The Clonliffe Harriers senior men made it 6th Dublin cross country title in a row in City West this afternoon. Making it a golden day for the club both the U/20 women and U/20 men also won their respect Dublin Championships – indeed both squads also took U/19 juvenile gold.
For the senior men there was a terrific Clonliffe Harriers entry with some 21 black and amber clad athletes taking to the start line for the 7500m race. The course itself was superb, good grass coverage and indeed a testing course with many rolling hills. From the off it was apparent that a battle royal was in the offing between Clonliffe and DSD, over the early stages both clubs had 3 athletes in the lead pack. Halfway through the pack started to break apart, Ian Guiden was pushing the pace with Stephen Cashin for company, coming through next was Mahad Egaal, Fintan Kerins and Sergiu Ciobanu. A lap later things had changed as Stephen took over the lead duties with Ian slipping back into 4th, and then on the final lap another change as Rathfarnham’s David Scanlon hit the front having come through the field superbly, to win the Dublin title. Stephen battled gamely and took an excellent Dublin silver with Ian 4th, closely followed by Fintan Kerins in 5th, 10th was Sergiu, completing the scoring 4, with Mahad a mere second later in 11th, 6th scorer was Sean Carrigg 17th.
The rest of the pack all put in solid runs: 18th Sean Heaslip Owens, 21st Cathal McHale, 22nd Sean O’Leary, 23rd Sean Doran, 27th Eoin Maguire, 28th Daragh Carter, 29th Mark McDonald, 30th Tom Sherlock, 42nd Jack Woods, 43rd Evan Lynch, 44th Niall Sherlock, 47th Ian McAweeney, 51st Ronan Donohue, 52nd Andrew Gaffney, 58 Ryan Sheridan.
The team proudly accepted the Padraig Keane Memorial cup from Padraig’s wife Mary. Padraig of course was one of the legendary athletes in Clonliffe’s long and storied history. The team with a total of 21 points winning by a margin of 4 points over DSD with Rathfarnham 3rd on 60 points
The senior women battled gamely. Unfortunately the squad has been hit very badly in recent times with unavailabilities – immigration being the primary reason, also a number of injuries had resources stretched almost threadbare. The 5 athletes however gave it their all led home in 13th by Jools Hughes, 16th Sarah Bateson, 18th after an outstanding run, Alanna Burke, 24th Katie Halpin and 26th Chloe Heaslip. The team finished out of the medals in 4th position. This team is long overdue a change in fortunes, once that comes better days lie ahead. DCH were comfortable winners on 14 points, Dundrum 2nd on 35, Raheny 3rd on 46 with the Clonliffe girls 4th on 71 points.
There was also a very big Clonliffe entry in the men’s U/20 race, again another battle royal ensued with DSD. With DSD’s first two runners home in 1st and 4th positions, before Clonliffe 1st runner had reached the finish line things didn’t look too rosy, to say the least! Matei Ursachi took 6th place, and then simply superb packing: Sean Cronin 7th, Tom Breslin 8th, Lorcan Benjacar 9th, for a team total of 30 points. DSD likewise had 30 points however on count back it was a Clonliffe win, Donore Harriers took 3rd. The Clonliffe U/19 team (both races being incorporated in the same race) also took gold, the same 4 scorers, ahead of Donore Harriers and DSD.
The rest of the squad also performed superbly: 15th Harry Bogan, 16th Cillian Keegan, 17th Leon Brady, 22nd Aidan Benjacar, 3rd Jack Quinn, 24th Finbar Coughlan, 26th Devan Morrisey, 29th Oran McGowan, 32nd Harry Lynam, 35th Aaron Murray.
It was also a great day for the U/20 women’s team with a Clonliffe one, two. Emily Bolton took 1st position ahead of Lorraine O’Connor. Hazel Kenny was 5th and with Maya O’Reilly taking 14th for a team score of 22 the girls were well clear of second-place Lucan Harriers. Lorraine took U/19 gold and with Hazel and Mya, making up the U/19 scoring 3 Clonliffe took gold with a team total of 21 points, 2nd Lucan 29 points, 3rd Donore 33 points.
Next up it’s the small matter of the nationals in Enniskillen on November 17.