To start the week Lindie Naughton brings us all the Irish endurance action and news from the weekend just gone (Monday 9th December).

Nick Griggs (CNDR TC) provided the Irish performance of the day at the 30th European Cross-Country on the site of a demolished textile factory complex in Antalya, Turkey on Sunday (December 8) .

In his first appearance in the U23 race, Griggs narrowly failed to catch the defending champion Will Barnicoat representing Great Britain in a frantic chase for the line. Griggs had run a smart race, tracking Barnicoat and other likely winners over the artificial 5,629m course which included three ‘obstacles’, two short, sharp hills and a stretch of sand.

A fast flat 320m stretch to the finish produced plenty of drama on the day including Griggs’ heroic attempt to catch Barnicoat.

Despite brave efforts by Niall Murphy (Ennis TC) who finished 23rd,  and Callum Morgan (CNDR TC) 29th, backed up by Cathal O’Reilly (Kilkenny City Harriers) 37th, Mathew Lavery (North Belfast Harriers) and Paul Hartnett (East Cork AC), the team finished fourth with 53 points — just twelve points behind third placed Denmark.

‘We gave it our all – and we’ll have another shot at it next year’, said Griggs. ‘One of these years, I will win a medal at these championships  -— it’s the best event of the year. whenI love it.’

Bright stars for the future

In the women’s U23 race, Laura Mooney (Tullamore Harriers) , who had helped Providence College to team victory in the NCAAs only a few weeks earlier, was never far off the lead pack and finished a solid seventh.

Working her way up to 13th place was Emma McEvoy (Dundrum South Dublin AC) with Ava O’Connor  (Tullamore Harriers) helping the team  to fifth place when finishing 37th.

Surprise of the day came in the senior women’s race over 7,139m, where Niamh Allen (Leevale), making her Irish international debut at the age of twenty-nine,  led home the Irish team in 11th place.

’I’m delighted! I was hoping just to finish. The plan was to start conservatively, but when other people started to move up, I went with them’

Allen, who’s from Cork,  dabbled in athletics when a student in UCC, later joining Crusaders AC in Dublin.  Her first National Cross-Country Championships was in 2019 when she finished  23rd, improving to 11th by  2021.

When she moved to Sydney, Australia with her partner Will in 2022,  Allen continued training, recording  times of 33 mins 22 secs for 10km in July 2022 and 72:44 for the half marathon a year or so later. Back in Ireland since last April, she joined Leevale AC and, after giving birth to her first child only eleven weeks earlier, finished second  in the recent All Ireland Cross-Country Championships behind Ann Marie Glynn.

Photo: From Tilburg 2018, but you get the same vibe.

Ingebrigtsen unstoppable again

In the men’s senior race, Cormac Dalton (Mullingar Harriers), third in the Irish Seniors, ran  a solid race to finish 21st  behind a rampant Jacob Ingebrigtsen. Finishing just five seconds behind Dalton and second of the Irish was Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers) in 26th place.  Pierre Murchan (DCH) was 41st, with the scoring three backed up by Irish champion Keelan Kilrehill (Moy Valley) 53rd, William Fitzgerald (Craughwell AC) 54th  and Sean Tobin (Clonmel AC) 63rd. The team finished eighth.

In the Under 20 races, Anna Gardiner (East Down AC), who joined Laura Mooney at Providence College earlier this year,  led home the sixth-placed Irish women’s team in 19th place, with Irish champion Lucy Foster (Willowfield Harriers) just one one place – and one second – behind her in 20th  and Annabelle Morrison (Enniskillen RC) nine seconds behind again for 32nd place.

Lughaidh  Mallon, originally with Lagan Valley but 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 by a large group. Noah Harris (Parnell AC) and Jonas Stafford (UCD AC) finished only seconds behind him in 28th and 29th place. Finishing 35th was Cormac Dixon (Tallaght AC), another Irish athlete currently on athletics scholarship at Providence, followed closely by Sean Quinn (Dundrum South Dublin AC) 40th and Frank McGrath (Lagan Valley) 62nd.

‘Mrs Santa’ (Ailish Hudson of Brothers Pearse AC) leads this group at the Jingle Bells 5km in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. Photo by Noel Redican (Donore Harriers).

A teams extravaganza

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 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, with Declan Toal (North East Runners) first M50 in 15:52 and Eamonn Monaghan (Enniskillen RC) first M60 in 18:59.

Amy O’Donoghue (Dundrum South Dublin) was first woman  in 16:33. Next came Leevale pair Hannah Steed and Lizzie Lee in times of 16:36 and 16:37, with Lee also first W40. First junior woman was Rachel Ayers (St Abban’s)  in 17:39. In the masters age groups, Tara Kennedy (Raheny Shamrock) was first W50 in  20:02 and Fiona Byrne (Civil Service Harriers) first W60 in 23:09. A total of 1,348 completed the raceFull result at www.popupraces.ie

Another Christmas Classic

Michael Power (West Waterford AC) led home well over seven hundred finishers at the annual Newmarket  Christmas Classic 5km in  Co Cork on Sunday (December 8) . His time was w 14:mins 34  secs.

Finishing in the minor placings were Leevale pair Ryan Creech in 14:48 and Gavin O’Rourke in 14:50.

Shona Heaslip (An Ríocht AC) was first woman in 15:53, with Íde Nic Dhomhnaill (West Limerick AC) second in 16:23 and Niamh Moore (Leevale AC) third in 7:08.  Acting as sweepers at the back of the race were  Mallow pair Peter Gaffney first M80 and John Holland first M75.

ULTRA RUNNING

 Ciaran McGonagle  of Letterkenny AC, a native of Burtonport, Co Donegal,  finished 25th with a time of 7:14.02 in the men’s 100km at the World 100km Championships held in  Bengaluru, India on Saturday (December 7). Conditions were warm and humid. McGonagle is the Irish record holder for the distance with a time of 6:50.28 set  in March 2023.

Race winner in a stunning time of 6:12.17 was Jumpei Yamaguchi of Japan.

Ireland’s only other competitor was Olympic marathon runner Caitriona Jennings, also of Letterkenny AC who was forced to drop out of the race after eight laps in hot and humid conditions.