DUBLIN MASTERS CROSS-COUNTRY 2024
A massive 464 finished the Dublin Masters Cross-Country Championships, held over four races at St Anne’s Park, Raheny on Sunday (January 7). First up were the over 50 women and the over 65 men who raced just three kilometres and were unlucky enough to endure the only rain of the day. A clear overall winner was Annette Kealy of Raheny Shamrock AC. Kealy, who was also first W55, pushed the pace from the start and beat all the men as well as the women, finishing in 12 mins 19 secs. Second and first M65 was Michael Walsh of Brothers Pearse, while third was Sean Doyle of Rathfarnham WSAF. Tom Loftus of Raheny Shamrock AC was just a second behind for fourth overall and third M65. Fifth overall and second woman was Breda Smyth of Lucan Harriers, who was also first W50. An impressive first W65 was Mary Browne of Lucan Harriers who was eleventh woman; first W60 was Fiona Byrne of Civil Service Harriers; a revived club that was out in force. First W70 was Mary Lynch of Raheny Shamrock, who confessed that she found the distance a bit too short for her! Team winners were the Raheny women and the Rathfarnham WSAF men.
Next up were the over 50 men, with Ciaran McCarthy of Raheny Shamrock AC roared to the line by the large crowd of spectators and Raheny also the team winners. In the women’s over 35 3000m race, defending champion Kate Purcell of Raheny Shamrock and Maria McCambridge of Dundrum South Dublin AC pushed the pace from the start. Although McCambridge, now aged 48, is an Olympian with national cross-country, track 5000m, and marathon titles to her credit, a Dublin masters title had so far eluded her and she was in determined form. Boosted by an indoors 800m the day before, she timed her effort perfectly, pulling away on the final lap to win in 14 mins 47 secs. Purcell in second place was also first W40 and was leading Raheny to team victory over defending champions Sportsworld.
Last up were the over 35 men who faced four laps of a course that was now well churned up. Setting the pace from the start were Paul Stephenson of Rathfarnham WSAF AC and Pierce Geoghegan of Liffey Valley AC, with Eddie O’Connor of Brothers Pearse, who had won the Dublin inter title only a year earlier, a close third. By the third lap, Stephenson, the pre-race favourite, had built up a considerable lead and was lapping the back markers. He went on to win in a time of 23 mins 58 seconds for the 7km distance. Geoghegan was second and O’Connor third. Fourth and first M40 was previous overall winner Karol David Cronin of Sportsworld AC. John Dunne of Raheny Shamrock AC, another previous overall winner, was fifth and first M45. Taking the team title was Rathfarnham WSAF with Raheny Shamrock second. Among those fielding teams were Skerries AC, LSA AC, Frontrunners AC and Coolock RC. For a third year, Raheny took the Pat Hooper Cup as best overall club. Can anyone beat them?
Many excellent pictures are on Lindie Naughton's Flickr site at t https://www.flickr.com/
Results -
W35: 1 Aoife Quigley (Crusaders) AC): 2 Lorna Quinn (Sportsworld AC); 3 Olivia Sexton (Portmarnock AC).
W40: 1 Kate Purcell (Raheny Shamrock); 2 Laura McDonnell (Rathfarnham WSAF AC); 3 Fiona Roche (Raheny ShamrockAC)
W45: 1 Maria McCambridge (DSD); 2 Caoimhe Kilroy (Metro St Brigid’s AC) ; 3 Noreen Brouder (Sportsworld AC).
W50: 1 Breda Smyth (Lucan Harriers); 2 Brid Ní Chonaill (Raheny Shamrock), 3 Donna Mahon Rathfarnham WSAF AC).
W55: 1 Annette Kealy (Raheny Shamrock); 2 Orla Gormley (Raheny Shamrock) 3 Caroline Murphy (Bros Pearse AC).
W60: 1 Fiona Byrne (Civil Service); 2 Riita Kansanniva (Civil Service), 3 Jean Dunne (Raheny Shamrock).
W65: Mary Browne (Lucan Harriers); 2 Grainne Grennan (Blackrock); 3 Loreto Lacey (Skerries AC)
W70: Mary Lynch (Raheny Shamrock AC), 2 Una Reilly (Liffey Valley).
W75: June Comiskey (Raheny Shamrock).
M35: 1 Paul Stephenson ((Rathfarnham WSAF AC); 2 Pierce Geoghegan (Liffey Valley AC); 3 Eddie O’ Connor (Bros Pearse AC) .
M40:1 Karol David Cronin (Sportsworld AC); 3 David Power (Rathfarnham WSAF AC); Eoin Hinchey (Bros Pearse AC).
M45: 1 John Dunne (Raheny Shamrock AC); 2 David Kirwin (Raheny Shamrock AC); 3 Ronan Wogan (Raheny Shamrock AC).
M50: 1 Ciaran McCarthy (Raheny Shamrock AC); 2 Ciaran Diviney (Crusaders AC); 3 Trevor Sweeney (Sportsworld AC) .
M55: 1 Paul Cowhie (Crusaders); 2 Sean McCreery (Rathfarnham WSAF AC); 3 Colm Murray (Rathfarnham WSAF AC)
M60: 1 Liam Lenehan (Sportsworld AC) ; 2 Tom Cuddy ((Rathfarnham WSAF AC); 3 Tom O’Connor (Liffey Valley AC).
M65:1 Michael Walsh (Bros Pearse AC); 2 Sean Doyle (Rathfarnham WSAF AC) ; 3 Tom Loftus (Raheny Shamrock AC) .
M70: 1 Pat Devitt (Clonliffe Harriers); 2 Patrick McDonnell (Raheny Shamrock AC) ; 3 Barry Potts (Donore Harriers).
M75: 1 Pat Collins (Liffey Valley AC); 2 Paddy Reilly (Liffey Valley).
Teams -
W35 (13 teams): 1 Raheny Shamrock AC 41; 2 Sportsworld AC 55; 3 Crusaders AC 56.
W50 (12 teams): 1 Raheny Shamrock AC 12; 2 Rathfarnham WSAF AC 34; 3 Lusk AC 35.
M35 (18 teams): 1 Rathfarnham WSAF; 34 2 Raheny Shamrock AC 48; 3 Clonliffe Harriers 67.
M50 (14 teams): 1 Raheny Shamrock 66; 2 Rathfarnham WSAF AC 68; 3 Sportsworld AC 71.
M65 (5 teams) : 1 Rathfarnham WSAF 14; 2 Clonliffe Harriers 25; 3 Tallaght AC 35.
INDOORS
Defending champions Dundrum South Dublin (women) and Clonliffe Harriers (men) made solid starts to their 2024 campaigns at the opening round of the National Indoor League at Abbotstown on Saturday. Taking top points for the DSD women were Amy O’Donoghue in the 3000m and Molly Mullaly in the triple jump with solid second places for Rachel Dunne in the weight for distance, Úna Samuels pole vault and the 4 x 400 quartet. For Clonliffe, multi-eventer Rolus Olusa won the pole vault and was second in the 60m hurdles, while Paschal Touche won the triple jump with a personal best 12.73m. Fintan Kerins was second in the 800m and the 4x400 team was also second. In the overall standings, Clonliffe on 77 points is ahead of Ratoath AC 67 and Nenagh Olympic 61. Other Dublin clubs in action were Raheny Shamrock fifth, Lusk ninth and Donore Harriers tenth. The DSD women with 95 points lead Leevale and Ratoath both on 87 points, with Carraig na bhFear AC fourth on 75. Of the Dublin clubs, Raheny Shamrock is seventh, Clonliffe tenth, Donore 11th and Lusk thirteenth. Other good performances on the day came from Juan Ignacio of Raheny Shamrock who won both the 800m in 1:59.20 and the 3000m in 8:38.61 and his Raheny clubmate Tara Meier winner of the women’s 60m hurdles in 8.75. In the open races, U20 athlete Jonas Stafford of UCD AC won the men’s 3000m in a personal best 8:04.95 with Daniel Stone of Raheny Shamrock second in 8:19.32 and Stephen Fay, also Raheny Shamrock, third in 8:25.10. However the performance of the day came from Shane Healy of Metro St Bridgid’s whose time of 8:47.71 for sixth place in the race was a world M55 record. Healy competed in the 1500m at the 1996 Olympic Games. The previous record was 8:58.
Athlone is the venue for the second round of the league next Saturday with the final on Saturday February 3 at Abbotstown. Georgie Hartigan (DSD) opened her indoor season at Sunday’s BMC Meet in Sheffield, where she finished second in the 500min 4:15.35. In the men’s 3000m A race, Cathal Doyle (Clonliffe Harriers) was seventh in 8:02.28.
Abroad, Irish long jump champion Elizabeth Ndudi (DSD) ran a personal best 7.46 secs for 60 in Champaign, Illinois, on Saturday (January 6). Ndudi finished fifth in the race.
