DUBLIN CLUBS TAKE TEAMS TITLES AT GREAT IRELAND 10KM
Dublin clubs dominated the Great Ireland Run 10km, held in Dublin’s Phoenix Park on Sunday (April 14).
Crusaders AC, led by Andrea Rodina who finished fifth in the race, was first of the men’s teams (three to count), ahead of Donore Harriers and Raheny Shamrock AC, with Metro St Brigid’s AC fourth. Best of the women’s teams was AECOM, a corporate team, followed by Portmarnock AC and Dublin Front Runners, with D15 Running Club fourth and third of the club teams. Other Dublin club teams in action included Sportsworld, Lucan Harriers, Coolock RC, Waterstown Warriors AC, Lusk AC, Blackrock AC, Cherry Orchard AC and LSA AC. First Dublin athlete home was Kane Collins (Donore Harriers) who finished second behind race winner Aaron Hanlon of Drogheda and District AC. Aisling O’Connor (Rathfarnham WSAF AC) was second woman, while first master was Helen Marshall (Portmarnock AC, W40), with Caitriona Cosgrave (also Portmarnock AC) second W45. Patricia Clarke (Cherry Orchard RC) was first W65, followed by Eileen Butler of Blackrock AC. In men’s men’s master categories, first M40 was Ciaran Aylward (Rathfarnham WSAF AC ). Nick Lawlor (Metro St Brigid’s AC) was first M45, with Paul Cowhie (Crusaders AC) one place behind and first M60. Second M50 was Colin Fennelly (Portmarnock AC), while winning the M55 category was Colm Murray (Rathfarnham WSAF AC), with Paul MacGabhann (Sportsworld AC) second, and Michael Kehoe (Raheny Shamrock AC0 third.. First M70 was Vinnie Clohisey (Raheny Shamrock AC). Third was Joseph Walshe (Phibsborough RC).
SATURDAY RUNS
Rathfarnham WSAF’s Kevin Donagher was the winner of the Clongowes Wood College 5km in Clane, Co Kildare on Saturday (April 13) with a time of 16:57. At the Grocers Fun Run 5km at Leopardstown race course in Dublin, Ciaran Connolly (DSD AC) was the winner in 17:19 with Lea Fulcher (Aldi) second in 17:39. First woman in the 10km was Siobhan Eviston (Raheny Shamrock AC) in 38:30.
EARLIER…
A record total of 78 lined out for the McDonald Cup - round 2 of the Clonliffe Harriers Grand Prix Series held on Thursday (April 11). Winner was Nosipho Mjiyako of the host club followed by Julian O’Connor from Coolock AC and .Bren Pollard of Clonliffe . Faster time on the night came from Anthony Brady of Coolock AC who finished in 21.55. David Gibbons, also Coolock AC, was was second in 22.56 with Niall Sherlock of Clonliffe third in 23.10. Clonliffe took the top three places in the women’s race, with. Aisling Andrews first, followed by Maura Matthews and Sinead McDermott.
TRACK AND FIELD
Elizabeth Ndudi (Dundrum South Dublin AC) set a new national long jump record of 6.68m when finishing second in the long jump at the Gary Wieneke Memorial meet in Illinois on Saturday (April 14). Ndudi was improving on the 5.56m jump that saw her win the European U20 title last summer and also adding six centimetres to Kelly Proper’s Irish record of 6.62m set in 2010. Still aged only 19, Ndudi’s big target this season is the World U20 Championships in Lima, Peru at the end of August. Olympic qualification is not beyond her reach if she can jump consistently over the next few months. The automatic qualifying mark is 6.86m.
Jess Tappin (Clonliffe Harriers) won the 400 hurdles at the Bryan Clay invitational in Azusa, California on Saturday (April 13) in a time of 57.02 secs, which is a Clonliffe club record. Only two days earlier, Tappin, who started her athletics career as a heptathlete, finished second in the 400 hurdles in a time of 57.56 at the Pacific Coast invitational, Long Beach, California. Tappin’s best time for the event is 55.89, a time she ran in 2022. At the same meet, Gavin Cougle, also Clonliffe, got his outdoor season off to a good start clocking 10.89 in the 100m and 21.67 in the 200m. In the 1500m series of races held at the meet Sean Donoghue (DCH AC) finished best of a trio of Irish athletes in3.41.02.
Don’t forget - Entry is open for the first Dublin Athletics Graded Meet of 2024 seasons in UCD on Sunday, on May 5. Events on the day are the: 2000SC/3000/100/800/hammer/shot/Long Jump/High Jump. The series of eight meets will be spread over five Dublin venues – Morton Stadium, Tallaght , DSD Campus, UCD and Lucan Harriers. The graded meets will also incorporate Dublin track and field championships. Full details elsewhere on this site.
HILLS
Finishing second in the Seefin uphill/Irish European Champs trial 4km race in 17:24 was Killian Mooney (DSD AC), while fourth and first M40 was Ian Conroy (Raheny Shamrock AC) in 18:04. Sarah McCormack (Clonliffe Harriers, W35) proved the class of the women’s field winning by almost two minutes in 19:30.
NEWS
The Irish Life Dublin Marathon, scheduled to take place on Sunday October 27 will again start and finish in the city centre despite calls from some members of Dublin City Council and the National Transport Authority to move it outside of the city entirely because of possible disruption to traffic. Start will be on Leeson Street Lower and the finish on Mount Street Upper, with the course following a similar route to 2023. Last year’s race started in Fitzwilliam Square and finished in Merrion Square North. Richard Shakespeare, who replaced Eoin Keegan as city manager a few months ago, has a lifelong interest in athletics. His late sister Dara Shakespeare, of the Dundrum South Dublin club, was many times Irish javelin champion and the holder of a number of Irish records.
Sanctuary Runners has become the first ever charity partner of the Morton Games, which takes place on Friday, July 12 at the Morton Stadium, Dublin — home of the Games since the stadium was first built in 1955. Entry is now open for the Morton Games at www.mortongames.ie. Further information on Sanctuary Runners at https://sanctuaryrunners.ie/
Rhasidat Adeleke (Tallaght AC) is just one of the Dublin club athletes selcted for the mixed 4x400m and women’s 4x400m squads which compete in next month’s World Athletics Relays in Nassau, Bahamas, where Olympic selection isnat stake. Also picked is Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock AC) for both squads and Jack Raftery (Donore Harriers) for the 4 x 400m mixed squad.
Captions:
Killian Mooney - second Seefin uphill/Irish European Mountain Running Championships 4km trial. Photo IMRA
Clonliffe Harriers members Mahad Mohamed Egaal, Abdi Ali Maow and Ibrahim Umar- looking forward to Morton Games. Photo Morton Games.
McDonald Cup start at Morton Stadium - Collock RC and Ballymun AC well represented as well as the host club Clonliffe
Great Ireland Run photos courtesy MyRunResults.
