All posts in 10K Road Race

The first round of the Dublin Marathon Race series took place today at Grange Castle, the South Dublin 10k. David Flynn took a fine win in 32.02. There was a very good Clonliffe contingent of over 20 in the race:

Clonliffe`s Valdas Dopolskas was 4th in an international 10k Road Race in Copenhagen, Denmark tonight. Valdas recorded a time of 30.41 in windy conditions some 16 seconds behind the winner with splits of 15.35 and 15.06.

A big thank you to the Clonliffe crew who answered the Captain`s call and assisted at last night`s Night Run. A great professional job by all concerned.

Rust of course never sleeps so……any chance that anyone not running the Clonliffe 2 on Thursday please help out on the night. Please report to the club house at 7.15pm for briefing and allocation of posts.

At today`s big 10k road race, which included the National 10k Chmpionships, the Great Ireland Run in a wet Phoenix Park Sergiu Ciobanu was 4th and 3rd in the Championships in 30.23. In a tight finish Manx visitor Oliver Lockley was the race winner in 30.11 and in the “National” there was a blanket finish with Brian Maher (KCH) 1st in 30.20, Mick Clohisey (Raheny) 2nd 30.22 and Sergiu a further second in arrears.

Other Clonliffe: Tom Sherlock 33.52, Patrick Davaren 35.23, David Mullen 36.50,  Stephen Bateson 41.35.                                                                  At last night’s Patsey Kelly 5k Gary O’Hanlon completed his London Marathon preparations with a win in 15.07.

As we come to the end of the festive period it`s time for a catch up on recent results. At this morning`s Tom Brennan 5k in the Phoenix Park Mark Kenneally was 6th in 16.09. Declan Murray ran 20.38 and Kerri Page 21.23.

Last week Maurice McCrohan ran 43.10 to place 3rd O/50 in the Fat Turkey Run, a tough hilly 10k in Sutton on December 27th.

Just before Christmas the 34th Malahide O`Rourke Shield 5k took place in Malahide Castle grounds, 1st Adam Thompson-Ahern, 2nd Liam Hennessy, 3rd Declan Murray. Fastest was Philip O`Doherty 19.11, with Aimee Ahern fastest woman (21.06)

New year`s resolution for all club members: If you race, please let me know that day (it`s pointless telling me 3 days later!): name, event, time and place by text 0879599888 or noel.guiden@behans.ie. The more information we have to share the better this web site becomes…..please keep it flowing!

Weekend round up. Saturday December 9th David Flynn won the Aware 10k Road Race in the Phoenix Park by well over a minute in 32.19. Dave Brady was 9th (37.11).

Shane Rooney Reports on Fingal 10k July 23rd (apologies for delay in posting): “There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirt. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.” Napoleon Bonaparte

One could feel spirits were high on a mixture of adrenaline and excitement as over 40 members from Clonliffe Harries, along with over 3000 others athletes, readied themselves to conquer the first race of the 2017 Race Series. Before the start a special mention was giving to the inaugural Clonolympics, an event which will become the envy of many rival clubs.

For some club members it was the first time to run as part of Clonliffe Harriers, for others it was an opportunity to wear the black & amber singlet with pride.   The morning started a little damp, but quickly cleared to result in a warm morning, which made conditions a little difficult and heavy. The course itself is often underestimated as it has many challenging sections, including the incline through the village, the heavy going along the dual-carriageway and the humid conditions through the north county Dublin countryside.  However, none of these challenges stopped the Clonliffers from showing that the spirit is mightier than the Sword(s), with many achieving PBs.

First home for Clonliffe was David Brady in a time of 35:51 and he was quickly followed by Conor Keane and Matt McGuinness. There was a tight race between Anto “New Boy” Doran and Dermot “Fresh Prince” Faughnan who were the 4^th and 5^th Clonliffers home. Anto, having utilized Dermot’s height for shelter, came across the line 2 secs ahead in a PB time of 37:33.  Stephen Tracey continues to smash his own times, achieving a new PB in a time of 39:12. Both Stephen “Foodie” Doyle and Alex Eustace ran amazing races, pacing themselves perfectly from the start and picking up the speed to the finish, both achieved PBs with times of 40:16 and 41:09 respectively. What was especially great was seeing Alex regaining full mobility after the Limerick marathon.

Declan “Don’t Stop Me Now” Grant charged home in a new 10K PB time of 41:55 and he was closely followed by the Clonliffe Wolf pack of Aisling Andrews (new PB), Shane Rooney, Emma Cooper, Mick Gleeson, Colm Leonard, Alan Curley and Maura Matthew, all finishing within seconds of each other and proving the team who work together finish strong together with no one being left behind.

The PBs kept coming;

Laura “Huggie” Kernan shaved 5 seconds of her previous best time by storming up the hill in 42:55,

Ciara “Mind the Car” O’Regan, took 2 mins of her previous 10K time, with a time of 47 mins,

Melissa Curran, proving that she’s getting stronger, clocked a new PB time of 47:12.

Joanne “Healing Hands” McCabe cruised home in a time of 50:24.

A special shout out to Orla “Smiler” Deighan, who completed her first 10k in a time of 49:19 and to the newest member of the crew, Philp Richards, who marched home in a time of 52:34.

Of course, as with every race, questions are left to be answered;

1. Will Dermot refuse to shelter Anto in the future?
2. How high can Aideen O’Connor jump?
3. How much did the fear of missing her flight influence Aisling Andrews?
4. How did Mark Dowling clone himself and cheer in 3 spots
5. Who has Emma Cooper’s singlet?
6. Will Niall Markey hunt down the guy who stole 3 seconds from him.I’ll leave you with a quote Aideen “Darby O’Gill” O’Connor, taking part in the Fingal 10K is “about appreciating the fact that I can run and how much I love it”.

   Run with pride and until next time, keep digging in. (Shane Rooney)