Dublin Clubs Activities, 25 - 27 April 2025

 A BUSY DAY FOR MARATHONS

On a busy weekend for marathons, races took place in London, Manchester, Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Connemara, with Dublin runners lining out in most of them. At the Hamburg Marathon, Karl Fleming (Portmarnock AC) clocked a time of 2:38.33, while Kate Purcell (Raheny Shamrock) finished 13th woman and first W40 in 2:47.46. She crossed the line with her Raheny clubmate Ian McConkey. A total of 143 Irish had registered to run.

Well over a thousand Irish had nabbed a place in the London Marathon. Finishers included John Eves (Dundrum South Dublin AC) in 2:35.46, as well as John McCarthy who clocked a time of 2:37.56 in the wheelchair race. Locally, Edward O’Connor (Brothers Pearse AC) was second in 2:45.32 at the annual Connemarathon in Co Galway. Maura Dineen (Raheny Shamrock, W40) finished third woman in 3:41.34.

ROAD RELAYS - WINS FOR DSD AND RATHFARNHAM MASTERS!

Dundrum South Dublin AC successfully retained their title in the women’s senior race at the National Road Relays held on the All Saints circuit in Raheny on Sunday (April 27). After a solid start by Olympian and team coach Maria McCambridge on the opening one mile leg, Emma McEvoy on the two-mile leg and Eimear Maher on the final mile brought the defending champions home for the club’s sixth win since 2009 in a time of 20 mins 50 secs. McEvoy and Maher also clocked the fastest times of the day for their legs. UCD, who had led after the first leg, finished second in 21:31 with Kate Nurse, Mary Horgan and Ellie Hartnett making up the team. Finishing third was the host club Raheny Shamrock’s trio of Lucy Barrett, Kate Crowley and Niamh Kearney. Crusaders finished fourth, Sportsworld fifth and North Down — the only non-Dublin club in the race — sixth. In the men’s race over four legs, defending champions Clonliffe Harriers finished third behind Ennis Track Club and Craughwell AC from Co Galway. Clonliffe had led for the opening two legs, thanks to good runs by Ben Guiden and Sean Cronin but a strong run on the three-mile leg proved decisive for Ennis and Clonliffe Harriers ended up third in 37:32 - twenty-one seconds behind the winners. Dundrum South Dublin finished fourth, Raheny Shamrock fifth and a second Clonliffe team sixth. 

In the masters races, Sportsworld (Lorna Quinn, Noreen Brouder, Aoife O’Leary) finished runners-up in the W35 race. Crusaders finished fourth, Clonliffe Harriers sixth and two Donore teams seventh and eighth. Raheny Shamrock’s trio of Tara Kennedy, Annette Kealy and Mary Walsh finished second in the W50 category. Defending champion Raheny Shamrock (Aidan Jones, Kieran Kelly, Mick Clohisey) could only manage second this time in the M35 category behind Letterkenny AC, with Clonliffe Harriers (Tom Sherlock, Cathal McHale and Niall Sherlock) third. Donore Harriers was fourth and Liffey Valley fifth. First home in the M50 class was Rathfarnham WSAF AC (Paul Fleming, Shane O’Neill, Sean McCreery) in 20: 534, with a time of 4 mins 59 secs for the final mile from Paul Fleming, who celebrated his 50th birthday on the day, proving crucial.

OTHER WEEKEND ROAD RACES 

In Darndale, Dublin on Saturday (April 26) Cian Charlton (Raheny Shamrock AC) led home over seven hundred finishers at the Another Way 5km in 16 mins 36 secs .Stephen Butler was second in 16:41. Tracey Coleman (Artane/Beaumont Running Club) was first woman in 20:38, with Beth O’Connor (Ballymun AC) second in 21:51.

At the Cootehill 10km, in Co Cavan on Sunday, Catherina Mullen (Metro St Brigid’s AC) was first woman in 37:18.

TRACK AND FIELD - STATESIDE

At the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, USA , from April 24-26, Washington State won a thrilling College Men’s 4 x mile with Ronan McMahon-Stagg (Dublin City Harriers) running an opening leg of 4:06.10. A day earlier, Washington had won the medley relay title, with McMahon-Stagg again on the opening leg, this time of 1200m. McMahon-Stagg, now aged twenty-two, began his college career with UCLA. He currently tops the Irish 1500m rankings thanks to a personal best time of 3:38.23 run in Azusa, California on April 18. Elsewhere in the USA, Roisin Treacy (DSD AC) won the women’s 1500m at the Elmhurst Invitational in Illinois on Friday (April) 25) in a personal best 4:26.45.