Rene Borg

25 June, 2009

TEAM
On a night where Sli Cualann all but secured the Leinster League title ahead of chasers Crusaders and Clonliffe, there was plenty of drama.

GEN made a welcome return to the club competition led home by Paul Nolan and finishing a respectable 7th in a big pack of 10 male club teams. It was a pity that Setanta and Ajax both were one scorer short as it would have been interesting to see the orienteering clubs duke it out.

Sli Cualann were always in the driving seat today and had daylight down to Clonliffe.

Boards AC and Crusaders battled it out with UCD for 3rd spot. Things were looking good for the Irishtown club until their frontman, Rob Healy, had to retire injured. Boards AC took full advantage being led home by Eoin Keith for 2nd helped by strong runs from Mick Hanney and Finbar McGurren.

UCD had a good team out and finished 5th with Rathfarnham also having three scorers on the day as they beat GEN, Sportsworld, Glenasmole and the Tumbleweeds.

Sli Cualann now have 34 points to Crusaders with 3 races left with Clonliffe now only a further 11 adrift. Boards AC leap-frogged Rathfarnham and sit in 4th, 68 points off the "podium spots". UCD's recent good results have seen them climb the table but they have some very hard work to do improve beyond 6th and behind them Sportsworld and Setanta still have a chance to threaten their position with Tumbleweeds and Glenasmole fighting it out for 9th and 10th. Bank of Ireland, Carlow Runners and GEN will not be able to finish the League. With Sli Cualann having won 6 of the 10 races, it would be hard to begrudge their victory at this stage.

Sli Cualann had a greedy day and their ladies were equally emphatic in their win as their male counterparts with Jenny McAuley, Mary Dawson and Shena Phelan scoring well. The battle for runners-up was tight but this time the pendulum swung towards Crusaders who beat out Setanta. Clonliffe's women were hard done by as both Karen Duggan and Sonja Fuhrmann had to retire but they were always a runner short with Mags Greenan preparing for the Europeans.

Overall, Setanta edged another bit closer to Crusaders in second spot while Sli Cualann extended their league. Clonliffe, however, can still win the League if they record one more result of 38 points or lower.

MEN
1. Sli Cualann 17 (2 Cormac Conroy, 7 Hugh Kinsella, 8 Martin Francis)
2. Clonliffe Harriers 39 (6 Anthony Malone, 9 Greg Byrne, 24 Dermot Murphy)
3. Boards AC 45 (1 Eoin Keith, 18 Mick Hanney, 26 Finbar McGurren)
4. Crusaders AC 59 (10 Shane O'Rourke, 22 Rene Borg, 27 Jeffery Healy)
5. UCD 67 (16 Zoran Skrba, 17 Niall Fox, 34 Ben Dromey)
6. Rathfarnham WSAF 118 (21 Mike Long, 39 William Griffin, 58 Derek Baine)
7. GEN 147 (4 Paul Nolan, 70 Alan Ayling, 73 Ted McCormack)
8. Sportsworld 155 (19 Colm Kennedy, 33 Liam McFadden, 93 Sean O'Byrne)
9. Glenasmole 178 (13 Fionan Cronin, 75 Ercus Stewart, 90 Thomas Galvin)
10. Tumbleweeds 258 (51 Ben Moore, 87 Danny Ward, 118 Steve Crampton)

WOMEN
1. Sli Cualann 19 (2 Jenny McAuley, 4 Mary Dawson, 13 Shena Pheelan)
2. Crusaders AC 34 (9 Niamh O'Ceallaigh, 10 Roisin McDonnell, 15 Lornie O'Dwyer)
3. Setanta 40 (3 Jackie O'Hagan, 5 Hazel Thompson, 32 Caitlin Bent)

Gerry Brady

25 June, 2009

COUNTY RESULTS

There were 173 finishers from 20 counties on the long course on Brockagh, 110 or 64% recorded their county. At club level there were 30 clubs representing 54% of finishers.

Brockagh proved a happy hunting ground for Wicklow as they took all county and club honours. Jenny McCauley led the women home in second place in the individual race and she was ably supported by Mary Dawson (4th) and an improving Roisin McDonnell (10th). Dublin were 13 points behind with Jacqueline O’Hagan third overall woman.

Cormac Conroy also placed second in the men’s race and Hugh Kinsella (7th) and Martin Francis (8th) were also well to the fore. Cork were third county in the men’s behind Dublin and ahead of an improving Kildare. Wexford and Westmeath were next ahead of Connaught’s Mayo. Carlow with recently married Keith Heary at the helm and Meath also had full teams.

Women
1. Wicklow 16 (2 Jenny McCauley, 4 Mary Dawson, 10 Roisin McDonnell)
2. Dublin 29 (3 Jacqueline O’Hagan, 9 Niamh Ni Cholmain, 17 Daniela Boehm)

Men
1. Wicklow 17 (2 Cormac Conroy, 7 Hugh Kinsella, 8 Martin Francis)
2. Dublin 52 (9 Greg Byrne, 16 Zoran Skrba, 27 Jeffery Healy)
3. Cork 81 (1 Eoin Keith, 35 Mark O’Sullivan, 45 Kevin O’Riordan)
4. Kildare 93 (24 Dermot Murphy, 25 Joe Flynn, 44 Brian O’Meara)
5. Wexford 107 (3 Bernard Fortune, 19 Colm Kennedy, 85 David Williams)
6. Westmeath 112 (6 Anthony Malone, 46 Alan Collins, 60 Patrick Ryan)
7. Mayo 156 (23 Chris Caulfield, 66 Enda Walsh, 67 Stephen Holleran)
8. Carlow 174 (5 Keith Heary, 69 Barry Murphy, 100 Adrian Oprea)
9. Meath 258 (62 Eamonn Hodge, 79 John Rowe, 117 Peter Cooney)

10.Cavan 114 (26 Finbar McGurren, 88 Phil Ward)
11. Donegal 127 (33 Liam McFadden, 94 Paul Trayers)
12. Louth 132 (43 Padraig O’Dwyer, 89 Pol O’Murchu)
13. Galway 144 (41 Damien Cunningham, 103 Cathal Lally)

Mick Hanney

25 June, 2009

More than 170 runners showed up to run the latest instalment of the OSI Leinster league. The dash to achieve the 7 races to qualify for a final league placing is obviously gathering pace.
A warm night greeted runners and in Brockagh that can only mean one thing. Midges and lots of them.
The longest and slowest piece of the night was trying to get the group of runners to the traditional start point all the way down the tarmac road. Evenutally, with a 1, 2, 3 go from Vivian we were off.. up through the fireroad in the forest and following the sweeping turns up towards the grassy lane we went.
Eoin Keith led the way, followed by Cormac Conroy and the chasing pack. For a nice change the running terrain was tinder dry. I was happy to have worn regular asics for the extra cashioning. A personal thanks to Moire, who did the marking, who gave me advance notice of the ground conditions higher up. There was at least one boggy bit before the far peak but after from that it was very dry.
First to the far peak was Eoin and he led the ‘excuse mes’ to the runners still on the outward trek. Runners, who with the sun in their eyes were often surprised to look up to see a homeward bound runner bearing down quickly on them. Is it priority left or right again?
There were a few fallers on the night. Cormac Conroy had a slip but bounced up and continued on - hardy men these M40s from Wicklow ;-). Others were not so fortunate and there were a few DNFs, I expect from twisted ankles on the dry rutted turf? Paul Nolan, making a welcome return to league running was an excellent 3rd off the top, followed closely by Bernard Fortune and Keith Heery (newly selected on the Irish team for the Snowdon race; well done Keith).
I was happy to dig deep and keep running the Brockagh hills this year, whereas last year I faltered and walked a stretch. It makes a huge difference in ones time if you can keep the running going, even slowly. In my case I saved 3 mins on last years time, so theres a lesson in there somewhere.
On the backward stretch you’d dodging runners coming the other way. In most cases there’ll see you and steer clear. In some cases some near collisions were avoided, with the sun in the eyes playing its part. The going was good though over the dry ground, not good enough for me to stop Jimmy Synott powering off ahead of me like a young fella! The final descent off Brockagh is joyous. Even if you’re not normally fast, you can feel fast running down this hill. Onto the flatter fireroad and the long (at least it feels long) flat run to the finish. A great run. In my case 18th. Last year there were 13 runners under 50 mins. This year 18. The winning time this year was comparable to last year too. Plaudits to the guys that finished in the top spots. Well done to Eoin who has sealed the Leinster League and need only run the other races for fun. Cormac Conroy had an excellent 2nd and could place well if he runs on Lug at the weekend. Bernard completed the top 3. The ladies race was won by the ever improving Caroline Reid (well done), with Jenny McCauley 2nd (getting fitter each race) and Jackie O’Hagan (very consistent).
The midges were out in particular force at race end. No doubt attracted by the sweaty runners to nibble at. Thanks to Vivian and his volunteer troop for a great job and perservering through the midges attacks.