To start out the week Lindie Naughton brings us all of the Irish endurance motion and information from the weekend simply gone (Monday ninth December).
Nick Griggs (CNDR TC) supplied the Irish efficiency of the day at the thirtieth European Cross-Nation on the location of a demolished textile manufacturing unit complicated in Antalya, Turkey on Sunday (December 8) .
In his first look within the U23 race, Griggs narrowly didn’t catch the defending champion Will Barnicoat representing Nice Britain in a frantic chase for the road. Griggs had run a sensible race, monitoring Barnicoat and different probably winners over the factitious 5,629m course which included three ‘obstacles’, two brief, sharp hills and a stretch of sand.
A quick flat 320m stretch to the end produced loads of drama on the day together with Griggs’ heroic try and catch Barnicoat.
Regardless of courageous efforts by Niall Murphy (Ennis TC) who completed twenty third, and Callum Morgan (CNDR TC) twenty ninth, backed up by Cathal O’Reilly (Kilkenny Metropolis Harriers) thirty seventh, Mathew Lavery (North Belfast Harriers) and Paul Hartnett (East Cork AC), the group completed fourth with 53 factors — simply twelve factors behind third positioned Denmark.
‘We gave it our all – and we’ll have one other shot at it subsequent yr’, stated Griggs. ‘One in every of these years, I’ll win a medal at these championships -— it’s one of the best occasion of the yr. whenI like it.’
Vibrant stars for the longer term
In the ladies’s U23 race, Laura Mooney (Tullamore Harriers) , who had helped Windfall Faculty to group victory within the NCAAs just a few weeks earlier, was by no means far off the lead pack and completed a strong seventh.
Working her method as much as thirteenth place was Emma McEvoy (Dundrum South Dublin AC) with Ava O’Connor (Tullamore Harriers) serving to the group to fifth place when ending thirty seventh.
Shock of the day got here in the senior girls’s race over 7,139m, the place Niamh Allen (Leevale), making her Irish worldwide debut on the age of twenty-nine, led house the Irish group in eleventh place.
’I’m delighted! I hoped simply to complete. The plan was to start out conservatively, however when different folks began to maneuver up, I went with them’
Allen, who’s from Cork, dabbled in athletics when a scholar in UCC, later becoming a member of Crusaders AC in Dublin. Her first Nationwide Cross-Nation Championships was in 2019 when she completed twenty third, enhancing to eleventh by 2021.
When she moved to Sydney, Australia along with her associate Will in 2022, Allen continued coaching, recording instances of 33 minutes 22 secs for 10km in July 2022 and 72:44 for the half marathon a yr or so later. Again in Eire since final April, she joined Leevale AC and, after giving beginning to her first youngster solely eleven weeks earlier, completed second within the latest All Eire Cross-Nation Championships behind Ann Marie Glynn.
Photograph: From Tilburg 2018, however you get the identical vibe.
Ingebrigtsen unstoppable once more
In the boys’s senior race, Cormac Dalton (Mullingar Harriers), third within the Irish Seniors, ran a strong race to complete twenty first behind a rampant Jacob Ingebrigtsen. Ending simply 5 seconds behind Dalton and second of the Irish was Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers) in twenty sixth place. Pierre Murchan (DCH) was forty first, 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 group completed eighth.
In the Underneath 20 races, Anna Gardiner (East Down AC), who joined Laura Mooney at Windfall Faculty earlier this yr, led house the sixth-placed Irish girls’s group in nineteenth place, with Irish champion Lucy Foster (Willowfield Harriers) only one one place – and one second – behind her in twentieth and Annabelle Morrison (Enniskillen RC) 9 seconds behind once more for thirty second place.
Lughaidh Mallon, initially with Lagan Valley however at the moment working with UCD AC, was only a few seconds off the highest twenty in the boys’s U20 race when he completed twenty sixth after a scramble for the road by a big group. Noah Harris (Parnell AC) and Jonas Stafford (UCD AC) completed solely seconds behind him in twenty eighth and twenty ninth place. Ending thirty fifth was Cormac Dixon (Tallaght AC), one other Irish athlete at the moment on athletics scholarship at Windfall, adopted carefully by Sean Quinn (Dundrum South Dublin AC) fortieth and Frank McGrath (Lagan Valley) 62nd.
‘Mrs Santa’ (Ailish Hudson of Brothers Pearse AC) leads this group on the Jingle Bells 5km in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. Photograph by Noel Redican (Donore Harriers).
A groups extravaganza
Regardless of storm Darragh, membership athletes from throughout Dublin an additional 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!
A powerful 206 groups lined out for the race with many golf equipment getting into a number of groups. Amongst them have been the Lucan Harriers, Dundrum South Dublin and Crusaders girls with 9 groups every, the Brothers Pearse girls with eight, Sportsworld and Rathfarnham WSAF with six every, Civil Service Harriers with 5, Metro St Brigid’s with 4 and Waterstown Warriors with three. Cork raiders Leevale completed better of the girls’s groups forward of Dublin Metropolis Harriers and Dundrum South Dublin.
Of the 120 males’s groups Metro St Brigid’s entered a large ten, carefully adopted by Dundrum South Dublin and Crusaders AC each with 9. Dunboyne AC entered eight groups, whereas host membership Donore Harriers, Civil Service Harriers and Brothers Pearse all entered six groups. Lusk AC had entered 5 groups, and Raheny Shamrock AC and Dublin Entrance Runners 4 apiece.
From outdoors Dublin, Galway Metropolis Harriers arrived with two groups. Winners have been host membership Donore Harriers, adopted by Clonliffe Harriers and Raheny Shamrock.
Individually John Travers, a race common, once more made it a house win for Donore, ending in 15 minutes 5 secs.
Stephen Cashin (Clonliffe Harriers) was second in 15:12 and Vinny Connolly (Raheny Shamrock AC) third in 15:14. In a detailed battle between the junior males, Charlie O’Neill in 15:18 simply held off Benjamin Caullier (Lucan Harriers) and Cian Gorham (Raheny Shamrock) within the chase for the the road.
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 girl in 16:33. Subsequent got here Leevale pair Hannah Steed and Lizzie Lee in instances of 16:36 and 16:37, with Lee additionally first W40. First junior girl was Rachel Ayers (St Abban’s) in 17:39. Within the masters age teams, Tara Kennedy (Raheny Shamrock) was first W50 in 20:02 and Fiona Byrne (Civil Service Harriers) first W60 in 23:09. A complete of 1,348 accomplished the raceFull outcome at www.popupraces.ie
One other Christmas Basic
Michael Energy (West Waterford AC) led house properly over seven hundred finishers at the annual Newmarket Christmas Basic 5km in Co Cork on Sunday (December 8) . His time was w 14:minutes 34 secs.
Ending within the minor placings have been Leevale pair Ryan Creech in 14:48 and Gavin O’Rourke in 14:50.
Shona Heaslip (An Ríocht AC) was first girl in 15:53, with Íde Nic Dhomhnaill (West Limerick AC) second in 16:23 and Niamh Moore (Leevale AC) third in 7:08. Performing as sweepers in the back of the race have been Mallow pair Peter Gaffney first M80 and John Holland first M75.
ULTRA RUNNING
Ciaran McGonagle of Letterkenny AC, a local of Burtonport, Co Donegal, completed twenty fifth with a time of seven:14.02 within the males’s 100km at the World 100km Championships held in Bengaluru, India on Saturday (December 7). Situations have been heat and humid. McGonagle is the Irish document holder for the gap with a time of 6:50.28 set in March 2023.
Race winner in a shocking time of 6:12.17 was Jumpei Yamaguchi of Japan.
Eire’s solely different competitor was Olympic marathon runner Caitriona Jennings, additionally of Letterkenny AC who was compelled to drop out of the race after eight laps in sizzling and humid circumstances.
