Athletics
Big weekend for Harriers Athletics Club
By Daire Walsh
IT PROVED to be a productive week for the Donore Harriers Athletics Club in Chapelizod with several of their members producing strong performances across a number of different countries.
Starting out on the domestic front, John Travers marked his return from a significant injury lay-off by finishing fourth in the Autumn Open Cross International 7.5km race at Abbotstown on Sunday afternoon.
In the junior race at the same meeting (an event held over 6km), Travers’ club-mate James Bolton finished in 19th place. Gavin Keogh, Des Tremble and Maura Kearns also competed in the Men’s and Women’s Masters races with Kearns claiming ninth spot in the W40 category.
Meanwhile, there were no fewer than four Donore Harriers teams competing in the National Inter-Club Juvenile Uneven Age Relays at Abbotstown on the same day. The U11 girls team of Zara Kellegher, Lola Nagle-Mullaly, Robyn McCluskey, and Lola Blake came 29th in their race, while their U11 boys equivalents, Alan Maddox, Mark Carville, Conor O’Hara and Cadel Senyk, came home in 30th.
There was a 32nd place finish for Petra Cunningham, Freya Ryan, Kim Sutcliffe and Kate Phelan in the U13 girls race, whereas Dylan O’Connor, Ethan Ryan, James O’Hanlon and Max Henley-Willis were 19th in the U13 boys relay.
On Sunday morning in Abbotstown, the Harriers U16 boys and girls teams were both victorious in the Dublin Juvenile Even-Ages Cross Country Championships. Lorraine O’Connor, Emily Bolton, Julie Cleary and Eden Brangan-Walsh were the club’s representatives in the former, with Liam Morris, Charlie White, Sam O’Connor and Daire McCarthy flying the Harriers flag for the latter.
Last Wednesday week in the Phoenix Park, Josh O’Sullivan-Hourihan set a new personal record of 30.58 to win the 41st An Cosantoir 10km Championships.
The Stateside-based Louis O’Loughlin was in Tuscaloosa last Friday for the Alabama Crimson Cross-Country Classic and was 28th amongst a group of 143 runners that finished the race.
In Sunday’s Mizuno Amsterdam Half-Marathon, Harriers’ Barbara Cleary was the third woman home and 1st in the W45 category. She was 108th overall with her club colleague Harry Vaughan finishing 30 places back.
In advance of this race, Harriers masters duo Sean Fox competed in the TCS Amsterdam Marathon. Fox achieved a respectable 12th place finish in the M45 age-group while Lynch was 22nd in the M50s.
Back on home turf, Mark Devine was the sole Harriers member to compete in the Donadea 10km Race on Saturday. He came home in 60th overall, but did manage to claim 16th spot in the M40 category.
W80 athlete Ann Woodlock was also in action at the Brickfields Park Run on the same day and placed 59th in a time of 33.46.