Category: Ultra running

REPORTS: Five tough days on the hills for GMAC

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Trail running, Ultra running

Since our last report our runners have been put through the mill first at the Reeks Skyline in Kerry, the Glendalough Tucker Trail ultra and the last three rounds of the Leinster League at Crone, Ballinastoe and Great Sugarloaf.

Reeks Skyline

John Conway kicked off the fun in Kerry on the extremely difficult Reeks Skyline, taking in Carrauntoohil and it’s sister peaks. Winner Conall Whelan set a new CR. Despite suffering some ankle trouble during and after Johnny got through once again in what continues to be a busy summer since he completed the Cape Wrath 400k in June.

John Conway during the Reeks Skyline

RESULT

1. Conall Whelan (UCD AC) 3:42:33 (CR)

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

34. John Conway 5:54:10

COILLTE CRONE CAPER

The Coillte Crone Caper race went ahead as planned after some concern around the fires nearby and it was a gruesome uphill battle for our quintet of Torben, Rene, Aran, Angus and Eoin. Aran led early on with Torben and Rene in close attendance with Rene eventually taking the lead and cresting the summit first before coming a cropper with a bad ankle injury shortly into the descent. Torben retook the lead halfway down leading the team home in 24th.

Our two Danes (Rene and Torben) chasing Aran and the other leaders halfway through the climb at Crone

RESULT

1. Derek Crammond (Parnell AC) 0:51:39 (CR)

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

25. Torben Dahl 1:04:09

26. René Borg 1:04:45

30. Aran Lynham 1:05:30

41. Angus Tyner 1:08:35

48. Eoin Kennedy 1:10:17

GLENDALOUGH TUCKER TRAIL 80K

Graham Bushe and Brian Lydon took over racing duties in the weekend at the Glendalough Tucker Trail and Graham secured 5th overall and 1st M50 with Brian solid in the mid-pack

Brian Lydon motors on in the Tucker Trail (photo: Adrian Hennessey)

RESULT

1. Brian McFlynn (Newcastle AC) 7:59:11

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

5. Graham Bushe 9:08:11 (1st M50)

24. Brian Lydon 10:50:11

BALLINASTOE

Torben and Eoin followed up their exertions at Crone a bit further south on the chaotic course at Ballinastoe finishing ‘to recent par’. Reeks winner Conall Whelan scorched around in 49 minutes.

Eoin Kennedy at Ballinastoe (photo: Derek Hay)

RESULT

1. Conall Whelan (UCD AC) 0:49:05

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

28. Torben Dahl 0:59:22

46. Eoin Kennedy 1:06:11

SUGARLOAF BBQ

Graham Bushe earns his 100th race t-shirt ((photo: Gareth LIttle)

This left only one race in the Leinster League and Graham Bushe was recovered enough from the Tucker Trail to earn his ‘club 100’ t-shirt here. Graham made the last LL race of the season his first go at this year’s league and lead us home in 18th position. In the overall league our men didn’t really feature as none completed the minimum 7 races for a full score (Torben finished highest – in 78th out of 574 – with 6 races to score) with most having completed 2-4 races. But there was enough solid performances to suggest that our large squad of hill runners could do well in the upcoming Wicklow Athletics Off-Road Championship.

RESULT

1. Derek Crammond (Parnell AC) 0:33:57

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

18. Graham Bushe 0:40:56

46. Torben Dahl 0:45:34

RACE REPORTS: Devilish hills and trails, Dutch ParkRuns and home turf at Brockagh

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Road running, Trail running, Ultra running

Our result round-up begins at one of the most well-loved trail runs among our club members: the Devil’s Glen.

Paul Duffy closely chased by Diarmuid Kavanagh at Devil’s Glen (photo: Joseph Boyle)

DEVIL’S GLEN

Paul Duffy led us home continuing his strong comeback – he also got the covetted ‘sub-40’ blue ribbon performance (the fifth club runner to do so in our colours and the 8th current member to have done so).

Less than 2 minutes behind was Diarmuid with Colm Kenna and Barry O’Neill arriving just around the 50th position (a feat they’d repeat a week later).

RESULT

1. Matthew McConnell () 0:34:15

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

8. Paul Duffy 0:39:07

18. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:40:59

47. Colm Kenna 0:46:27

51. Barry O’Neill 0:47:13

Colm Kenna at Brockagh a week after Devil’s Glen

WICKLOW WAY RACE

48 hours later Duncan Barrett set out on another Wicklow Way Race. Without his 2021 training volume he couldn’t quite replicate his best run over the course in Autumn but he still put in a strong and experienced showing with 12th position and a time of 17 hours 2 minutes for the 127 km.

RESULT

1. Mickie Brennan () 13:45:13

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

12. Duncan Barrett 17:02:18

Graeme Warren descends off Brockagh having used Camaderry as a warmup

CAMADERRY ‘DEVIL’S CLIMB’

While Duncan was still running, a small field of four competed in the 5th round of our Club Championship – the 5 km Uphill only run from the Upper Lake to Camaderry East. Club coach René took the win with Donna Quinn beating Aoife in the ladies. After a slight dip in attendance in the recent Club Champs, we expect them to pick up as the next counter is the Wicklow Road Championship.

RESULT

1. René Borg 0:40:16 (1st M40)

2. Graeme Warren 0:43:24 (1st M45)

3. Donna Quinn 0:43:55 (1st F40)

4. Aoife Joyce 0:51:01 (2nd F40)

ZUIDERBERG PARKRUN

That same morning in The Haag, Richard Costelloe returned to action finishing 4th in the Zuiderberg ParkRun in 20:46.

RESULT

1. Matthew Russell (Kovsie AC) 0:18:06

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

4. Richard Costelloe 0:20:46 (1st M45)

Rene takes the club lead baton late on the Brockagh climb with Aran in pursuit

BROCKAGH LL

The Leinster continued this Wednesday and the ‘yellow wave’ again swept over a local hill – the new 11.3 km Brockagh course. Young guns Aran and Diarmuid led our men out on the ascent but were overtaken late on the climb by René who led the troops home in 12th followed by Aran in 15th. With two men in the top-20, Loraine put more gloss on the evening when she finished 3rd lady and first F40.

Graeme Warren had overtaken Diarmuid late on the climb and he and our next three packed very tightly coming in 26th, 29th, 31st and 32nd all within just over a minute.

Loraine Creane has time to smile down the grassy bank at Brockagh

Colm Kenna came next well inside the top half of the field with a strong run and Barry O’Neill – still managing himself back from knee injury closed out our pack.

It was a good day for Sli Cualann as well with Parnell’s Derek Crammond winning – David and Cormac Conroy in 8th and 10th and Hugh Kinsella winning the M60. For good measure Kilcoole AC’s Peter Bell was 2nd.

RESULT

1. Derek Crammond (Parnell AC) 0:49:40

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

12. René Borg 0:59:20

15. Aran Lynham 1:00:24

26. Graeme Warren 1:02:58

29. Diarmuid Kavanagh 1:03:44

31. Eoin Kennedy 1:04:09

32. Loraine Creane 1:04:21 (3rd lady, 1st F40)

51. Colm Kenna 1:09:43

56. Barry O’Neill 1:11:55

Eoin Kennnedy descends away from the seting sun

REPORT: Relay, rough mountain, and Lap of the Gap

by glendaloughac, posted in Club races / events, Mountain running, Race reports, Road running, Trail running, Ultra running

It continues to be one of our busiest and craziest racing season with our runners participating in everything from the Wicklow Way Relay to the tough and rugged Glacier Lakes and Seven Sisters Skyline races to our very own Lap of the Gap Marathon and Glen to Glen Half – and that’s before we celebrate Aran Lynham’s first win in the Tralee 10 km road race!

WICKLOW WAY RELAY

Sarah and Rachel waiting to spring into action on leg 3

Our club had 14 runners competing as part of three different teams in the Wicklow Way Relay on 14th of May. Like in many previous years we had teamed up with runners from Parnell and the team ‘Parnelldalough’ finished 4th out of 35 (our highest finish yet) and continued our streak of ‘never being out of the top-10’.

Blazing Yellow – featuring 8 Glendalough AC runners – finished 11th and Graham Bushe competed for Mountain Swifts who finished 3rd. It was a day of high drama with 11 teams made non-competitive due to deviations from the Wicklow Way including unfortunately our ‘mother club’ Sli Cualann who were set to take 3rd (as TT Racers – occupying the final podium position midway through) were made non-competitive early in the race.

Paul Duffy takes on water on leg 4

The other Glendalough AC runners in action where: Brian Lydon, Torben Dahl, Rene Borg, Aran Lynham, Rachel Wisdom, Sarah Foster, Paul Duffy, Blaise Kinsella, Diarmuid Kavanagh, Graham Bushe, Johnny Conway, Anthony Breen, Duncan Barrett and Aoife Joyce.

GLACIER LAKES

The previous week Graham Bushe had finished 8th in the long and rough Wicklow Glacier Lakes Race.

RESULT

1. Andrew Tees () 4:39:30

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

8. Graham Bushe 5:46:40

LAP OF THE GAP MARATHON / GLEN TO GLEN HALF-MARATHON

Blaise Kinsella (left) after the Glen to Glen Half

In our annual club fund-raiser Duncan Barrett and Graeme Warren finished neck on neck in 22nd and 23rd position with Blaise Kinsella our only representative in the half-marathon. Blaise ran very well and nearly got himself under the 90-minute barrier.

RESULT – full

1. Darren Foley () 3:07:08

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

22. Duncan Barrett 3:46:20

23. Graeme Warren 3:46:44

RESULTS – HALF

RESULT 1. Tudor Mircea (Clonliffe Harriers) 1:10:39 (CR)

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

14. Blaise Kinsella 1:30:44

SEVEN SISTERS SKYLINE

Brian’s view in Seven Sisters

On the same day in County Donegal Brian Lydon took part in the first round of the WMRA World Cup in Ireland’s toughest mountain race: the 55 km Seven Sisters Skyline and over the unrelenting course he took nearly 40 minutes off his time from last year to finish 60th.

RESULT

1. Ricky Wynne () 7:07:47 (CR)

——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

60. Brian Lydon 10:47:53

BORN TO RUN TRALEE 10K

Aran get’s top spot

Continuing our tour of the country, Aran Lynham secured the first men’s road race victory for our club in his maiden outing over the 10 km distance in Tralee and set a first mark of 40:03. He said he took advantage of many local top runners being at a half-marathon in Castleisland – but a win is a win!

RESULT

1. Aran Lynham (Glendalough AC) 0:40:03 (PB)

CAPE WRATH 400K

Johnny’s ‘mug shot’ for Cape Wrath

As we speak club member John Conway has completed day 3 of the gruelling 8-day expedition race ‘Cape Wrath’ in Scotland – taking runners the 400 km from Fort William to Cape Wrath. Johnny currently sits solidly in 15th position and can be tracked below:

https://live.opentracking.co.uk/capewrathultra22/

glendalough ac at ecotrail wicklow

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Trail running, Ultra running

Our club had a big presence at EcoTrail Wicklow: co-organiser was club coach René Borg and several members helped out in key roles including Angus Tyner, Barry O’Neill, Colm Kenna, Duncan Barrett, Emma Hand, Paul Duffy, Bruce Phillips and Blaise Kinsella with Richard Kieran both marking a part of the course Friday and racing the 30 km Saturday!

We had two competitors in the 80 km – Graeme Warren and Johnny Conway. Graeme was first home in a fine sub-10 and Johnny came through well after a long injury in 40th. The day had a fast race with Gavin Byrne taking 6 minutes off the record and the first four women all shattering the existing ladies record.

John Conway emerges from the Roundwood reservoir trails in the 80k

ECOTRAIL WICKLOW 80K

  1. Gavin Byrne 7:53:41 (CR)

———GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————

30. Graeme Warren 9:56:17

40. John Conway 10:21:41

full results

ECOTRAIL WICKLOW 46K

May be an image of 1 person, standing and nature
Anthony Breen in the 46k

In the 46 km Keith Mulvey bounced back from his disappointment of DNFing the 80k last year and completed the shorter distance in 7:32. First home was Anthony Breen in 5:20 improving on his own time in that race from 2019.

ECOTRAIL WICKLOW 30K

  1. Ruairi Long 2:29:31

———GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————

19. Richard Costelloe. Graeme Warren 3:10:37

77. John Conway 3:38:55

full results

RACE REPORT: Ballyhoura Ultra and Mountain Meitheal

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Ultra running

Eoin Kennedy kicked off his hill running season with a 54th place at the Mountain Meitheal fundraiser race while most of our recent regulars where taking a day off perhaps because of the nearly 12 km of running around Fairy Castle in the Dublin Mountains.

MOUNTAIN MEITHEAL HILL RACE

  1. Paul Stephenson, Rathfarnham WSAF 51:40

————-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———

54. Eoin Kennedy 1:07:46

The weekend before in Ballyhoura Emma Hand posted a great performance with 7 hours 19 minutes for the Ultra Tour Ballyhoura and a podium spot in the women’s race. The 60 km race with 1850m elevation served as a ‘warmup effort’ ahead of Emma’s debut in the Kerry Way Ultra in September.

ULTRA TOUR BALLYHOURA

  1. John McKeogh 5:18:03

———GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————

19. Emma Hand 7:19:34

Also a big congratulations from everyone in Glendalough AC to Laragh GAA man Andrew Kenny who completed the full Wicklow Way over the weekend in aid of the Gavin Glynn Foundation.

REPORT: Lawless conquers the Wicklow Way

by glendaloughac, posted in Race reports, Trail running, Ultra running

Only one runner in action this week but he upped the weekly mileage run by club runners by completing the 127 km Wicklow Way Race in 29th position. Of the 80 so runners who took the start line, 53 completed.

It was a notable day on the Wicklow Way with both the ladies and the men’s records being lowered to 16:06 and 12:11 respectively by Aoife Mundow and UK international Robbie Britton.

RESULTS

  1. Robbie Britton 12:11

———–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS——–

29. Dave Lawless 18:17

http://live.primaltracking.com/wicklowwayrace19/

REPORT: Records and baptism at Maurice Mullins

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports, Ultra running

On a day where three of the four course records were broken on the Maurice Mullins 25 km and 50 km races, it was fitting that our two representatives in the 50k also had personal bests.

For Keith Mulvey it was a mere second better than previous times whereas for Richard Costelloe it represented his first stab at the race and at any ultra-distance race. Well done lads on a mighty effort!

 

MAURICE MULLINS 50K

  1. Eoin Lennon, Carnethy AC 3:52 (CR)

————-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

153. Richard Costelloe 6:16:10 (PB)

201. Keith Mulvey 6:55:20 (PB)

 

Full results