Our weekend report starts in Shanganagh where Barry O’Neill and Marcus Murphy were on the first ‘road trip’
In The Hague Richard Costelloe set a new personal best for the half-marathon running 1:30:15 and only narrowly missing out on the sub-90 minute barrier with some cramping.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Both Ivan Mahon and Rich Costelloe tackled the challenging course of the IMRA Ballinastoe race on Wednesday July 31st. One of the tougher routes in the IMRA calendar, this is the longest in the Leinster League (12k) and just under 500m of climbing.
Aside from the distance and climbs this was also a quite technical course – traversing gravel fire roads, long steep single tracks, a short section on the Wicklow Way, mucky bog-trotting , stream-jumping, midge-biting, fallen-tree ducking, dark forest tracks and some mountain bike trails.
Ivan had a strong race, finishing in 1:09:03 and 53rd place.
This was Rich’s fifth race in July and after recent successes on the flat roads he left the racing legs at home for this one, finishing in 63rd place with a time of 1:11:29.
We missed a few results in our round-up from yesterday. We stated (wrongly) that our runners did the South Dublin 10k this weekend but it was in fact the weekend prior. This weekend Donna Quinn was in action in Monaghan running the Blaney 10 mile and finishing 1st F35 in 71 minutes – her third best mark over the distance.
Richard Costelloe bagged himself a second 10k PB within a week at the Malahide Castle 10k, finishing in 14th place and lowering his time by 19 seconds to 41:31.
First in action this week was Colm Kenna – doing his warm-up for the Frank Duffy 10 km
4 days later on the slopes of Brockagh. Newcastle AC’s Luke McMullan’s win
meant Northern honours prevailed on the race. Colm came home in 72:13 for 103rd
place in a mid-size field of 162.
A ‘hang-over’
from last weeks result must also be mentioned as Torben Dahl took on the
technical route up and down Djouce – dubbed the ‘Ayling’ Abyss after inventor
Alan Ayling. Perhaps still feeling the Tucker Trail 80k in his legs Torben swooped
across the finish line in 27th – a bit down on his usual placings in
the league. The next day he could celebrate his 41st birthday –
congratulations from everyone in Glendalough AC!
RESULTS
Barry Cronin 52:40
————GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
27. Torben
Dahl 63:55
South Dublin 10k
Yesterday’s big Saturday fixture is the South Dublin 10k – part of the Dublin race series – where Richard Costelloe, Colm and William Belton were in action. Richard had a particularly good run setting a new PB of 41:50.
RESULTS
Paul Pollock, Annadelle Striders 29:28
————GLENDALOUGH AC RUNNERS————-
259. Richard Costelloe 41:50 (PB)
696. Colm Kenna 47:46
840. William Belton 49:24
With three club runners in action, this race becomes an automatic counter in the club championship. Richard’s win here means he now leads the championship as although Torben Dahl and Barry O’Neill can still overtake him if they ‘win’ their ‘run in hand’.
NeverGiveUp 10k
Aoife Joyce capped off the weekend action in Inch at the NeverGiveUp 10k, her first race on the distance for nearly 6 years. Her time of 46:06 sufficed in securing third lady’s spot and 2nd F40.
Glendalough AC 