To start the week Lindie Naughton brings us all the Irish endurance action and news from the weekend just gone (Monday 27th May).

Road performance of the week came on Tuesday (May 21)  when Pierre Murchan (Dublin City Harriers) made  it four wins from four outings in the Peugeot Series when winning the Bob Heffernan and Mary Hanley 5km,  in Enfield, Co Meath,

Although he must have felt slightly weary after his victory in  the Tullamore  round of the series just two days earlier, Murchan, already winner of Series 1,  still nailed down a solid victory in 14 mins 27 secs. He  was taking home the top prize of €1,500 with a race to spare Conor Duffy (Glaslough Harriers) was second in 14.41 – just making the line ahead of Aaron Hanlon (Drogheda and District AC) who was given the same time in third place.

First woman was junior athlete Emma  McEvoy of Dundrum South Dublin in 16 minutes exactly McEvoy,  recently returned from injury,  held off the challenge of her club mate Grace Lynch, second in 16:08 . Next came  Tullamore Harriers sisters, Nadine and Danielle Donegan who finished in 16: 12 and 16:13  respectively. In the team competition, DSD won both the men and women’s categories as well as the overall mixed category for the series.

* The Dunshaughlin 10km (sold out!)  is the final race in Series 1. After that, the distances get longer for the next four races.

Some runaway winners

David Rooney (Raheny Shamrock AC) was the winner of the LSA Peninsula 4-Mile in Donabate, Co Dublin, on Sunday (May 26).

Rooney finished well clear of the field in 20 mins 15 secs. Second in 21:59 was Anthony Brady (Coolock RC) while third in 22:16 was Pearse Ryan (Donore Harriers).  First woman in 26:45 was Katie Halpin (Clonliffe Harriers) . Geraldine McHale (Lusk AC) was second in 27:08 and Aneta Maher third in 27:46.

Runaway winner of the Wilkinstown 5km in  Co Meath was Peter Somba (Ratoath AC)   in a time of 15 mins 32 secs. Second and first woman in 17:40 was Nicola Sheridan, while third in  18:12 was Evan Scully.

In Co Meath, Tom Feely (Trim AC, M40) in 27:17 and U16 athlete Emily Fagan in 34:27 were the winners at the Culmullen Run 5-Mile. 

Louis McCarthy (Rathfarnham WSAF AC, M40) was the winner of the Newry City 10km in a time of 32 mins 32 secs. First woman in 38:07 was Kate Mulholland (St Peter’s AC). In the half marathon the winners were Andy Nevin in 71:22 and Sinead Murtagh (Newcastle AC, W40)  in 87:29.

Winners of the Marconi 5-Mile were Stephen McAuley (Ballycastle Runners AC)  in 27:12 and Veronica Nellins (Ballymena and Antrim AC, W40) in 35:33.

ESB BHAA Beach 5km – winner Aidan Jones, Photo- Lindie Naughton

And here are some we ran earlier…

On a perfect evening for the race, Aidan Jones made it a home win for organising club ESB at the annual ESB BHAA Beach 5km,  on Dublin’s Sandymount strand, where the going was relatively firm.

Jones, who led the race from early on,  finished in 17 mins 3 secs. Second and first woman was Laura McDonnell  in 17:48 while third in 18:05 was Colm Murray of the Media team. In the team categories,  ESB won both Grades 1 and 2.

Many super-veteran stalwarts of BHAA running  had signed up for the run – among them Davey Byrne,  Irene Walsh, Eileen O’Brien, Joe Delaney, June Comiskey, Mary Kelly, Ciaran McGrath  and Matt Cooley; all of them over 60 – at least! – and an inspiration to the rest of us!

Next BHAA race is the Dunboyne 10km on Tuesday May 28.

Junior athlete  Diarmuid Fagan (Mullingar Harriers) was  a comfortable winner at the final round of  the  Pat Finnerty 5km Woodland Trail League held at Belvedere House, near Mullingar on Wednesday (May 22).  His time was 15:43. Fourth and first woman in 16:39 was Laura Kincaid.

Overall  winners of the series were James Keegan  and Sinead Whitelaw both of them members of the local club, Mullingar Harriers.

Declan Ferry in 15:09 and  Bernie Boyle in 18:56, both of them members of Rosses AC, were the winners at the Ayr Hill NS 5km in Ramelton, Co Donegal, on Thursday (May 23).

Declan Moore, winner of the Kilmallock road race, receiving the Jim Hogan Perpetual Cup from Mary Murphy, sister of the late Jim. Also pictured is Mary’s husband Donal. Photo: John Walshe

Racing the roads of Munster (by John Walshe)

On Friday night, on the week that Kilmallock welcomed the riders on the first stage of this year’s Rás Tailteann, the local athletic club staged its annual four-mile road race.

In ideal conditions, Declan Moore (Bilboa AC) was an impressive winner,  with his time of 19:31 giving him over a minute on runner-up, Karl Lenihan  (West Limerick) who finished in 20:41), with Killian Lynch from the same club third in 20:49.

Making it a Bilboa double was Pamela Kirby, who was first woman’s race in 24:41 followed by Dooneen pair Sinead McDermott  second in 27:28  and Louise Matthews third in 27:55.

Along with his prize, Moore received the Jim Hogan Perpetual Cup in memory of the locally-born runner who famously won the 1966 European Marathon while representing Great Britain.

Presenting the cup was Mary Murphy, a sprightly 92-year-old sister of the late Jim.

Also on Friday, the Ardmore 5-mile recorded the second-highest turnout in its 27-year history with a total of 226 runners. A repeat of the Cheetah Run 5km the week before saw the honours going to Sergiu Ciobanu (Clonliffe Harriers) and Kealy Tideswell (Clonmel).

Ciobanu had 12 seconds to spare over Mark Walsh (Leevale AC)  when winning in 25:06 with Pat Fitzgerald (Waterford AC) third in 25:59.

Tideswell continued her winning ways  with her 28:34 time  over two minutes quicker than Sarah Mulcahy  (St Catherine’s AC) who finished in 31:37. Third went to unattached runner Emma Leahy in 32:17.

On a busy evening, Friday also saw the Walls of Fethard 5km taking place in Tipperary, with Mossy Bracken (Moycarkey-Coolcroo AC)  in 15:17 having a close win over local Emmet McNamara, in 15:20, with third going to Dermot Gorman (Carrick-on-Suir) in 15:57.

Dympna Ryan ( Bilboa AC) , fifth overall, was the women’s winner in 17:11 from Sharon Kiely (Thurles-Crokes), 18:18, with Ruby Carroll (Clonmel) third in 19:47.

Record turnout for the BHAA

There was a record turnout of over a thousand finishers for the annual John Buckley Sports Cork BHAA 5km held on its traditional Tuesday evening (May 21) and now  on the go for over thirty years. With 24 breaking 16 minutes, the standard was also high.

Two runners fresh from setting 1500m PBs took the honours, with victories going to Darragh Mulcahy and Holly Carroll. While Mulcahy – who ran 4:00.82 at Santry in the Crusaders meet – has also been to the fore on the road with a victory at the Pfizer six-mile, Carroll was somewhat of a surprise winner.

The 20-year-old Blarney-Inniscarra athlete set her 1500m best of 4:26.71 at Belfast earlier in the month and her time on the Marina course of 16:38 saw her cross the line with 20 seconds to spare over Sinead O’Connor who was making a welcome return to competition.

However, since Carroll wasn’t registered with Cork BHAA for the race,  it was O’Connor (Dept of Education) who received the first prize. Michelle Kenny, also Dept of Education, maintained her consistent form to finish third in 17:31 with Nadine Forde (Cork UH) in fourth receiving the third prize.

The top three men were all inside 15 minutes with Mulcahy (Pfizer) first in 14:46 from Jeremiah Sheehan (Dept of Education), 14:51, and Shane Collins (Apple) 14:59.

Photo: James Rhodes

Irish athletes on tour!

Ciara Mageean  (City of Lisburn AC) improved her her own Irish 800m record when running a time of 1:58.51 for second place at the BMC Meet in Manchester on Saturday (May 25). Ahead of her was  17 year old Phoebe Gill who ran a sub -55 sec first lap and held on to finish in 1:58.08.

Just two weeks earlier, Gill had run 1:57.86 in Belfast. Finishing fourth behind the pair of them was Sarah Healy with a personal best time of 2:00.86. Not a bad start to the outdoor season for both Mageean and Healy.

A large Irish contingent travelled to Belgium for the annual IFAM Outdoors in Brussels over the weekend, where on Saturday, John Travers (Donore Harriers) ran a time of 13:43.21 for third in his 5,000m heat. Pierre Murchan (DCH AC) ran a personal best 13:45.36  to finish sixth behind Travers and Callum Morgan (CNDR) a PB 13:46.55 for eighth place.

Cathal Doyle (Clonliffe Harriers)  finished second in his men’s 1500m heat in in 3:36.14;Nick Griggs (CNDR) was ninth in 3:38.46. Doyle ha

Across the Atlantic Ocean, Sophie O’Sullivan (Ballinamore Cobh AC)  clocked a time of 4:09.61 for 1500m  at the  NCAA West qualifiers in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Saturday (May 25). In the NCAA East qualifiers, in Lexington, Kentucky Laura Nicholson (Bandon AC) ran a PB 4:11.49 for 1500, also on Saturday, while Charlie O’Donovan (Leevale AC) finished seventh in the men’s 1500m in 3:39.99.

Earlier in the week, in Castellón, Spain, Mark English (Finn Valley AC)  won the men’s 800m in a season’s best time of 1:45.85 on Tuesday (May 22) . On Friday, Georgie Hartigan (DSD AC) finished fifth in the 800m with a time of 2:03.85 at a meet in Gorzów Wielkopolski.

At the Meeting Stanislas in Tomblaine, France, on Saturday (May 25) Luke McCann (Dublin City Harriers) finished ninth in a closely-fought  1500m with a time of 3:37.27 .It was his opening race of the season.  Six Irish athletes have run times of under 3 mins 40 secs so far this season.

Dublin Graded Meet, – 10,000m champion David Troy (Lucan Harriers). Photo: Lindie Naughton

Local track and field

At the Leinster Track and Field Championships held in Carlow on Saturday (May 25), Sadhbh Mohan (Metro St Brigid’sAC) won a thrilling women’s senior 1500m in 4:40.72, holding off the challenge of her sister Aisling who finished  second in 4:41.03,  with Aoife Coffey (Lucan Harriers)  third in 4:41.03 and Kate McDonald (Ballyroan and District) fourth in 4:42.07.

Winning the men’s 1500m was Jack McMahon (Ballyroan and District)  in 4:09.33.

David Troy (Lucan Harriers) struck out early and was rewarded with a Dublin Championships for the 10,000m which was held as part of the third Dublin Graded Track meet of the season on Wednesday evening (May 22).

Troy finished in a persoanl best 31:9.35 seconds. Second in 33:46.05 was Geoffrey Alexandre (Liffey Valley) with Daniel O’Brien (Lusk AC) a close third in 33:46.75. The pair had run together for most of the race.

Also taking place were mile races with Clonliffe clubmates Niall Carbery and Sean Heaslip Owens battling it out in the fastest of the races. Carbery finished in 4:36.65 with Owens clocked at 4:36.6.  Fastest of the women was Karen Hayes (Ratoath AC )  in 5:32.07.

Hills

Seán Quirke (Bilboa, M45) was the winner of the Slievenamon  mountain race in Co Tipperary on Sunday (May 26) clocking a time of 43 mins 14 secs for the 8km race with 580m of climb. First woman was Kealey Tideswell (Clonmel AC,W40) in 46.19.

In Co Wicklow on the same day, Peter Bell (Kilcoole AC, M40) clocked a time of 2 hrs 59 mins 6 secs for the Circuit of Avonbeg, where the race distance was 25.5km with 1,345m of climb.

Brian Furey (Brothers Pearse M40) was second in 2:59.59 and John Bell (Slí Cualann, M45) third in 3:00.12. First woman was Becky Quinn (W50) in 3:24.11. Orla McEvoy (W40) was second in 3:55.34 and Ivana Kolaric (W40) third in 4:14.37.

A day earlier  in the Mournes, Tom Crudgingham (Newcastle and District AC) won the Pat Dunbar Memorial (Leitrim Lodge) mountain race with a time of   67 mins exactly for the 13km race with 682m of climb.  Second in 67.25 was Keith Johnston (Armagh AC) while third in 68:24 was Ashley Crutchley (Newcastle and District AC).

First woman was Esther Dickson in 82 mins 27 secs, followed by Tanya Cummings (Newcastle and District AC, W40) in 83:43 and Ciara Ryan (W45) 94:56. The race was round seven of the NI Mountain Running Association Championships.