Dublin Clubs activities round up, 7 - 8 December 2024, Lindie Naughton
CROSS-COUNTRY
At the 30th European Cross-Country on the site of demolished textile factory complex in Antalya, Turkey on Sunday (December 8), Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers) finished second of the Irish in the men’s senior race.Gidey finished 26th, just five seconds behind first Irish finishers Cormac Dalton (Mullingar Harriers). His time for the 7,139 m course, build on the site of a demolished factory complex and including three ‘jumps’, two short, sharp hills and a stretch of sand, was 23 mins 8 secs. Gidey, now aged 24, had finished third in the U20 race at the same championships in 2019. Pierre Murchan (Dublin City Harriers) in 41st was the third scorer for the Irish team, which finished eighth.Working her way up to 13th place in the women’s U23 race was Emma McEvoy (Dundrum South Dublin AC) with the team finishing fifth. Surprise of the day came in the senior women’s race, where ex-Crusaders athlete Niamh Allen, making her Irish international debut at the age of twenty-nine, led home the Irish team in 11th place. Allen, who is from Cork, is now a member of Leevale AC after a two-year sojourn in Australia — and the birth of her first child three months ago. Lughaidh Mallon, currently running with UCD AC, was just a few seconds off the top twenty in the men's U20 race when he finished 26th after a scramble for the line. His UCD clubmate Jonas Stafford finished only seconds behind him in 29th place. Finishing 35th was Cormac Dixon (Tallaght AC), the current All-Ireland schools cross-country champion who is on athletics scholarship at Providence Colleg, Rhod Island. Not too far behind Dixon was Dublin junior Sean Quinn (Dundrum South Dublin AC) in 40thplace. The team finished ninth.
ROADS
Despite storm Darragh, club athletes from all over Dublin a further afield flocked to the Phoenix Park early on Saturday morning (December 7) for the annual Jingle Bells 5km — the unofficial launch of the festive season! An impressive 206 teams lined out for the race with many clubs entering multiple teams. Among them were the Lucan Harriers, Dundrum South Dublin and Crusaders women with nine teams each, the Brothers Pearse women with eight, Sportsworld and Rathfarnham WSAF with six each, Civil Service Harriers with five, Metro St Brigid’s with four and Waterstown Warriors with three. Cork raiders Leevale finished best of the women’s teams ahead of Dublin City Harriers and Dundrum South Dublin.
Of the 120 men’s teams. Metro St Brigid’s entered a massive ten, closely followed by Dundrum South Dublin and Crusaders AC both with nine. Dunboyne AC entered eight teams, while host club Donore Harriers, Civil Service Harriers and Brothers Pearse all entered six teams. Lusk AC had entered five teams, and Raheny Shamrock AC and Dublin Front Runners four apiece. From outside Dublin, Galway City Harriers arrived with two teams. Winners were host club Donore Harriers, followed by Clonliffe Harriers and Raheny Shamrock. Individually John Travers, a race regular, again made it a home win for Donore, finishing in 15 mins 5 secs. Stephen Cashin (Clonliffe Harriers) was second in 15:12 and Vinny Connolly (Raheny Shamrock AC) third in 15:14. In a close battle between the junior men, Charlie O’Neill (Donore Harriers) in 15:18 just held off Benjamin Caullier (Lucan Harriers) and Cian Gorham (Raheny Shamrock) in the chase for the the line. First M40 was Mark Ryan (Rathfarnham WSAF) in 15:35. the women, Amy O’Donoghue (Dundrum South Dublin) finished first in 16:33, while in the masters age groups, Tara Kennedy (Raheny Shamrock) was first W50 and Fiona Byrne (Civil Service Harriers) first W60. A total of 1,348 completed the race. Full result at www.popupraces.ie
*All photos courtesy Noel Redican of Donore Harriers.
