Fixtures

Only in the final 800m was a thrilling men’s senior race decided when McElhinney pulled away from defending champion Hiko Tonosa of Dundrum South Dublin AC for victory. McElhinney, who led Ireland to U23 team victory at last year’s European Cross-Country Championships in Abbotstown, finished in 29 mins 59 secs. Tonosa was second in 30:03, while third in 30:06 was Peter Lynch of Kilkenny City Harriers.  Efrem Gidey of Clonliffe Harriers was fourth  and second U23 in 30:10. With a new generation of Irish distance runners clearly coming through, many of them Dublin based, it looks like Ireland will field another strong U23 team at the Europeans in three weeks’ time. In a closely fought team competition, Gidey was leading Clonliffe Harriers to a 33rd title since the Club’s first win in 1910. Dublin  proved best of the counties for a 36th time with six finishers from four clubs (Clonliffe, DSD, DCH and Rathfarnham WSAF) making the top fifteen.  Since 2000, Dublin has only twice lost this title - to Cork in 2002 and to Galway in 2016.

Best of the Dublin athletes in the combined junior and U18 men’s race  was Cormac Dixon of Tallaght AC who was tenth overall and second U18.  DSD AC took  the U18 team title, led by Jamie Byrne in 14th place.  In a Dublin clean sweep, Clonliffe Harriers was second and Tallaght AC third. No surprise then that Dublin was first county team ahead of Cork and Kilkenny. In the junior team competition, DSD AC was third behind Ennis TC and Nenagh Olympic. Clare was first county team ahead of Dublin.

Best Dublin result in the junior and U18  women’s race came from Isabella  Tomkin Beddy of DSD AC who led the county U18 team to second place behind Down. In the junior team competition, Dublin was third county behind Mayo and Wicklow.

In the Even Aged Juvenile Championships, Dublin took three intercounty titles - U16 boys and U16 girls and U12 girls. Lorraine O’Connor of Donore Harriers won the W16 title, with her clubmate Emily Bolton in fourth place. The Donore team took second place behind Lagan Valley. Matei  Ursechi of Clonliffe Harriers  finished third in the M16 race with Clonliffe second team  behind Nenagh Olympic.  Taking a narrow team victory in the M14 race was Templegue AC; Dublin was second county behind Cork. In the W14 race, Dublin  finished third team behind Cork aand Clare. The full results are on the Athletics Ireland website, with the Senior and Junior Results at https://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/results/Senior_XC_Results_22.pdf

BRIAN FAY FIRST IRISH IN NCAA

Brian Fay of Raheny Shamrock AC, who is a post-graduate student at Washington State university, finished best of the Irish in the men’s 10km race at the NCAA Cross-Country Championships, held in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Saturday (November 19). Fay finished 13th with a time of 29 mins 11 secs. Fay was Ireland’s top senior men’s finisher at the European Championships at Abbotstown last December in tenth place. He looks certain of his place on the Irish team for next month’s European  Championships  in Turin, Italy. Paul O’Donnell of Dundrum South Dublin AC, also a member of the men’s senior team at Abbotstown last December,  was 58th in 29:50.3.

 

 

• Marathon update: At the time of writing, there are still no confirmed results from the Irish Marathon Championships held in conjunction with the Dublin Marathon on October 30, although we  definitely know that former champions Mick Clohisey and Sergiu Ciobanu did not finish, despite being listed in the original results.  Considerable confusion has resulted from the transfer of numbers from 2020. Of the original 25,000 sell-out entry for that year’s cancelled race, about 18,000 ended up collecting their race entry,  while 14,773 are listed as official finishers.  Numbers were also unofficially transferred, adding to the chaos.  Full  official results when we get them.
• Good luck to Dublin athletes on the Irish team for the British and Irish Cross-Country Championships, which, after a two year delay, takes place at Santry Demesne on Saturday (November 12) . Entry is still open for the open race at www.irishmasterathletics.com.

Gary O’Hanlon of Clonliffe Harriers has won the Dublin Marathon Championships title after his run at the Irish Life Dublin Marathon on Sunday (October 30). O’Hanlon, aged 48, in  tenth place overall and third Irishman, finished  in a time of 2:25.16. Next  Dublin club finishers was Vincent McGuinness of Crusaders AC in 2:31.30 followed by Mark Kirwan of Raheny Shamrock AC in 2:32.30 and Graham Kirwan,  also Raheny Shamrock, in 2:32.58. Rising star Graham Gilshinan of Portmarnock AC was fifth Dublin club member in 2:33./37 and Matthew Kane of Rathfarnham WSAF AC sixth in 2:34.19.

Irish 50km champion Sorcha Loughnane of Donore Harriers, showing no signs of tiredness after her outing at the European 50km Championships a few weeks earlier, was first female Dublin club member home and second W45. Loughnane is coached by none other than Gary O’Hanlon and her time of  2:45.48  was not far off her personal best of 2:45.23 run in the Cork Marathon last June, where she had finished second behind Lizzie Lee. Her Donore clubmate Niamh Clifford, finishing close behind  Loughnane, was second ‘Dub’ (although like Loughnane, originally from Kerry) in a personal best time of 2:46.10. Third Dublin club athlete was Kate Purcell of Raheny Shamrock AC in 2:47.33; Purcell, an Irish mountain running international, has been in good form this year having won the Irish Life Dublin Race Series.  For Sportsworld, Aoife O’Leary finished fourth in 2:51.19. 

 

In the masters’ age groups, Purcell  was first W35, O’Leary first W40 and Loughnane first W45.  Dee O’Keeffe of Brothers Pearse AC was second W45 and Tara Kennedy of Raheny Shamrock AC third.  Anne Curley (Donore Harriers), running her 30th marathon was first W50,  while the winners in other age categories were Olwyn Dunne (Crusaders AC) W55, Grainne Grennan (Blackrock AC) W60, Mary Browne (Lucan Harriers) W65 and the remarkable Mary Lynch (Raheny Shamrock AC), who started running through Parkrun, W70. As for the men,  Gary O’Hanlon was first M45 and also takes the national title. In other age groups, winners were Ray Hynes (Donore Harriers) M40, Ciaran Diviney (Crusaders AC)  M50, Ger O’Toole (Blackrock AC) M55, Paul Tester (Brothers Pearse AC) M60,  James Cottle (Crusaders AC) M65 (also winning the Irish title), Maurice O’Connell (Raheny Shamrock AC) M70 and Eddie Coyle (Tallaght AC) M75.

 

Among other exceptional performances by Dublin athletes  was Dave Brady’s 1,010th marathon, which he completed in 6:02.60.  Before the two years of lockdown scuppered his plans, Brady had hoped to run his 1,000m marathon at the 2020 Dublin Marathon. He managed that feat in Longford last August and has kept going since then. Kudos also to Martin Kelly of Raheny Shamrock AC, first home of the eight  ‘All Timers’ to have completed every Dublin Marathon since the inaugural race of 1980.  When Kelly lined out on that historic morning, he was just out of school.  These days, he runs in the M60 class and on Sunday, he finished in  a respectable time of 3:39.27. Another ‘All Timer’ completing his 41st Dublin Marathon was Michael Carolan of Brothers Pearse AC who finished in 3:49.51. Completing the race in 3:58.41 was Dan  Tighe, who was pushed all the way by his mother Sinead Tighe of Brothers Pearse AC, with support from Noel Fahey.  It was a sixth marathon for a Dan and a seventh for Sinead. Finishing in 3:16.53 was former  400m track star  David Gillick of Dundrum South Dublin AC. Virtually every Dublin club was represented among the 14,743 finishers currently listed. 

 

The full results are on the TDL Services website at https://www.tdleventservices.co.uk/event-results/events. The national results will be available on the Athletics website shortly and the Dublin ones on this site when available.

 

Lindie Naughton

DSD AC.

For a second year, Darragh McElhinney and  Abbie Donnelly were the winners at the Autumn Open Cross-Country held at Abbotstown in Dublin on Sunday (October 16) which saw a number of strong performances from Dublin athletes. McElhinney, although  a native of Glengarriff, is a member of the UCD scholarship squad  based in Belfield and took U23 silver at the same venue when the European Championships came to Dublin last December. Finishing a solid fourth  was John Travers of Donore Harriers, a Dublin native living in Sligo with his young family. Other strong good runs in the men’s 7.5km race came from Pierre Murchan of Dublin City Harriers sixth, Emmet Jennings of Dundrum South Dublin eighth, and Mitchell Byrne of Rathfarnham WSAF AC 11th.

 

Best Dublin athlete in the women’s race was Fiona McKenna of UCD AC who finished eighth, with top 15 runs also from Edel Monaghan of Dublin City Harriers 13th, Carla Sweeney of Rathfarnham WSAF AC 14th and Jodie McCann of Dublin City Harriers 15th. The full results are on the Myrunresults website at https://www.myrunresults.com/events/autumn_open_international_cross_country_festival/4557/results.

 

In the junior races, Emer Maher of Dundrum South Dublin AC in sixth place was the first Dublin finisher in the women’s race, with James Bolton of Donore Harriers 15th in the men’s junior race. Because the Dublin Juvenile Even-Ages Cross-Country Championships were taking place on the same day and at the same venue, the Dublin entry in the later races for younger athletes was considerably reduced.

 

As has become traditional, the races served as trial for the British and Irish Masters’ International, which, after a two year delay, will finally come to Santry on Saturday, November 12. Teams will be announced over the next few days;  Among those likely to be picked are Laura McDonnell of Rathfarnham WSAF AC W35, Raheny pair Zoe Quinn W45 and Annette Kealy W50, and James Cottle of Crusaders M60. More on that when the teams are announced.

 

Lindie Naughton

DSD AC

A crashing finish to a superb men’s 6km proved the highlight of the  Dublin Novice Cross-County Championships, hosted by Sportsworld Running Club in challenging conditions at Tymon Park on Sunday (October 9). 

After much debate over the exact location of the finish line — under the clock or at the start of the timing mat? — Shane Spring of Raheny Shamrock AC and  ex-boxer Eddie O’Connor, a recent recruit to Brothers Pearse AC, were declared joint winners after they — literally — fell over the line together in a time of 19 mins 30 sec. A close third was Clonliffe Harrier Ben Coughlan  who had led out the field on the final lap and stuck with the winning pair until the later stages of the race.  With Conor Deane sixth, Alex Cunningham seventh  and Karl Ennis 15th, Brothers Pearse took a memorable team gold. Clonliffe  was second and Crusaders AC third. 

 

Slightly less exciting was the women’s 4km, where Faye Dervan, now in Dublin City Harriers colours after transferring from Tallaght AC, was the winner in 15 mins exactly.  Behind her, Aoife Coffey of Lucan Harriers was a fighting second in 15:08. With Lucy Jones third, Eimear Fitzpatrick fourth, and Christelle Vall 12th, DCH  were comfortable winners of the team title. Clonliffe Harriers was second and Crusaders AC third. 

 

An impressive total of nine women’s teams and ten men’s teams had turned out, with Clonliffe, Crusaders, Raheny Shamrock and Liffey Valley finishing from second to fifth in both races. Other clubs  fielding full teams in both races were Rathfarnham WSAF, Dublin Frontrunners and host club Sportsworld. The full results are in the Attachment below and on the Murunresults website at https://www.myrunresults.com/events/dublin_novice_xc_championship/4599/results

 

Next up on the Dublin cross-country calendar is the senior championships to be held on Sunday, November 6 at a  venue yet to be decided.  The intermediate championships, hosted by Rathfarnham WSAF AC, will take place at Tymon Park on Sunday, December 11 and the masters championships in St. Anne's Park, Raheny on Sunday, January 8 2023. 

 

For women cross-country runners who have never won any sort of  cross-country medal, or indeed never run cross-country, the first of this season’s Meet & Train Women’s 2-Mile cross-country races will take place in Dunboyne on Sunday, November 27 (11am). 

Lindie Naughton, 

DSD