REPORT: Athletics Wicklow Off-Road 24 (and more trails and hill results…)

by glendaloughac, posted in Uncategorized

With a heavy heart we had to hand back the Athletics Wicklow Off-Road Championship trophy to the first winners: Parnell AC. We fielded 30 runners (the same as last year) and they did their best collecting the highest medal haul (20) but our 7 gold medals fell one short of Parnell who collected 8 (and 12 medals total).

Before we delve too deep into the championship, we also have two IMRA races to report on from this weekend along with ‘4 missed races’ from previous weeks.

MT LEINSTER HALF-MARATHON AND GALTYMORE

Both the Leinster Half-Marathon League and the Irish Championships concluded this weekend and we had Aoife O’Brien and Alan Kennedy competing at Mt. Leinster and with some success as Aoife O’Brien won with nearly 7 minutes to spare on the nearest woman. This was enough to secure the overall win in the league ahead of Anna Cronin (3rd on the day) and Aoife’s first outright win in a non-relay IMRA race.

For Alan Kennedy it was also a crucial day in the league: by finishing 2nd in the M55, he secured his overall win in the league in that category.

RESULT
1. Rory Campbell () 2:12:39
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
7. Aoife O’Brien 2:49:54 (1st woman, 1st F35, LEAGUE winner)
24. Alan Kennedy 2:32:48 (2nd M55, LEAGUE winner)

Graham Bush – doing his regular ‘double race weekend’ – finished 23rd in a field of 62 at the Irish Championship finish on the toughest course of the series: Galtymore and was third M55. Joe Lalor also competed winning the M70. This confirmed Graham as 2nd in this year’s M55 championship with Joe Lalor M70 champion.

RESULT
1. Matthew McConnell () 1:23:07
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
23. Graham Bushe 1:50:04 (3rd M55, 2nd in Championship in category)
56. Joe Lalor 2:23:04 (1st M70, Irish Champion)

SEAHAN AND OTHER MISSING RACES

A few results were missed – firstly Eoin Phelan’s runs on Brandon Half, Tory Hill, Mullaghmeen and Seahan meaning he now leads the ‘Most Prolific’ with a staggering 42 races in 8 months!

We missed the Seahan results for all our racers which included also Graham, Torben, Alan, Jeff , Joe and Keith. Our club runners have now done an average of 2 races per day in 24!

RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 0:46:56
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
18. Graham Bushe 0:56:42 (2nd M55)
28. Torben Dahl 1:00:18
44. Alan Kennedy 1:04:44
56. Jeff Swords 1:05:55
74. Eoin Phelan 1:11:23
116. Joe Lalor 1:21:32 (1st M70)
131. Keith Mulvey 1:16:32

CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY

The gun goes… (photo: MyrunResults)

Larger teams from several clubs – including Bray Runners and Lakeshore and Benedicts – meant gold medals were spread around more. We had won 5 gold medals in the 20 k last year (versus 2 this year) and where we had taken three team golds in the 10k (F35, M35 and M50) only our O50 men retained their title with our other four teams all taking silver. The margins were narrow with our women losing out to Benedict’s by a mere 10 seconds to St. Benedicts (who took their first gold medals in the championship

Paul Allan, Graham Bush and Blaise Kinsella

Noteable successes were the clean sweeps of the F40 podium (taken by Catherine, Rachel and Donna for the second year running) and the M40 podium in the 20 km race (taken by Louis Byrne, Torben Dahl and John Conway).

DERRYBAWN WOODS 10 KM (ATHLETICS WICKLOW OFF-ROAD – SHORT)

Start of the 10k (Kevin Ferguson, Paul Duffy, Graham Bush, Paul Allen and Richard Costelloe in front row)

Richard Costelloe was yellow shirt across the line for the second year running in 46:16 with Graham Bush continuing his strong resurgence only 47 seconds behind (and 36s faster than last year) and similarly doughty o50 Richard Allan another 28 seconds back. This is the first time we have had three men under 47 minutes (all 5 sub-47 min times have been run by the three aforementioned gentlemen). Paul Duffy came agonisingly close with a course best of 47:07. Despite running semi-injured Gavin Kennedy was next taking 3 minutes off his 2023 time.

Richard Costelloe on the final km (photo: Lindie Naughton)

Blaise and Kevin Ferguson were either side of Gavin and both contributed to the Male Senior team taking the Silver with Edson Ferreira as the third scorer in his championship debut for us.

Catherine Devitt flanked by St. Benedict men (photo: Lindie Naughton)

Catherine Devitt was first woman home once again in 48:17 improving on last year’s time by over 30 seconds and lowering the women’s club record on the course. She was followed by Rachel having a great run – knocking 1:14 of her 2023 mark with Donna Quinn third scorer for the master’s women’s team.

Anthony Breen, Angus Tyner and Rachel Wisdom (photo: Lindie Naughton)

Anthony Breen showed remarkable consistency – finishing 10 seconds faster than his 2023 time. Colm Kenna reduced his PB for the cousre by over three minutes.

Aoife Joyce and Colm Kenna (photo: Lindie Naughton)

Aoife Joyce won the F45 category and together with Siobhan Brennan (2nd in the F50 category taking over 2 minutes off her best) helped our female seniors (Grace, Kate and Fiona) take team silver behind the rampant Parnell side led home by women’s winner Sile O’Byrne.

Grace Curham and Kate Flynn (photo: Lindie Naughton)
RESULT
1. Barry Minnock (Tullamore Harriers) 0:39:34
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
6. Richard Costelloe 0:45:29 (1st M45, Team Silver M35+)
12. Graham Bushe 0:46:16 (1st M55, Team Gold M50)
15. Richard Allan 0:46:44 (2nd M50, Team Gold M50)
16. Paul Duffy 0:47:07 (Team Silver O35+)
21. Blaise Kinsella 0:47:42 (Team Silver MS)
22. Gavin Kennedy 0:48:03 (3rd M45, Team Silver O35+)
23. Kevin Ferguson 0:48:04 (Team Silver MS)
25. Catherine Devitt 0:48:17 (1st F40, Team Silver O35))
27. Angus Tyner 0:49:34 (3rd M55, Team Gold M50)
29. Rachel Wisdom 0:50:04 (2nd F40, Team Silver O35)
37. Anthony Breen 0:51:18 (3rd M50)
39. Chris willoughby 0:51:48
43. Donna Quinn 0:52:45 (3rd F40, Team Silver O35)
49. Edson Ferreira 0:53:48 (Team Silver MS)
52. Richard Kieran 0:54:10
54. Aoife Joyce 0:54:24 (1st F45, Team Silver FS)
58. Colm Kenna 0:54:46 (Team Silver FS)
61. Grace Curham 0:55:48 (Team Silver FS)
69. Siobhan Brennan 0:57:47 (2nd F50, Team Silver FS))
73. Kate Flynn 0:58:50
116. Fiona Smyth 1:09:36
20 km start (Louis Byrne, John Conway and Torben Dahl)

RUN THE RIDGE 20 KM (ATHLETICS WICKLOW OFF-ROAD LONG)

Kevin Doherty

It was a case of Bray vs Glendalough to a large degree in this year’s 20 km and we swept the podium in the M40 category and packed well in the process. Louis Byrne – fresh off his 12-hour race – was our first man home followed by ‘Mr Run the Ridge Torben Dahl’ 1 spot back (Torben holds the club record at 1:32 and has also run the 2nd fastest time of 1:43:01) and winner of the o45 category. John Conway (who led our charge in 2023) was next in 1:48:01 with Kevin Doherty a few more minutes back taking a bronze medal in his championship debut. Then we had Jack Moore (in a personal best on the course), Eoin, Ben, Andy and Dave Lawless arriving.

Jack Moore
RESULT
1. Gavin Kelly (Clane AC) 1:29:40
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
13. Louis Byrne 1:46:12 (1st M40)
14. Torben Dahl 1:46:35 (1st M45)
16. John Conway 1:48:01 (2nd M40)
25. Kevin Doherty 1:51:19 (3rd M40)
30. Jack Moore 1:54:45
38. Eoin Phelan 1:59:12
51. Ben Lewis 2:06:56
61. Andy Walker 2:10:21
63. Dave Lawless 2:11:01

PERFORMANCES OVER THE YEARS – RANKED

Richard Kieran

10k

AthleteDateTime
Richard Costelloe19/08/20230:43:57 (Club Record)
Graham Bushe20/08/20220:45:05
Richard Costelloe17/08/20240:45:29
Graham Bushe17/08/20240:46:16
Richard Allan17/08/20240:46:44
Torben Dahl20/08/20220:46:48
Graham Bushe19/08/20230:46:52
Diarmuid Kavanagh20/08/20220:47:03
Paul Duffy17/08/20240:47:07
Angus Tyner19/08/20230:47:16
René Borg20/08/20220:47:23
Paul Duffy20/08/20220:47:25
Marcus Murphy19/08/20230:47:35
Blaise Kinsella17/08/20240:47:42
Aran Lynham19/08/20230:47:56
Gavin Kennedy17/08/20240:48:03
Kevin Ferguson17/08/20240:48:04
Paul Duffy19/08/20230:48:15
Catherine Devitt17/08/20240:48:17 (Club Record)
Catherine Devitt19/08/20230:48:51
Catherine Devitt20/08/20220:48:51
Angus Tyner20/08/20220:49:31
Angus Tyner17/08/20240:49:34
Rachel Wisdom17/08/20240:50:04
Kevin Ferguson20/08/20220:50:06
Anthony Breen20/08/20220:50:12
Anthony Breen17/08/20240:51:18
Rachel Wisdom19/08/20230:51:19
Gavin Kennedy19/08/20230:51:22
Anthony Breen19/08/20230:51:28
Donna Quinn19/08/20230:51:40
Chris willoughby17/08/20240:51:48
Donna Quinn17/08/20240:52:45
Aoife Joyce27/11/20210:53:15
Paul Duffy27/11/20210:53:15
Richard Costelloe27/11/20210:53:20
Edson Ferreira17/08/20240:53:48
Richard Kieran17/08/20240:54:10
Aoife Joyce17/08/20240:54:24
Yvonne Brennan19/08/20230:54:41
Colm Kenna17/08/20240:54:46
Eoin Kennedy19/08/20230:55:27
Grace Curham17/08/20240:55:48
Siobhan Brennan17/08/20240:57:47
Colm Kenna19/08/20230:58:07
Kate Flynn17/08/20240:58:50
Claire Thompson19/08/20230:58:51
Sarah Foster19/08/20230:59:17
René Borg27/11/20210:59:41
Siobhan Brennan19/08/20231:00:01
Colm Kenna27/11/20211:01:47
Mark Willoughby19/08/20231:02:02
Annie Lowney19/08/20231:03:20
Eleanor Carty19/08/20231:06:51
Fiona Smyth17/08/20241:09:36

20K

Eoin Phelan banks race 42 this season…. (photo: Lindie Naughton)
AthleteDateTime
Torben Dahl18/08/20181:32:07 (Club record)
Torben Dahl17/08/20191:43:01
John Conway19/08/20231:43:19
Louis Byrne17/08/20241:46:12
Torben Dahl17/08/20241:46:35
John Conway17/08/20241:48:01
René Borg19/08/20231:48:49
Philip O’Brien19/08/20231:49:01
Graeme Warren19/08/20231:49:18
Torben Dahl19/08/20231:49:38
Kevin Doherty17/08/20241:51:19
Barry O’Neill18/08/20181:54:06
Jack Moore17/08/20241:54:45
Jack Moore19/08/20231:55:30
Loraine Creane19/08/20231:56:15 (Club record)
Eoin Phelan17/08/20241:59:12
Alan Kennedy19/08/20232:02:15
Ben Lewis19/08/20232:03:48
Ben Lewis17/08/20242:06:56
Andy Walker17/08/20242:10:21
Dave Lawless17/08/20242:11:01
Colm Kenna18/08/20182:15:04
Rebecca Whineray19/08/20232:22:00

REPORT: Gaelforce Belmont 10k / Ballineddan

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

A quick report before the Athletics Wicklow Off-Road Championship will occupy most of our hands and minds for the next few days!

This weekend saw mainly action on trail and hills. Firstly, three of our ‘Wicklow Wolfers’ took part in the large (523) field at the popular Gaelforce Bray 10 km which for the second year had moved into the Belmont demesne due to the ongoing repair of the Bray Cliff Path.

GAELFORCE BRAY 10K

Edson Ferreira showed good form ahead of his county championship debut coming up this weekend being first over the line followed by Brian Howard and Britta Luebbert.

RESULT
1. Joe Roche () 0:43:44
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
33. Edson Ferreira 0:57:05 – WW RC
299. Brian Howard 1:18:07 – WW RC
504. Britta Luebbert 2:16:15 – WW RC

BALLINEDDAN

The new Leinster Championship up Lugnacoille via Slieve Maan and Ballineddan was the second hill counter in our Club Championship with normalised results being combined into one score where Graham Bush took the win – finishing first club runner on both occasions in nearly identical times (72 minutes for both 10.5 km routes).

Ballineddan is the easier of the two – slightly more runnable and less technical than the traditional Camarahill approach. Behind Graham (in impressive 8th place) was Angus Tyner and Alan Kennedy who together swept the M55 podium. Eoin Phelan was next in his 34th race of the year as 3rd M35 followed by Joe Lalor (1st M70) and James Heggie (1st M50).

35 attended a route that probably deserved a bigger turn-out!

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP – AFTER ROUND 11

With 11 of 16 rounds completed Graham Bush is the big mover going into 5th spot with only 3 counters. Winning the next two will put him within striking distance of leader Paul Duffy. One trail counter (the Off-road counter), three cross-country races and 1 road race (Dublin Marathon) remain for runners to get the minimum 5 to complete the championship.

RankNameRaces#Best 5Wins
1Paul Duffy6500.05
2Gavin Kennedy5481.62
3Kevin Ferguson5448.90
4Eoin Phelan7411.10
5Graham Bushe3396.32
6René Borg4379.00
7Alan Kennedy4349.10
8Aoife Joyce4321.50
9Mark Willoughby5313.20
10Aran Lynham3279.90
11Angus Tyner3270.70
12James Heggie4259.10
13Colm Kenna3247.00
14Chris willoughby2232.10
15Richard Allan2189.51
16Anthony Breen2180.30
17Catherine Devitt2179.40
18Loraine Creane2177.50
19Kevin Doherty2169.60
20Jeff Swords2164.50
21Donall Flanagan1152.00
22Claire Thompson2144.80
23Andy Walker2130.60
24Rebecca Whineray2127.20
25Gerard O’Rourke2122.50
26Joe Lalor1107.60
27Graeme Warren1100.01
28Diarmuid Kavanagh196.20
29Torben Dahl195.60
30Marcus Murphy195.50
31Blaise Kinsella194.60
32Rachel Wisdom187.40
33Graham Kearns186.80
34Philip O’Brien186.60
35Donna Quinn186.20
36Ben Lewis183.40
37Grace Curham181.60
38Corrie Adams177.60
39Niall MacCarthy176.90
40fergal Olohan176.40
41Neil Fusco171.80
42Richard Kieran164.20
43Brendan Farrell163.50
44Sam Fleming154.00
45Aaron Kedward148.90
46Tadeusz Cantwell16.70

with none of our women competing in rounds 8, 9, 10 and 11 over the summer, the status quo remains locked where it was after race 7 with Aoife ahead on four races with most sitting on only 2 and needing to do at least 3 of the last 5 to complete.

RankNameRaces#Best 5
1Aoife Joyce4367.2
2Catherine Devitt2200.0
5Loraine Creane2200.0
7Rebecca Whineray2188.0
3Claire Thompson2162.9
6Rachel Wisdom199.5
4Donna Quinn198.4
8Grace Curham185.8

REPORT: 12-hours in Leixlip, a few hours at Keeper Hill

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

Two results ahead of tonight’s Leinster League finisher race at Trooperstown Hill and we begin with another IMRA race: the Keeper Hill – Killoscullen Half-marathon.

KEEPER HILL – KILLOSCULLEN HALF-MARATHON

Eoin Phelan notched his 33rd race of the season at the Keeper Hill – Killoscully Half-marathon  coming round in 2 hours 21 minutes

RESULT
1. Michael Costello () 1:39:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
58. Eoin Phelan 2:21:24

Trasna Na Uaireanta24

Louis Byrne took the win in the Trasna Na Uaireanta24 track ultra event in Leixlip where he was running in the 12-hour race. Louis spend much of the race ahead of Don Hannon who faded away a bit in the latter stages of the race leading two women (Caroline McCabe and Arlene Moore) nearest. In the end Louis held on for a comfortable 9 lap gap – completing 99.2 km with Caroline McCabe getting in 95.5 km. Lous held well under 3 minutes for the first 51 laps and only started to noticeably slow down from the 222nd lap onwards. His mother Christina Byrne finished a great da for the family with 6th place.

As the first 12-hour race completed by a club member, Louis’ time now sets the standard as a new Club Record.

1. Louis Byrne (Glendalough AC) 11:59:52 (CR)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

TROOPERSTOWN HILL – LEINSTER LEAGUE FINAL

Donall Flanagan at Trooperstown

The Leinster League finished on a new version of the traditional course at Trooperstown Hill where despite the hill being ‘super local’, we only had 6 runners in action this summer – 5 in the long course and Chris Willoughby (inadvertently?) in the short course.

Graham Bush led us home and was 1st M55 with Donal Flanagan 2nd. While Eoin and James Heggie were faster than Joe Lalor (only 2nd in the m70 this week), they finished behind him having taken the early start.

Chris Willoughby

Richard Allan whilst not competing on the day was our highest placed finisher in the League overall finishing 21st with Graham Bush 24th, Alan Kennedy 35th, Angus Tyner and Eoin Phelan neck on neck in 59th and 60th, Joe Lalor 86th (and 2nd overall in the M70 category), and James Heggie 97th. 111 out of the 751 league contestants completed the minimum 7 races required to score (a completion rate of 14%).

RESULT – long
1. Cian Taylor (Inbhear Dee AC) 0:55:29
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
18. Graham Bushe 1:02:00 (1st M55)
61. Donall Flanagan 1:15:37
101. Joe Lalor 1:39:19 (2nd M70)
103. Eoin Phelan 1:17:22
116. James Heggie 1:32:13
RESULT – short
1. Colm O’Neill (Inbhear Dee AC) 0:25:21
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
11. Chris willoughby 0:37:40 (1st M45)

REPORT: Church Mountain

by glendaloughac, posted in Mountain running, Race reports

Only one midweek result to report this week….

CHURCH MOUNTAIN

Eoin Phelan descending at Church Mountain

We had five representatives travelling to the new course at Church Mountain (replacing Sorrell Hill as one of the West Wicklow fixtures) joining 136 other IMRA hopefuls for the penultimate LL fixture. The last time an IMRA race was held on this mountain was in 1991.

On a tough course, Graham Bush excelled as our first man home in 13th position followed by Alan Kennedy, Jeff Swords and Eoin Phelan (clearly hoping to set an unbreakable record for ‘Most Prolific’). Graham, Jeff, Eoin and Joe had all been in action at Lugnacoille only 4 days earlier.

RESULT
1. Mark McAdden () 0:49:49
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
13. Graham Bushe 0:57:12 (2nd M55)
35. Alan Kennedy 1:04:00
60. Jeff Swords 1:09:36
112. Eoin Phelan 1:13:20

REPORT: Lugnacoille, Otterlo, Blaney 10 mile

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

Saturday 27th saw a triple-decker of races with a road, trail and hill run on offer, we start in Monaghan before moving via the Netherlands to Wicklow….

BLANEY ROCKETS 10 MILE

Donna Quinn returned homewards to Monaghan for one of her local races – the Blaney Rockets 10 mile and completed an easy enough cruise winning the F40 category in the process.

RESULT
1. Alexander Wallace  (St. Coca’s AC) 0:53:59
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
67. Donna Quinn 1:10:19 (1st F40)

LUGNACOILLE

Paul Duffy showing that the ‘short and singlet’ tradition is still alive even on the high peaks… (photo: Gill McLoughlin)

Six runners took on the hyper-traditional Lugnacoille race – a proper straightforward up and down mountain run with an average gradient of 14%. Graham Bush showed strong form in distancing everyone else including Club Championship leader Paul Duffy who was second home followed by Jeff Swords, Kevin Doherty and Eoin Phelan (breaking the record for most races in a season with 32 through this effort) and finally Joe Lalor – winning the M70 category.

Kevin Doherty (photo: Dillon Ryan)
RESULT
1. Sean Quirke (Bilboa AC) 0:59:22
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
24. Graham Bushe 1:12:42
29. Paul Duffy 1:16:58
39. Jeff Swords 1:26:27
43. Kevin Doherty 1:31:22
52. Eoin Phelan 1:45:40
56. Joe Lalor 1:36:20 (1st M70)

OTTERLO TRAIL RUN

Otterlo

Richard Costelloe did his 4th race of just around 30 km in this racing season this time mainly on dunes and trails finishing 8th out of 72.

RESULT
1. Izak Hanse (Arnhem) 2:09:25
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Richard Costelloe 2:25:01

REPORT: Park West and Glen of the Downs

by glendaloughac, posted in Uncategorized

Eoin Phelan continues to draw away from the pack in the Most Prolific by completing a Tuesday/Wednesday race double encompassing the two races of our mid-week report. Eoin leads our most profilic with 31 races – eight clear of James Heggie – and now matching Angus Tyner’s record of 31 races (from 2017).

PARK WEST 5 KM

Eoin started Tuesday evening with his second best 5 km performance and 25th overall in a field of nearly 400 at the Park West 5 km in Dublin.

RESULT
1. Abel Deresu Dufera () 0:16:59
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
25. Eoin Phelan 0:20:11

GLEN OF THE DOWNS

Loraine Creane at Glen of the Downs

24 hours later he was joined for another evening race by five more of our runners: the new 8.2 km course in the traditional surrounds of Glen of the Downs.

Graham Bush continues his rise in form coming home as our first runner in 16th overall and 2nd M55. Loraine Creane was next – 2nd woman overall and 1st F40 – four races, four podiums this year and all the more impressive given her bad bike crash earlier in the year.

Graham Bush (right) with Liam Vines at Glen of the Downs

Eoin Phelan was next with James Heggie fourth while Chris Willoughby unfortunately had to concede his first DNF after pulling a hamstring midway through the race. The Wednesday night races now return to the Leinster League next weekend at Church Mountain….

RESULT
1. Daire Finn () 0:34:45
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
16. Graham Bushe 0:42:57 (2nd M55)
56. Loraine Creane 0:49:47 (1st F40, 2nd woman)
66. Eoin Phelan 0:51:12
123. James Heggie 0:59:42
186. Chris willoughby DNF

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Five runners are heading to Lugnacoille tomorrow in what will likely be a club championship counter – good luck to Eoin (!), Paul, Kevin F. and Kevin D. and Graham Bush….

REPORT: Tucker Trail and Relay, ParkRuns and Mellon 5k

by glendaloughac, posted in Race reports, Road running, Trail running, Ultra running
The rocky descent on Kevin’s / Miner’s Way – part of the Tucker Relay / Ultra (blue dot is club coach Rene Borg)

We start our results catch-up with a tripple of 5 km results: Angus Tyner competed in two ParkRuns abroad (Livingston and Brecon in Wales) finishing 6th and 5th in 20:41 and 20:03 respectively.

Colm Kenna ran 21:53 in the Mellon Educate 5k fund-raiser in Ashford – as far as we know, no results are published.

GLENDALOUGH TUCKER TRAIL 80K

Catherine Devitt in talks with deputy race director James Tucker – son of the late Adrian for whom the race is named

On the trail side of things, Catherine Devitt had a wonderful debut on the 80 km distance (and ultra distances!) finishing 2nd woman in the Glendalough Tucker Trail in 10:01. Catherine sat in 2nd place from throughout all checkpoints although she was embroiled in a constant tit for tat with third-placed Denise Barrett- gaining on most sections but conceding times on others throughout – but winning by a comfortable enough 4 minute cushion by the end. John Conway was a DNS with fatigue after a big season catching up wiht him and James Heggie had to concede his third ultra DNF of the season.

RESULT
1. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic) 7:42:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Catherine Devitt 10:01:19
48. James Heggie DNF
Rene Borg passing the miner’s ruins near Wicklow Gap on the return journey of leg 1

About an hour and a half later, Rene Borg was among the last two relay runners to start after a handicapped start for most teams. He was the fastest leg 1 runner on the day and while he caught back 3-4 runners on the first leg, ultimately he and team mates Sean and Christian couldn’t overcome the handicap finishing – 9th out of 16.

RESULT
1. Rene Borg (Glendalough AC) 1:25:31 (CR)*
* For the route run by relay runners. Some of the elite ultra racers have covered the leg faster including this year’s 80k winner Enda Cloake who covered it in a shade under 81 minutes.

IRISH RUNNER MILE

On Sunday, Eoin Phelan smashed his 10 mile PB by over 4 minutes in the Irish Runner 10 mile in the Phoenix Park often an important milestone on the way to the Dublin Marathon.

RESULT
1. Keelan Kilrehhil (Moy Valley AC) 0:49:56
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
271. Eoin Phelan 1:11:00 (PB)

REPORT: Alps, track, Croghan, Clontarf, Carrick, Ridgeway Ultra, Docklands 5k and Fingal 10k

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

This weekend had it all: track records, a downhill only race in the alps, a tough half-marathon on Croghan Kinsella and the congested madness at Clontarf Half-marathon and was folllowed by another busy week including the Leinster League race at Carrick, Docklands 5k, the Ridgeway Ultra in the UK and the Fingal 10k road race and we got plenty of podiums, a club record and personal bests to celebrate.

WESTVIlET LOPEN AND WERPEN TRACK MEET

Richard Costelloe only had three other competitors to spur him on in the 3000m discipline at the Westvliet Lopen and Werpen track meet but that did not stop him reducing his PB from 10:08 to 10:01. With that run he claimed the overall club record (his own) and the M45 club record (held by Angus Tyner) and now holds 9 of our 142 club records. Not bad at age 48!

RESULT
1. Richard Costelloe (Glendalough AC) 0:10:01 (PB, Club Record)
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-

CLONTARF HALF-MARATHON

Fergal Olohan ran a strong while Aran Lynham continued his recovery after the Lap of the Gap 100 km race by pacing girlfriend Ashley through the half in 2:01. First home, however, was Niall MacCague with a fine sub-90 minute performance.

RESULT
1. Wayne Waldron () 1:14:57
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
43. Niall MacCague 1:28:16
969. Aran Lynham 2:01:39
972. fergal Olohan 1:55:36

CROGHAN HALF-MARATHON

RESULT
1. Donatas Jocius (Crusaders AC) 1:46:53
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
24. Aoife O’Brien 2:09:33 (1st F35)
28. Chris willoughby 2:10:57 (3rd M50)
31. Alan Kennedy 2:13:21 (3rd M55)
41. Colm Kenna 2:20:57 (3rd M45)
43. Aoife Joyce 2:22:22 (3rd F45)
51. Eoin Phelan 2:31:23

MEGAVALANCHE DOWNHILL RACE

John Conway continues to be a glutton for punishment taking on the planned 21 downhill only races from Alpe d’Huez. Due to adverse weather conditions it was shortened to 16 km but that is still a lot of eccentric muscle damage. John took the M40 category finishing 12th out of 41 downhill demons.

RESULT
1. Mathieu Burban (SERRE CHEVALIER BRIANÇON ATHLÉTISME) 1:02:59
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. John Conway 1:21:40 (1st M40)

CARRICK MOUNTAIN

Four of our runners joined 150 others for another Leinster League evening race and it was another close run between Paul Duffy, Richard Allan and Graham Bush. This time Paul turned the tables back – finishing first with Graham 2nd and Richard Allan 3rd. All three finished 3rd in their respectice age categories (M40, M55, M50) with Andy Hayes also finished the race in 87th.

RESULT
1. Oscar Durston (Kilcoole AC) 0:38:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
20. Paul Duffy 0:45:56 (3rd M40)
23. Graham Bushe 0:46:18 (3rd M55)
25. Richard Allan 0:47:30 (3rd M50)
87. Andy Walker 1:00:54

DOCKLANDS 5K

Wednesday evening racing gave way to Thursday night racing at the hyper-traditional Docksland 5k where 1700 runners assembled. Matthew O’Brien represented us finishing just outside the top-third of the field.

RESULT
1. Peter Somba (Ratoath AC) 0:15:02
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
619. Matthew O’Brien 0:24:04

THE RIDGEWAY – RACE TO THE STONES ULTRA

Eleanor Carty bagged her first ever ultra in Essex running the Race to the Stones 50k finishing in the middle of the field with a solid 6:48:37 for the 50 km race.

RESULT
1. Daniel Wheller () 3:44:47
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
175. Eleanor Carty 6:48:37

FINGAL 10K

It was double-PB joy for Eoin Phelan (a week on from Croghan) and Graham Kearns at the Fingal 10km in Dublin.

RESULT
1. Hugh Armstrong (Ballina AC) 0:29:39
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
307. Eoin Phelan 0:42:39 (PB)
439. Graham Kearns 0:44:55 (PB)

REPORT: Connacht hill races, The Relay in Wicklow, Zuiderparkun and Ballinastoe…

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

We had runners in action at four different Saturday and one Sunday – mainly on rough mountain and trail but we will start with last evening’s result at the Leinster League race in Ballinastoe where we had 13 competitors out.

BALLINASTOE

Richard Allen on the climb at Ballinastoe. Richard has now finished first club man home in 7 of the 9 races he has run for the club (photo: Eoin O’Brien)

On a course that tends to change a bit from year to year, runners this time had to navigate 10.6 rough km to get the finish line – some added a bit (like Paul) and others reccied a 1.5 km extension (like Keith!) but all got to the finish line in the end!

Richard Allan reclaimed his tag as ‘top dog’ (or wolf?) turning the tables on Paul Duffy and finishing 17 seconds ahead of him with Graham Bush a further 2 seconds adrift. Next round coming up soon?

We did well on the category podium front with before-mentioned Richard taking 2nd in the M50, Graham Bush winning the M55 (after his Connacht double-header over the weekend), Alan Kennedy taking the 2nd place in the M55 and Grace Curham finishing 2nd senior female (and 13th in the women’s race overall).

Kevin Ferguson (photo: Eoin O’Brien)

Also tight packing again with Kevin and Chris and Alan who finished within 18 seconds of each other with Grace, Angus, Eoin and Andy arriving between 74 and 78 minutes. Keith and James rounded up our group.

RESULT
1. Daire Finn () 0:52:19
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
28. Richard Allan 1:01:22 (2nd M50)
30. Paul Duffy 1:01:39
31. Graham Bushe 1:01:41 (1st M55)
40. Torben Dahl 1:03:55
50. Kevin Ferguson 1:06:10
52. Chris willoughby 1:06:16
54. Alan Kennedy 1:06:28 (2nd M55)
82. Grace Curham 1:14:12 (2nd FS)
86. Eoin Phelan 1:15:19
96. Angus Tyner 1:16:54
100. Andy Walker 1:17:54
132. Keith Mulvey 1:33:48
163. James Heggie 1:39:22

ZUIDERPARKRUN

Richard Costelloe went out for a bit of a training session to record a solid 18:05 and finishing 3rd in his local parkrun and 2nd M45 on the day.

RESULT
1. Jonny Yeates (Barnet and District AC) 0:17:34
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
3. Richard Costelloe 0:18:05 (2nd M45)

CONNACHT CHAMPIONSHIP – MWEELREA

Joe Lalor on Mweelrea (photo: Brian McConnell)

Graham Bush and Joe Lalor were our two representatives at the IMRA Connacht Championship double header that began on the 10.6 km course to the top of Mweelrea and back. Graham secured 2nd in the M55 category with Joe winning his.

RESULT
1. Matthew McDonnell () 0:59:49
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
15. Graham Bushe 1:21:06 (2nd M55)
32. Joe Lalor 1:50:29 (1st M70)

BENBULBEN (luke’s bridge)

53 people towed the line to run up the spectacular Ben Bulben including former member Brian Lydon who went on to finish 4th! Eoin Phelan was our ‘current’ representative and finished 42nd.

RESULT
1. Alan Dunne () 0:46:30
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
42. Eoin Phelan 1:14:10

THE RELAY

The Relay has all the essentials: times at hand-overs, emergency water, parking, and finish line celebrations and nicely captured the minimalist feel of the early days of the Wicklow Way Relay (now grown into a much larger and more involved event).

Our two Danes (Rene and Torben) had been drafted in to do leg 3 and 4 – essentially the same leg (from Gaffney’s lane to Pier Gates car park) – with Rene doing the net uphill outward leg and Torben the net downhill return.

Michael Dowling handed over to them in 8th position with Rene catching back 4 more teams as he ran the 4th fastest time on leg 3 on the day. Torben went one better by running at the fastest time on leg 4 (on the day) and taking back one further spot to bring the team into the podium places. Unfortunately, by the finish line, the team was back in 8th spot out of 11 with Kilcoole AC sweeping the podium. Here is an encouragement to the GMACers to field a team or two next year!

RESULT – leg 3
1. Aubrey O’Neill (Kilcoole AC) 0:42:29
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
4. René Borg 0:48:18
RESULT – LEG 4
1. Torben Dahl (Glendalough AC) 0:43:40

NEPHIN

Sunday brought the second race of the Connacht Championship where Graham completed the double-header on the short but incredibly steep Nephin race where 27 ‘survivors’ of the first day battled it out and Graham moved up 7 spots and traded his 2nd place on day 1 in the M55 to 1st. Joe Lalor also finished and won the overall M70.

Graham Bush at Nephin (photo: Peter O’Farrell)

All in all 20 people completed the full Championship with Graham finishing 8th and 1st M55 as well.

RESULT
1. Matthew McDonnell () 0:50:40
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
8. Graham Bushe 1:05:30 (1st M55)
23. Joe Lalor 1:30:08 (1st M70)

REPORT: 14 PEAKS, WATERFORD MARATHON, TINAHELY, HOWTH SUMMER….

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

Lots of mountain and trail action with a lonely results from the Waterford Marathon to go with it. Results ranged from unfortunate DNF to a heap of podium wins at Howth….

SNOWDONIA 14 PEAKS SKYRACE

We start the report with DNF as John Conway took on the tough and technical 14 Peaks Race in Snowdon but unfortunately was timed out at the Nant Paris checkpoint after neary 7 hours of running.

John was in a good position when he rolled his ankle and he relates: “too many pain killers and got too dehydrated. When I got to the last aid station with 14k to go, I was all over the place and medic wouldn’t let me continue. Was doing well position wise but was in a hoop. Very tough race. Probably the hardest one day race I’ve done.”

RESULT
1. Josh Bakker-Dyos () 7:24:28
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
152. John Conway DNF

WATERFORD VIKING MARATHON

Eoin Phelan and 398 other competitors suffered in the heat at the Waterford Viking Marathon finishing in the top third of the field with a 3:54.

RESULT
1. Alexander Wallace  (St. Coca’s AC) 2:26:00
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
137. Eoin Phelan 3:54:19

TINAHELY

There was also some action on locals hill with James Heggie our lone representative at the new and extended Tinahely route around Ballycumber Hill where 55 runners made the journey to West Wicklow.

RESULT
1. Liam Mooney (Lakeshore Striders) 1:19:55
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
49. James Heggie 2:41:06
Torben looking focused at Howth

HOWTH SUMMER

It was podium galore at Howth Summer where a surprisingly small field of 136 restarted the Leinster League. Paul Duffy was well out front sitting in 7th until the final km but ran out of steam a bit yet still finished as our first man home (by a whisker) ending Richard Allen’s streak of winning 6 head to heads with other club runners since Scarr in May.

Paul is now on a 12 race winning streak against fellow club members – his last ‘defeat’ was Run the Ridge last May where Richard Costello won out. For more on ‘head to head winners’ check the last paragraph of the report.

Chris chasing Alan – he would nearly catch him right on the line…

Only four seconds divided them and they won the M40 and M50 categories respectively. Torben Dahl was next in 23rd finishing 3rd M45 before Alan Kennedy and Chris Willoughby were dead-heated on the line but Alan crossing first (and taking 1st M55 position). Kevin Doherty was next in 47th before James Heggie rounded up our group 3 days on from his Tinahely race.

RESULT
1. Daire Finn () 0:41:04
——GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
12. Paul Duffy 0:47:39 (1st M40)
13. Richard Allan 0:47:42 (1st M50)
23. Torben Dahl 0:49:31 (3rd M45)
32. Alan Kennedy 0:51:51 (1st M55)
33. Chris willoughby 0:51:51 (2nd M50)
47. Kevin Doherty 0:54:14
126. James Heggie 1:18:56

HEAD TO HEAD RECKONING (2014-2024)

We keep track of head to head results since our club’s inception a decade ago with 43 separate runners having won ‘head to head’ (first male or female respective to all other club male or female runners in a particular race).

Paul Duffy has now moved up into 3rd space for most head to head wins after club stalwarts Torben (44) and Angus (38).