The second last race of the 2019 IMRA racing calendar, Powerscourt Ridge was certainly also one of the toughest events of the Irish mountain running year.
Glendalough AC’s Barry O’Neill competed in very wet and windy conditions, finishing the 16km course in 1:43:41. The technical trails on this course included the summits of both Maulin and Djouce, combining for almost 700m of total climbs.
RESULTS
1. Mark Stephens 1:16:26
35. Barry O’Neill 1:43:41
The Tollymore Trail Marathon took place on November 16th in the beautiful Tollymore Forest Park, Northern Ireland. This challenging trail course featured four main climbs with almost 1,000m of elevation gain.
Glendalough AC’s Richard Costelloe had been targeting this event for his
main racing goal in 2019. Richard completed the race in a (PB) time of 3:27:21, taking fifth place overall.
RESULTS
1. Chris Denton 3:01:54
5. Rich Costelloe 3:27:21
The 10th annual Glendalough Trail Run took place on Saturday, 2nd November. This 15.5km trail race is a popular charity event supporting Fighting Blindness. The race takes in some of the stunning Glendalough scenery while challenging runners with over 500m of climbs over trail roads, single-tracks and a 400m pure mud section.
Glendalough AC had one runner competing this year: Richard Costelloe, who took 3rd place
Richard started out with a small leading group heading up the the Glendasan Valley. On the first steep climb he edged up to 3rd place, with the first two runners already creating a large gap ahead. The second long climb started up past Poulanass Waterfall, eventually looping back along the Wicklow Way for a fast descend back into Glendalough Valley.
For the remainder of the race Richard managed to keep just ahead of several chasing runners, finishing 3rd, earning a beautiful and unique handcrafted pottery bowl made by local artist Crannmore Pottery. This was Richard’s 22nd race of the year and by far his best result.
RESULTS
1. Tim Grummell Sli Cualann AC 1:06:37
3. Rich Costelloe Glendalough AC 1:11:13
It was an eventful opening to the Winter League as usual. We missed the rain and could complete the whole event in gorgeous sunshine and be home for coffee and grub before the rain hit.
Some were playing it tactical, taking it relatively easy to reset their handicaps to an easier level for the new season whereas others took no prisoners including Barry O’Neill who lowered Derek Cullen’s time to 45:06 on the 10k course. Two of our runners went ‘cani-cross’ (Flora and Marcus) whereas Torben Dahl decided to add in a few extra mini-loops and had to forfeit finishing!
Aoife Joyce won the overall handicap race despite cashing in 41 penalty seconds for breaking her handicap by too much.
The series – and the hunt for The Sportsroom vouchers – continues on the Green Gapways course next Saturday from 9:30 am at the Glendalough Green.
Donna Quinn took full advantage of the perfect Dublin conditions to knock nearly 13 minutes off her marathon PB to record 3:27:25 and finish 66th in her age category. This is a new club record for the ladies section of our club – so well done Donna, tremendous reward for your hard work and commitment to your training.
Not to be completely outshone in the local household, husband William Belton had his marathon debut, always a tricky proposition, and came home in 4:09:32. Enjoy the recuperation in the Belton/Quinn household!
RESULTS
30. Motu Gedefa 2:27:48 (ladies winner)
————GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———————–
2644. Donna Quinn 3:27:25 (PB / LADIES CLUB RECORD)
8697. William Belton 4:09:32 (PB / DEBUT)
Despite the Dublin Marathon coming up and winter training in full swing for many, a few club runners still got a race in over the last two weekends – in this case our two Danes!
First up was Torben Dahl who finished 13th in ‘To Hell with the Fairies’ out of 101 runners over the testing half-marathon course with 650 m ascent.
This Sunday, Rene Borg ran the European Cross-Country Experience – a ‘relaxed’ cross-country races offering a glimpse at the European Championship course. He finished 28th out of the 496 participants.
To Hell with the Fairies (Dublin Mountain Half)
———–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————
13. Torben Dahl 1:56:15
European Cross-Country Experience
—————GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS—————–
28. René Borg 16:42
With the late withdrawals of Anthony Breen and René Borg our men’s team for the Wicklow Intermediate in Avondale was gone but it did not stop Richard Costelloe and Barry O’Neill from hitting the grass for a second time in a week.
The men’s race took place over a course consisting of 2 x 1 km and 2 x 3 km laps including the most infamous hill in Avondale which had to be surmounted twice. Conditions were perfect with a cool, clear and sunny day.
Richard made good progress late in the race and Barry O’Neill ran steady throughout to finish 12th and 15th respectively.
RESULTS
————GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———–
12. Richard Costelloe 34:26
15. Barry O’Neill 35:47
After a one-year absence from Novice cross-country, we had a men’s team representing us last weekend for the county season opener in Roundwood. The men’s challenge was to run 6 x 1 km laps of a hilly field and combine the best four scorers in an attempt to win team medals.
Debutante Richard Costelloe had a storming run: going off boldly in the top half of the field and holding on for a fine 9th place. Behind him Barry O’Neill and René Borg packed for most of the race. Rene passed Barry on the 4th lap only to be repassed on the final half of the last lap. They finished 14th and 15th with 4 seconds between them.
The last man is usually critical in cross-country and this proved the case again: Colm Kenna suffered a bit as the result of a too fast lap 1, but by toughing it out to the finish line he secured our silver medals. Had one of the two Bray Runners behind him not DNFed, we would likely have been consigned to the Bronze!
Kilcoole where run-away winners with 12 points (15 points clear of our crew) and the individual honours went to Inbhear Dee’s Robin Mooney.
This weekend another four-man team consisting of Anthony Breen, Barry O’Neill, Colm Kenna and René Borg will take on the Wicklow Intermediate in Avondale.
RESULTS
————–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———————-
9. Richard Costelloe 23:32
14. Barry O’Neill 24:37
15. René Borg 24:41
19. Colm Kenna 28:47
Over the past weekend Glendalough AC had three runners competing in different Half Marathon distance races as well as one tackling a very steep ultra.
First in Dublin, Colm Kenna and William Belton raced the Half Marathon in Phoenix Park, the next step of the Dublin Race Series. Colm edged ahead with a finishing time of 1hr 47min, William followed up shortly after at 1hr 56min. The training continues as the Dublin Marathon now quickly approaches.
Meanwhile abroad Bruce Phillips participated in the Oslo Half Marathon. On a warm day in Norway, Bruce completed the hilly course (almost 200m vertical) in 1hr 48 mins.
Finally closer to home, Dave Lawless battled the awesome Ben Nevis Ultra marathon, an intimidating 52km race with over 4,000m of climbing. While he didn’t manage to complete the course (only 119 our of 335 actually did..), he ran 31km of tough terrain, with 2,200m of up, up up!
Congrats to all the runners for some inspiring efforts this weekend!
Looking forward we now have several athletes focusing on preparations for the Eco Trail Wicklow (Sept 28th) as well as the Dublin City Marathon (Oct 27th).
We had several runners racing over the hot-weather August weekend, both on the Dublin roads and Wexford mountain trails.
Donna Quinn, Colm Kenna and William Belton competed at Phoenix Park for the Dublin Race Series 10 Mile. Donna finished the race in a time of 1:14.04, placing an impressive 12th out of 339 in her gender/age group. Not far behind, Colm finished the run in 1:24.16, and William followed up in 1:30.15. By all reports it was a hot day on the tarmac!
Meanwhile in Wexford Barry O’Neill ran the IMRA Sliabh Bui Southeast League race. This hilly course was a mix of single track, forest trail and fast fire roads, totalling just over 13km with 360m of climbs. No official results have yet been published, but Barry completed the course in a respectable time of 1:10.04.
