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28 November, 2009

When I started to write this report on the Tibradden race, I did not know where to start! I mused about the name and a little research threw up the fact that Tibradden comes from the Irish words, Tigh Brodain, or house of Brodan. Further cursory research did not shed any light on the identity of this person ? maybe someone out there can help.

Anyway, back to the race................. While the ?summer? this year has to date been fairly awful, in general, those running in the Leinster League races have been quite lucky with few enough wet nights although conditions underfoot have frequently been challenging, to say the least. Tibradden was one of the better days this summer ? a quick perusal of the Met Eireann website reveals that at the Dublin Airport station there was almost NO rain that day (what an anomaly!) and nearly 10 hours of sunshine! Nevertheless, the relentless wet weather had taken its toll on the route which was wet, slippery and mucky with plenty of pools on the tracks around Fairy Castle ? Brendan Lawlor must surely have loved it. On my run, two ?damsels in distress? slipped and fell in front of me (I did gallantly stop to help each time ? it provided a much-needed breather!) but thankfully neither suffered any injury apart from hurt pride and a bruised ego.

To be honest, this is not one of my favourite routes although I know there are those who love it. The length was increased since I last did this race and now takes in a circuit around Fairy Castle and this is actually one of the nicer sections of the route. However, the route there and back is tough: the fire track near the start has recently been resurfaced with large sharp rocks, the climb up from there is now severely eroded and looks like a very rough streambed rather than a track, and the ?gully? on the approach to the Wicklow Way was very narrow and treacherous. This is not solely a function of the weather: its proximity to Dublin makes it a very popular venue for walkers and mountain bikers. Do not mind me: I was having an off day and now I sound like a jelly baby! When I crossed the finish line, I swore that I would volunteer for this race neat year and Aisling Coppinger smilingly informed me that I was not the only one with that opinion!

Now to the results: these must be viewed from my perspective of a mid-pack runner so I cannot relay what the view was like at the finish line. Barry Minnock was once again the winner and well on his way to his ultimate overall League victory. He was followed by a resurgent Paul Nolan and it is great to see him back in form. The ever-reliable Eoin Keith was third. In the ladies? section, the absence of Aisling (who acted as race director) gave others a chance to shine and the challenge was ably taken up by Laura Flynn whose victory was all the more impressive bearing in mind that she is in the F40 category. The other fast ladies were Anne Ormsby, Aoife Joyce and Caitriona Nic Caba.

In the M40 category, Gerry Lalor stormed in with an overall fourth place finish ? he was neck and neck with John MacEnri so maybe someone at the finish can regale us with more detail. Eddie Reid took the M50 honours (not for the first time) while in M60 category Roger Moulding was to the fore ? he won this category last year. In the M70 category, Charlie O?Connell took the gong and he now has Mike Gomm, who owned this category for a long time, looking over his shoulder.

We mentioned the overall ladies? winner Laura Flynn earlier in the F40 category ? Jean Bader was second here. Ger Power once again reigned supreme on the F50 category.

So all in all, a good race and an enjoyable night ? the car park here lends the event a level of intimacy and camaraderie not easily matched by other venues and there was ample opportunity to mix and chat with friend and foe alike! We must not forget to thank all the volunteers for their good work ably organised by the race director Aisling Coppinger & her deputy, Tony Kiernan (I hope I got that right!). The first aid helpers at this venue are always pressed into service and this race was no exception with plenty of cuts, bruises and grazes but thankfully nothing more serious.

I stayed around to collect markers and there was a little excitement at the finish as we waited for the last runner to come in when it was realised that her name was Juliet Turner. When she duly arrived, we were fairly sure from her accent and appearance that we had indeed been graced by the lovely songstress from Northern Ireland, and a browse of her website confirms this. She was practising for an adventure race ? which one we do not know: we were too shy to ask. On this occasion, at any rate, she had certainly burnt the black suit but she did not take the money and run!


In the overall, a good result from Setanta next week would see them within range of Rathfarnham. Crusaders are also nibbling away at the gap to Clonliffe with three races remaining!

Women?s teams
1. Crusaders 207 (Aoife Joyce 48, Emma Sokell 66, Bronagh Gavigan 93)
2. Sli Cualann 334 (Jean Bader 105, Maria O?Rourke 110, Grainne Roberts 119)

Men?s teams
1. Setanta 12 (Eoin Keith 3, Gerry Lalor 4, John MacEnri 5)
2. Rathfarnham 24 (Barry Minnock 1, Aaron O?Donohue 8, Mike Long 15)
3. DFO 50 (Gary Kelly 7, Gerard Rigney 21, Donal Burke 22)
4. Unwilling wanderers 57 (Richard Healy 13, Robert Healy 20, Matthew Kenny 24)
5. Sli Cualann 83 (Tony Collins 6, Jimmy Synnott 14, Brendan Lawlor 63)
6. Crusaders 153 (Rene Borg 37, Bill O?Sullivan 41, Diarmuid O?Colmain 75)
7. Ajax 166 (Paul Smyth 18, Justin Rea 42, Brendan O?Connor 106)
8. Fingal 173 (Jonathan Corrie 43, John Rowe 47, Val Jones 83)
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<b>Over LL Club Results</b>
Available by clicking <a href="http://www.imra.ie/ad-hoc/LL2007ClubOverall1-10.htm">here</a>