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
———–GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS——–
29. Dave Lawless 18:17
Sean Hehir – Irish international and fresh off his 2:17 marathon in London – took the time to answer three questions for us after participating, and breaking the record of, our half-marathon fund-raiser ‘Glen to Glen’ (run in conjunction with the Lap of the Gap Marathon). Congratulations to Sean on the new mark of 72:21 – the quest for sub-70 has begun!
How did you hear about the Lap of the Gap Marathon and Glen to Glen Half and what attracted you to doing the event?
I love to race regularly. The weeks immediately after the target marathon in the spring and autumn provide a great opportunity for competing in races I haven’t done before in new and different places, enabling maintaining fitness and conditioning before recommencing full training. In the last 2 weeks I entered the IMRA Leinster League Bray Head run and the Wicklow Way Relay with my Rathfarnham WSAF AC teammates. I saw the Glen to Glen Half and The Lap of the Gap Marathon listed on the Athletics Ireland accredited fixture list and on the MyRunResults website. When I saw the race profile featuring the climb from The Upper Lake in Glendalough up to Glenmacnass waterfall and back I decided to give the half marathon a go. I’m very glad I signed up and would love to come back to try better my time or try my hand at The Lap of the Gap Marathon. The marathon race winner’s stone trophy is beautiful and I would love to try earn one in the future.
Your personal best for the half-marathon is 65:12 and your new record is 72:21 – do you feel the course is about 6-7 minutes slower than a regular city half-marathon or would sub-70 be achievable for yourself or a runner of similar ability in the right circumstances?
A sub 70min clocking is definitely achievable in The Glen to Glen Half. Conditions
this year were ideal (light wind and mild) which definitely helped. The first 5km are fast and flat, with a fast pace still achievable on the gradual slopes from 5km-10km. Mile splits take a hit from 10km to the turnaround point at Glenmacnass waterfall and it’s very difficult to get lost time back on the steep descents. However coming down the hill at speed in the second half of the race is a fantastic feeling and your momentum definitely carries you over the line in the closing miles. The road surface on the route is excellent and there is great support from race officials at the water stations. It would be great to see the 70 minute barrier broken in the not-so-distant future.
Which part of the course did you enjoy most and what part did you feel played best to your personal strengths?
My favourite part of the route was the last uphill mile climbing towards the turnaround point at Glenmacnass waterfall. The scenery is stunning and although your legs are screaming as the climb hits 20% in places, it is a strangely enjoyable experience. The opening miles in Glendalough are also beautiful (and flat).
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.
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.
Another result from the hills. As Catherine Devitt was racing at Hellfire, Barry Murray took to the start line at Corrin Hill in Munster. The race had the unusual feature of having three Pauls occupying the top-3 placings. Perhaps Paul is replacing John as the name to pick if you want to excel in the hills.
Barry meanwhile showed he was only a bit behind his early-season form of 2018 – finishing 7th for the second consecutive year in a time only 23 seconds slower than the previous seasons outing. With conditions in the hills ever-changing such small variations are nearly the same as ‘no change’.
RESULTS
———-GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS———
6. Barry Murray 29:42 (3rd M40)
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.
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.
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.
Glendalough AC 