Handicap League – Glendalough AC

RESULTS: Handicap league Rd. 11 of 12

February 17, 2019February 17, 2019 by glendaloughac, posted in Club races / events, Winter League

We had the most competitive handicap race yet at Roundwood Reservoir today. 8 out of 10 runners improved their handicaps. With 4 runners improving their handicap by more than 2 minutes and thus getting the maximum score, there was a shake-up at the top with Bruce Phillips taking the lead – 38 seconds ahead of Aoife Joyce and 57 seconds ahead of Barry O’Neill.

winterleaguerd11of12 — Overall results after 11 of 12 rounds

It is only the second time the courses have been run so the fastest times run were reduced for nearly all races. Arne Klohn ran the new best mark for the 5 km (22:36) and Yvonne set the new ladies 5 km best at 23:56. The 10 km best times were reduced to 46:06 overall by Derek Cullen and 48:35 for the ladies by Donna Quinn. Barry O’Neill ran 44:12 but took the 10 km route along the lower reservoir so while his time has been accepted into the rankings, it won’t stand as a course best.

WINTER LEAGUE RD. 10 – Miner’s Road in the wind!

February 9, 2019February 9, 2019 by glendaloughac, posted in Club races / events, Uncategorized, Winter League

The plot thickened at the Miner’s Road where today’s 10^th round of the Club Winter League was held. This course is known as a ‘wind tunnel’ even on quiet days so we set off with some expectation of high winds. Thankfully, it was milder than expected even if the outward journey was slowed down enough to make beating handicaps challenging.

Yet this was exactly what most did. Bruce Phillips took the day and the biggest handicap improvement – finishing 2 minutes 3 seconds ahead of handicap.

Aoife Joyce in second improved by 1 minute 41 seconds allowing. This meant both Aoife and Bruce leap-frogged Donna Quinn who dropped to 3^rd. Third place went to club coach René Borg who bettered his handicap by 41 seconds. Colm Kenna also timed his run well bettering his handicap by 15 seconds to finish fourth.

The fastest actual time was set by fifth-placed Derek Cullen who ran 21:56, the only person nipping under 22 minutes on the day. Yvonne Brennan came 6^th and was fastest woman on the day (2^nd best time overall) coming home in 22:25 missing her handicap by 35 seconds.

It’s now incredibly tight going into the last two races – Bruce is only 5 seconds behind Aoife and Donna merely 53 seconds with one poor result to discard making it fairly easy for her to close the 53 second gap. Everyone else relies on breaking their handicap substantially in BOTH of the next two races – the only realistic contender outside the top-3 is Rene who is 2 minutes 35 seconds down. The runners who have not yet run the minimum 4 to score do no longer have a realistic chance of ‘crashing the party late’.

WL overall round 10 of 12 — Overall results: Round 10 of 12

A good morning out was celebrated in the Glendalough Green re-opened after its January hiatus!

NEXT ROUND: Next Saturday morning in Roundwood for the Reservoir Rounds courses!

REPORT: Winter League round 9 – Green Gapways

January 26, 2019 by glendaloughac, posted in Club races / events, Race reports, Road running, Uncategorized, Winter League

In an exciting race at Green Gapways, the league standings got massively over-turned. Barry O’Neill was the run-away leader setting the fastest 10 km time on the day and beating his handicap by nearly 6 minutes whilst recording his 2nd victory of this years league.

He was followed home on the day by Aoife Joyce in 2nd (3 minutes faster than handicap) who also climbed to 2nd in the overall table. Third was Bruce Phillips who had a strong run on the 10 km route and beat his handicap by 2 minutes 41 seconds, enough to move him up into 3rd overall.

The ‘cutest’ run of the day was undoubtedly Donna Quinn who improved her handicap by 1 minute 59 seconds. This meant she got the best possible score whilst not improving her handicap so much it get’s massively hard to beat the second time. The run also took her top of the table now 62 seconds ahead of Aoife Joyce. Previous leader René Borg droppe to fourth.

overallresultround9 — Overall standings with 9 out of 12 run an 4 to score

Fastest 5 km on the day was 23:14 which was set jointly by Yvonne Brennan and René Borg although it should be mentioned Yvonne decided to stop and wait for René with 100m to go! 6 out of 12 runners beat their handicap – apart from those previously mentioned there were good performances by Yvonne Brennan (84 seconds ahead of handicap) and Flora McKnight (2 minutes 24 seconds ahead of handicap).

The current standings mean that any runner who is 2 minutes or less behind the leader only needs one result where they improve their handicap by 2 minutes to jump back in front of the pack. Any runner within 4 minutes will need to post two such results in the final three rounds at the Miner’s Road, Roundwood Reservoir and Brockagh Woods.

WINTER LEAGUE – ROUND 7 (Kevin’s Jaunt)

December 29, 2018December 29, 2018 by glendaloughac, posted in Club races / events, Race reports, Trail running, Winter League

Arne Klohn demolished the group to cruise home in a fine 20:40 on the tough 5 km up to the turning point over Glendasan valley exactly 2.5 km from the Glendalough Hotel. The route follows Kevin’s Way up along the Glendasan River.

His time was a new record in the second running over the course and Rachel Wisdom also set a new ladies record with her 21:41. Only one runner raced/ran the long course – Bruce Phillips – and one took the option of running solo after the mass start (René). Once handicaps were factored in Arne Klohn still retained the win ahead of Rachel Wisdom and Aoife Joyce.

Bruce Phillips was the first person to do the long course so his 49:49 stands as the course record for that as well.

Arne’s win moves him up to third in the standings and with 5 races left and 4 runners on 3 races (with 4 to score) competition is heating up.

WINTER LEAGUE – ROUND 6

December 22, 2018December 22, 2018 by glendaloughac, posted in Club races / events, Race reports, Trail running, Winter League

wlrich We got midway through the Winter Handicap League today with the new run at Brockagh Woods. The course proved popular with several commenting it would make a nice IMRA trail race (in fact, a good part of the course is used in the Laragh Trail Race 6k).

Three runners competed in the long 9 km route with the remaining seven taking on the shorter 5 km route – all counting in the same rankings courtesy of the handicap system.

Fastest on the long course was Barry O’Neill with 44 minutes flat whilst Johnny Conway was fastest on the short with 22:36. Both will stand as course records until the second running along with Yvonne Brennan’s 24:31 (fastest female time).

Once adjusted for handicaps these were the results with Barry O’Neill winning 36 seconds ahead of Johnny who in turn had 11 seconds to Colm Kenna in third.

round6results — Results (handicapped) for round 6 of 12

In the overall ranking the defending league winner – club coach René Borg – retains a 5 second lead to Donna Quinn but with the four best counting, runners will have plenty of results to discard in the final 6 races and for the runner who have run 3 or less, they could still feature at the top once they get in their fourth race.

**Overall results:** round 6 of 12 (best 4 results to score)

Next round we restart our run through the six courses with Kevin’s Jaunt up St. Kevin’s Way and back to the Glendalough Hotel – next Saturday (29th) from 9:30 am. As always everyone is welcome, entry is free, and coffee and cakes a’plenty in Glendalough Green afterwards.