A magnificent seven dauntless Glendalough AC runners braved the howling winds to attend the Leinster League opener in Belmont over the Giltspur ridge (also known as Little Sugarloaf) – a fast, steep, and rocky race with several technical descents.
LEINSTER LEAGUE BEGINS…
Brian Lydon – our ‘Man in the West’ – was home in Leinster and led the team home in 26th followed by Graeme Warren closing out the top-50 and Eoin Kennedy who summarised the experience simply on his Strava as ‘fun fun fun!’. Loraine Creane opened her racing season finishing 7th in the women’s category and overall. Both Ben Lewis and Sarah Foster likewise had theirs season opener as both recorded their fifth IMRA result. Colm Kenna was our final competitor on the night finishing slightly ahead of Sarah.
Eoin Kennedy (red) zips up against the wind in the early stages of Belmont and Little sugarloaf
It was also a great night for county Wicklow with 15-year old Noah Harris sinking the field and winning the race in a new Course Record. Whether it will stand or be taken down as ‘wind-assisted’, time will show.
RESULT
1. Noah Harris () 0:39:11
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
26. Brian Lydon 0:48:50
50. Graeme Warren 0:51:13
65. Eoin Kennedy 0:53:02
81. Loraine Creane 0:54:37
95. Ben Lewis 0:57:32
118. Colm Kenna 1:04:57
It’s now a big few weeks coming up with Richard Costelloe in action in the Rotterdam marathon this weekend, Diarmuid and coach Rene travelling to take on EcoTrail Copenhagen next weekend (with Gavin Kennedy and Marcus Murphy hitting the Wexford Half) before Blaise Kinsella tows the start line in the Limerick Marathon on the 30th of April. In between we expect to be reporting on more Wednesday night hill runners….
The 5 km distance was the order of the week with our runners in action in the packed Streets of Kilkenny 5k Thursday evening before spreading their efforts over two Parkruns 48 hours later: Avondale and Zuiderpark and it was productive with 6 personal bests, 1 podium, 4 first in category, and 2 category top-3s.
STREETS OF KILKENNY
Fresh from being announced our new assistant coach, Donna banked a solid 19:32 – her fifth fastest 5 km time and only 15 seconds off her best. Diarmuid Kavanagh arrived from his work place in Laois and after hanging around for 2 hours before the race waiting, he still had enough in the legs for a PB of 19:01. Eoin Phelan – running with his brother – completed our trio and took a 7 second PB with 21:26.
Diarmuid Kavanagh with two PBs in 36 hours (here in Streets of Kilkenny – photo by PopupRaces)
The field was as classy as it was large with winning times of 14:14 and 15:48 for men and women and very high depth exemplified by 7 women breaking 17 minutes.
RESULT
1. Andrew Coscoran (Star of the Sea AC) 0:14:14
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
225. Diarmuid Kavanagh 0:19:01 (PB)
261. Donna Quinn 0:19:32
396. Eoin Phelan 0:21:26 (PB, M35 PB)
AVONDALE PARKRUN
ParkRunners were out in force to show they do not agree with plans to charge ParkRun entrants to get into Avondale going forward with more than 200 runners.
Aoife Joyce on the finishing stretch in Avondale
It was an extremely profitable outing led home by Diarmuid Kavanagh (setting a second PB in 36 hours) and with a total of three PBs and 5 runners in the top-3 in their categories and some intra-club rivalry as Yvonne outsprinted Aoife who herself set a new club F45 record for the 5k distance.
The Glendalough AC Committee is delighted to announce that long-term member and club registrar/secretary Donna Quinn will take up the position of Assistant Coach for the club to help with the increasing amount of training and groups as the club enters it’s ninth year.
Donna was a founding member of the club and has run eighty races for our club since formation (4th most of anyone and the most of any of our female runners), holds the most club records (15) and recently became the first Glendalough AC athlete to win a Sli Cualann Star Award for her performances in 2022. During her time with us she has won 14 individual and 13 team medals and been a nearly ever-present figure at club training.
Donna Quinn at the Sli Cualann Star Awards
Donna Quinn will serve as back-up for head coach Rene Borg at our Tuesday and Saturday faster training sessions and she is planned to lead a Dublin Marathon training group beginning July 1st if there is sufficient interest.
It is envisioned we will appoint more group leaders / assistant coaches potentially in light of the increase in training days with beginner’s running now happening every Monday and Thursday in addition to the existing three days of training (Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday).
The Committee wish Donna Quinn and the group leaders best of luck in the future coaching.
The weekend was busy locally with several of our crew either helping out or competing in the Quest Adventure Race where John Conway finished a fine 15th overall in the Expert category with Derek Cullen completing his first go at the distance as well in 87th. John’s brother Aisling Conway completed the Sports category. On to the ‘pure’ running:
LOUGH BOORA HALF
Things slowed down a bit after the frantic triple-header of a fortnight ago but Nora Butler did not as she secured herself a PB of 1:46:13 in the Lough Boura Half-marathon
This was also enough for a 16th place finish in the women’s category.
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.
Seven of our runners got their weekend race outings done and dusted on Saturday this weekend across 4 different races: the Annacurra IMRA Spring League mountain race, the Avondale and Corkagh Parkruns, and the Bundoran 10 miler all the way North in Donegal. We’ll go through them alphabetically.
James Heggie crosses the finishing mat at Annacurra
ANNACURRA
125 runners made their way down to south-east Wicklow for a new revised version of the Annacurra race – the penultimate counter in the IMRA Spring League including four of ‘our own’. First and last of our scorers were members of the ‘Wicklow Wolf’ division of the club – Alan Kennedy (leading our team home for the first time) and James Heggie. Sandwiched between them was Barry O’Neill (in his first race since November) and Colm Kenna (running his first race of the calendar year).
Alan Kennedy (in Wicklow Wolf tshirt) leading home the team at Annacurra
RESULT
1. Andrew O Donnghaile (NUIG) 0:49:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
57. Alan Kennedy 1:09:31
79. Barry O’Neill 1:15:49
83. Colm Kenna 1:16:43
112. James Heggie 1:28:05
AVONDALE PARKRUN
Donna Quinn ran the Avondale Parkrun and crossed the line as the first woman in 21:30. Unfortunately, she was missing bar code meaning she’s registered only as ‘unknown’ in the results.
RESULT
1. Finn Buck () 0:17:36
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Donna Quinn 0:21:30 (1st woman)
CORKAGH PARKRUN
Aran Lynham meanwhile was recorded as running 20:02 in Corkagh Park for another ParkRun as he continues building back the running-specific fitness after a 2022 focused on GAA.
RESULT
1. Barry Whelan (Tallaght AC) 0:17:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. Aran Lynham 0:20:02
BUNDORAN 10 MILE
Much further North, Nora Butler ran well in the Bundoran 10 mile race attended by nearly 1200 runners. This was only the third 10 mile race run by a Glendalough AC female runner in our 9 year history and the first by an F40 setting up the club mark for that age category to beat.
RESULT
1. Jake O’Regan (St. John’s AC) 0:49:23
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
368. Nora Butler 1:17:57 (PB, F40 PB, F40 CLUB RECORD)
The racing action dampened a little bit this weekend with only 3 runners in action.
Zuiderpark ParkRun
Catherine Devitt continued her strong form setting a new club 5 km record for women and lowering the F40 category as well whilst winning the women’s category in the Zuiderpark Parkrun. To do this she beat her own time of 18:59 set a few weeks back in the same ParkRun. These two runs remain the only two times a female runner has run under 19 minutes in our club colours although Catherine’s all-time best from club members (18:41 – shared with Aoife Joyce) remains safe (for now).
correction: Catherine had run another Zuiderparkun in 18:49 on 4th February which is the ACTUAL record time – not 18:57.
RESULT
1. Jonny Oosterbos () 0:17:51
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. Catherine Devitt 0:18:57 (1st woman, F40 PB, Club Record, Club F40 record)
Alan Kennedy (photo: Laurence Briody)
MULLAGHMEEN
Back in Ireland, Alan Kennedy and James Heggie continued their IMRA Spring League adventure in Meath in Mullaghmeen Forest Park. On a winding course over 10.8 km (over 11.5 km for some!), Alan got himself into the top half of the field and finished 4th in the M55 category while James Heggie completed in 104th.
Our regular Winter League hit it’s penultimate round with the traditional Clara Vale courses (5k and 9k) run in reverse – Ben Lewis, Aoife Joyce and Yvonne Brennan competed as many others were away on holidays or engaged with racing. Results to follow!
BHAA Central Bank 4 mile XC
Diarmuid Kavanagh and coach René Borg achieved the rather esoteric achievement of being the first Glendalough AC runners to attend a race organised by the Business Houses Athletics Association (BHAA). This meant that although club singlets were allowed (and worn by many), runners were first of all competing for the company or employer.
Club coach Rene battling his way into the top-3rd of the field on one of many sharp corners (light blue tshirt) Photo: Lindie Naughton
The race had hastily been organised as the newly crowned National M40 champion – Eoin Flynn of Rathfarnham WSAF. Working alongside Rene in Running Coach Ireland this was a rare chance to show off the light blue company colours for Eoin who normally resides in the Canaries. He promptly took full advantage winning the race with a safe margin after the early leader had faded on the back off a 4:50 first mile! Overall, it was a strong field where former Snowdon winner Sarah McMahon (then Mulligan) won the ladies race and notaries such as Brian McMahon (Irish hill running international on multiple occasions) down in 8th place.
Club coach Rene Borg poses with colleague and race winner Eoin Flynn in company attire (both in their first BHAA race since 2010!)
Diarmuid Kavanagh – wearing our blazing yellow – had set off hard but both he and Rene had to concede more places than they gained in the second half (with Rene eventually overtaking Diarmuid on the latter part of the 3rd of 4 laps). The course was a far cry from familiar cross-country venues in Wicklow: relatively flat around multiple rugby fields but featuring two descent into strong head-wind and a staggering 52 sharp turns!
Rene’s time of 25:36 was the third fastest 4 mile run in the club’s history and the fastest on cross-country or trail
Diarmuid Kavanagh preparing to hit the corner (yellow singlet) Photo: Lindie Naughton
