Dublin Clubs Roundup, 26 - 30 August 2026
TRACK AND FIELD
Rhasidat Adeleke (Tallaght AC) was back in action at the Grand Prix Brescia in Italy on Sunday (August 30) , where she finished fifth in the 200m with a time of 22.85. The time was well off her personal best and national record time of 22.28 secs, set at the European Championships a fortnight ago. Next outing for Adeleke is the Athlos meeting in London on 18 September.
In Poland, Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock) finished third in the 300m with a time of 36.99 secs at the Memorial Zbigniewa Ludwichowskiego in Poland.
At the Gala den Castelli in Bellinzona Switzerland, Sarah Healy (UCD AC) finished seventh in the women’s 1500m in a time of 4:01.18 — well off the 3:57.42 she ran in Poland a week ago.
Bori Akinola (UCD AC) finished fourth in the 100m in 10.33 secs, which was slower than the 10.34 he had recorded at the BFTTA meet at the Lee Valley track in London the previous day. Also at the London meet, Marcus Lawler (Clonliffe Harriers) clocked a wind-assisted time of 20.99 (+2.7) in the 200m. Both Lawler and Akinola are back in London on Monday at the Stratford Speed GP, as will Paul Smyth (Raheny Shamrock) and a number of other Irish sprinters.
On Wednesday in Szczecin, Poland, Jack Raftery (Donore Harriers) finished second in the men’s B 400m in a season’s best time 45.54 secs. At the same meet ,Cillian Kirwan (Raheny ShamrockAC) clocked 1:46.67 for ninth in the 800m.
Two days earlier, at the Folksam Grant Prix in Goteborg, Sweden, Kirwan was sixth in a 1,000m race clocking a person best time of 2:18.53. At the same meet Kirwan’s Raheny club mate Eric Favors finished third in the shot with a throw of 19.70m. It was Favors’ 18th outdoors competition since last March, with his best effort of 20.40 coming in April.
SAND GLORIOUS SAND!
Race of the weekend in the Dublin area was the Portmarnock Beach 5km on Friday evening (August 28) , which has swiftly evolved into a perfect end of summer event, with no-one too fussed about running fast times and ice-cream for all at the finish. This year, Anthony Eames (Raheny Shamrock AC, M40) and Eoin Keating (Clonliffe Harriers) led home 690 finishers with both given a time of 16 mins 42 secs when they crossed the finish line. Darragh Ward (DAA) was third in 17:18 and local athlete Sean Healy (Portmarnock AC) fourth in 17:33. Finishing ninth and first woman in 19:14 was triathlete Rebekka Prim, originally from Germany. Local resident Annette Kealy of Raheny Shamrock AC was second in 19:29 and Kealy’s Raheny club-mate Zoe Quinn third in 19:51. On a good day for the Shamrocks, Dave Feeney was first M60 in 23:22.
Leading home 132 finishers in the shorter juvenile race was Finn McGurran of Clonliffe Harriers, with Aliyah Ryad, also from Clonliffe, sixth and first girl.
Elsewhere, Wayne Waldron (Donore Harriers, M40 ) was second and first Leinster athlete in a time of 68:56 at the Tullamore Half Marathon on Saturday (August 29), which incorporated the Leinster Championships. In the age groups, Alex Wood (LSA AC) took the Leinster W45 title. Also taking provincial titles were Margaret Foley (Crusaders AC) W40, Eileen O’Brien (Lucan Harriers) W70, Ruben Bartelink (DSD AC) M50, Tom Cuddy (Rathfarnham WSAF AC), M65, and Donal Murphy (Rathfarnham WSAF AC) M70. Donore Harriers finished of the senior men’s teams behind Tullamore Harriers, with an impressive thirty teams entered.
