To start the week Lindie Naughton brings us all the Irish endurance action and news from the weekend just gone (Monday 2nd September)

At the Paralympic Games in Paris, 20-year-old Shauna Bocquet (Craughwell AC) who was making her Paralympic debut,  finished eighth  with a time of 11:50.85 in the T54 5000m wheelchair final on Saturday (August 31). Bocquet had comfortably qualified from the heats on  Friday.

In the final,  she had collided with Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper on the first bend, with the race restarted as a result.

In the T13 1500m, Greta Streimikyte  (UCD AC ), competing in her third Paralympic Games finished a frustrating fourth. Streimikyte, now aged 29,  had also finished fourth on her first Paralympic outing in 2016 and fifth three years ago at the Tokyo games.  Her time of 4:32.28  was a season’s best  and broke her own European record.

In Italy on Friday (August 30), Sarah Healy (UCD AC) finished eighth in the women’s 1500m at the Diamond League Rome with her time of 3:58.42 her second fastest ever.

Road running

Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe) ran a superb time of  22 mins 57 secs to win the Lucan 5-Mile in Dublin on Sunday (September1), with his time smashing the course record of 24.12

Gidey was out on his own from the start of the race, and by the finish, was almost two minutes clear of the chasers led by Juan Ignacio Peña (Raheny Shamrock AC) in 25:02.

Third in 25:29 was prolific racer Sean Doran (Clonliffe Harriers) who was running his third race in ‘half a week’. ‘I missed two years through injury so I’m making up for lost time!’, he said after the race. Finishing fourth in 25:44 was Northern Ireland visitor Jimmy Sloan (Annadale Striders). Fifth and first M40 was Cillian O’Leary (Raheny Shamrock AC)  in 25:57.

Faye Dervan (Dublin City Harriers) was first woman in 28:07, with Kate Purcell (Raheny Shamrock W40) second in 28:40 and Amy Pollman Daaman (An Ríocht AC) third in 29:14

A clear winner of the men’s open team title (three to count) was the Clonliffe trio of Gidey, Doran and Paul Keenan with 18 points. In the battle for second place Civil Service Harriers beat Raheny Shamrock  by a single point.  The same three clubs won the Dublin senior title, with four results counting; Brian O’Reilly was the fourth  counting finisher for Clonliffe.

Liffey Valley packed well to take the women’s open team title with Aifrid Gallagher, Shauna Dunne and Orla Gordon the counting trio. Clonliffe Harriers was second and Love2Run  just three points behind for third.

At the Craughwell 10 Mile and 10km in Co Galway,  Barry Hartnett (Dundrum AC, M40) won the 10-mile in 55:20, with Karl Lenihan (West Limerick AC, M40) second in 55:45 and Michael Flanagan (Galway City Harriers M40) third in 57:29. Emma Boyle was first woman in 64:01. Jane-Ann Healy Meehan (Galway City Harriers, W40) was second in 64:16 and Eimear O’Leary (Galway City Harriers, W40) third in 67:00.  In the 10km, the winners were  Damien Carter in 34:13 and Deirdre Gibbons (Galway City Harriers, W40) in 44:20.

City of Derry Spartans double victory

In Derry, Kyle Doherty (City of Derry Spartans, M35) was the winner of the Waterside Half Marathon a in a time of 71 mins 20 secs. Second in 73:21 was  his clubmate Allan Bogle, who was also first M40, while third in 74:12 was Gary Slevin (Foyle Valley AC) 74:12.

Making it a double for City of Derry Spartans was Judith Storm, the women’s winner  in 82:38.  Second in 91:13 was Kirsty Downey (Inishowen AC) in 91:13, while third in 93:50 was Linda McGrath (Lifford Strabane AC). Foyle Valley teams finished first and second in the relay which attracted a large entry of 106. The winning  time was 80 mins 53 secs.

Brhane Gebrebrhan (Annadale Striders)was the winner of  a closely-fought  Laganside 10km in Belfast, also on Sunday. Gebrebrhan  finished just  two seconds clear of Conall McClean (CNDR ) with the pair timed at 30:31 and 30:33. Third in 30:43 was Craig McMeechan (North Down AC).

First woman was Gladys Ganiel (North Belfast Harriers, W45) in 36:27.  Sarah Grant  (North Down AC, W35) was second in 39:54 and Louise Smith (North Belfast Harriers, W50) third in 40:15. A total of 995 completed the race.

Two more half marathons to come

Colin Maher (BallyfinAC) was the winner of the Tullamore Half Marathon, on Saturday (August 31) in a time of 69 mins 5 secs. Paul Mitchell (Tullamore Harriers) was second in 71:05 and Mick Fogarty (Ferbane AC, M40) a fighting third in 71:16.  Ciara Wilson (DMP AC) was first woman in 80:41.

Sally Forristal (St Joseph’s AC) was second in 82:22 and  Emma Furey ( St LOT, W35) third in 84:55. First wheelchair finisher was Mark Nugent in 71:21.

First of the men’s teams (with four to count) was host club Tullamore Harriers. Raheny Shamrock, led by Robert Frewen  in tenth place, was second and Mullingar Harriers third. In the Leinster Championships, with just three to count for a team,   Tullamore was first,  Raheny second and Trim AC third (tbc).Mullingar Harriers won the women’s team title ahead of Tullamore Harriers and Athlone AC. In the Leinster Championships, Mullingar and Tullamore were first and second. Crusaders AC, led by Ciara Regan, finished third.

At the Waterford Greenway Half Marathon, from Kilmacthomas to Ballinroad, Co Waterford,  Conor O’Brien (Dooneen AC) was the winner, closely followed by Pat Fitzgerald (Waterford AC) in 71:10 and Aidan Connell (West Waterford AC, M40) in 71:36.  Katie Wilson (DMP AC) was first woman in 82:25. Kate Veale (West Waterford AC) second in 87:02 and Keely O’Reilly third in 88:28.

Weekday evening races

Peter Somba (Ratoath AC) was the winner  of the Tara 5km, Skryne, Co Meath on Friday (August 30) , inn a time of 15 mins 21 secs. Sean Doran (Clonliffe Harriers) was second in 15:29 and Sean O’Connor (Dunshaughlin AC) third in 15:53.  Fifth and first M40 was John Dunne (Raheny Shamrock AC) in 16:29.

First woman was Susan Glennon (Mullingar Harriers) in 18:55. Leona O’Reilly  (W40)was second in 19:09 and Louise Bailey (Na Fianna, W40) third in 19:19.

Jordan Heron (Larne AC) was the winner of the GRC Coastal 5km, Branch Road, Carnlough, on Thursday (August 29) by over a minute in a time of 15:04. Lynette Kinney (Ballycastle Runners) was first woman in 18:06.

Winner of the fourth and fastest race at the Dunboyne Track 5000m meet in Co Meath on Thursday (August 29) was Rhys Johnson (Donore Harriers)in 15:39. Local athlete Ethan McDonald (Dunboyne AC) was second in 16:57 and Reuben Whelan  (Kilcoole AC) third in 7:07. Fastest woman was Eimear English (Dunboyne AC) in 18:20.

Sean Doran and Laura McDonnell were the winners at the BMS Ireland  BHAA 5km,  which was held on the all too rarely used National Cross-Country course at Abbotstown on Wednesday (August 28).

Doran finished  the hilly course in 16 mins 13 secs with  McDonnell fourth overall in 18:36.  Winning the women’s team prize was Bank of Ireland. Revenue won men’s grade 1and Eir grade 2. The course will be used again for the Snap Jerry Kiernan Foundation 6km on Sunday September 8 (10am). Register at www.bhaa.ie. Newcomers welcome!

Winner of the fourth and final round of the Longford 5km Trail Series held in Newcastle Woods,  were Rian McCaffrey in 17:27 and Gemma Kenny in 19:56. The pair had also won in the third round.

Master athlete Michael Harty led home a massive entry of 473 at the inaugural Cork BHAA Amazon 5km,  held in Cork’s Tramore Valley Park, on Wednesday evening (August 28).

Harty finished in 15 mins 11 secs, followed by  guest runner Barry Donovan in 15:47 and Barry Twohig  in 15:50. Michelle Kenny was first woman in 17:45, with Kate Veale second in 18:18 and Saoirse Twomey third in 18:36.

In the team categories, UCC were winners in men’s grade A with the Department of Education best of the women.  Winners in the B grade were the MTU men and the  MSD Brinny women’s team. In Grade C, Dell Technologies took the mens’ prizes with UCD best of the women.

Photo: WMRA/Marco Gulberti

Mountain running

Irish mountain running international Sarah McCormack finished 10th in the World Cup Nasego vertical race in Casto,  Italy  on Saturday. Her  time was  46 mins 49 secs.  In the masters’ categories, Ian Conroy (Raheny Shamrock AC) was first M40 (MA?)in 40 mins 16 secs, while Dee Collins (Ennis TC) was second W40  (MA?)in 57:05.

A day later in the classic Trofeo Nasego, where Kenyans Patrick Kipngeno and Joyce Muthoni took the wins,  Matthew McConnell (Ballyroan Abbeyleix and District) finished 33rd in a time of 1 hr 55 mins 57 secs for the 21.5km course. Enda Cloake (Slaney Olympic)  was 42nd in 2:01.32, Nick Hogan 51st in 2:05.49, and Henry Brown 81st in 2:23.23

Of the women, Lisa Hegarty was 19th in 2:16.09, Aoife Courtney 24th  in 2:27.56 and Dee Collins 24 and first W40 in 2:30.30.

Ultra running

A large group of Irish ultra runners were in the France  over the past week competing over various distances at the Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc festival in the Chamonix area of the French, Italian and Swiss Alps. In the TDS 100mile/148km  race from Courmayeur,  with 9,306m of climb, Ricki Wynne from Drumshanbo finished 21st  and fifth M40 in 23 hrs 16 mins 3 secs.  In the same race, Jan Corcoran finished fifth W45 in 34:34.22.

Competing in the PTL  teams race which took in  a 305km course with 24,765m of climb from Chamonix was a team of Eoin Keith, Richard Nunan and Thure Kjaer. They took 130 hrs 38 mins in total to complete the course, starting on Monday August 26 and finishing on Friday August 30.