail 22k and Maurice Mullins 25k). Shorter but steeper than it’s predecessor races it feature around 21.5 km of running with over 900m ascent.
Mark Willoughby a happy finisher
Torben Dahl led the team home as he had at Howth earlier followed by Alan Kennedy who nearly get himself under the 2.5 hour barrier. Mark Willoughby and Keith Mulvey (returning after a break) rounded out the team. Our female representatives where Aoife Joyce who finished shortly after Alan in 2:35. Aoife had only run 1 non-relay IMRA race since 2014 (the predecessor race – Wicklow Way Trail – where she had an excellent record with two wins and two third place finishes). Nora Butler had an excellent debut in this race – only her fourth IMRA race – with a time of 2:42 (and 18th female with Aoife in 10th).
Aoife Joyce finishing with welcoming committee at hand
RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 1:40:40
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
38. Torben Dahl 2:19:50
69. Alan Kennedy 2:30:03
74. Aoife Joyce 2:35:03
113. Nora Butler 2:42:44
128. Mark Willoughby 2:56:53
139. Keith Mulvey 3:09:24
Alan Kennedy (front in WW singlet) with Keith Mulvey (in our blazing yellow) in background
ZUIDERPARKRUN
Meanwhile in Holland, Catherine Devitt continues to make sub-19 minutes 5 km times routine at her regular outing at the Zuiderparkrun. once again she was 4th overall and first female finisher.
Two PBs, two age category PBs, two club records and lots of running over snow as our runners took on hills, trails and half-marathons.
TROOPERSTOWN WINTER
The weekend action started locally on the snowy flanks of Trooperstown dutifully marked by club coach Rene Borg who had to dust off one or two flags that had been further covered in snow from Friday to Saturday morning.
James Heggie and other happy runners in Trooperstown Wood – below the snowline!
The runners began in slush and light rain before reaching the winter wonderland of the upper trail to Boots and Trooperstown where the snow rose gradually from ankle height to shin height and back down again during the descent.
Mark Willoughby passes Trooperstown cairn
First home was Colm Kenna followed by James Heggie and Mark Willoughby (lamenting his cold feet!). Winner Killian Mooney secured the overall Leinster Spring League. Our highest placed finisher was Alan Kennedy in 31st followed by James Heggie in 46th. In total 69 runners completed the league and 428 did at least one race.
RESULT
1. Killian Mooney () 0:45:12
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
46. Colm Kenna 1:08:46
75. James Heggie 1:33:20
82. Mark Willoughby 1:46:52
NN CPC DEN HAAG 10 KM AND HALF MARATHON
The Devitt/Costelloe power couple continued their brilliant early Spring running over the two days of the NN CPC Loop den Haag where Catherine opened the weekend with a quadruple of achievements: 2nd in her category, an F40 personal best, and lowering her own Ladies and F40 club records).
Husband Richard was not to be totally outdone when he towed the start line for the half-marathon on Sunday 13th and smashed his half-marathon personal best from 2022 by 6 minutes with 1:22:29 (the fifth fastest time run in our club colours – the other four being run by Torben and Angus).
Both ran in massive fields with nearly 6000 runners in the 10 km and over 8500 in the half-marathon.
Half-marathon (13/03)
RESULT
1. Brian Kiptoo (Kenya) 1:00:53
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
385. Richard Costelloe 1:22:29 (PB, M45 PB)
BOHERMEEN HALF-MARATHON
Finally in Bohermeen Blaise Kinsella and Eoin Phelan got a run-out. Blaise ran well as he continues to settle into a routine after an injury scare last month in his marathon build-up. With 1:25:23, he ran his second fastest half-marathon and looks well on track for a strong sub-3 attempt in the marathon.
Eoin Phelan at Bohermeen
Eoin meanwhile kept it tight in regards PBs – dipping under his previous mark by a mere 4 seconds (but it all counts!). The tenth PB set by a club runner this year.
