Onto the action, and 24 competitors toed the line for the girls race (4k), won by the brilliant Raheny based Pole Patrycia Wlodarczyk. Our own girls didn’t disappoint either, with Helen battling through the thick mud and fog for a podium finish; and Stephanie finishing a magnificent 4th.

For the men’s race, the sluice gate was opened to allow a greater volume of water to enter the stream (which before that was below knee height). The 6k race of 130 men was won by one of Meath’s finest runners Rory McDonnell. Performance of the day went to Paul O Connell, who had got back from the canaries well after midnight and a few hours before the starting gun. Completing four races in four days (including a half marathon) during his ‘holiday’ in Lanzarote was not enough to deter Paul from a top 6 finish.

Having run the Dublin marathon less than five weeks previously, Eoin ran his first cross country in a little over a year and did very well indeed. Elsewhere in the field, Packie, Billy and Brian put in some decent performances ahead of next week’s national novice.

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Womens 4km
1 Patrycia Wlodarczyk 19:33
3 Helen White 20:36
4 Stephanie Bergin 21:03

Mens 6km
1 Rory McDonnell 23:14
6 Paul O’Connell 24:40
17 Packie Enright 26:05
26 Billy Tyrell 27:01
72 Brian Conway 30:45
77 Eoin O’Brien 31:34

Report By
Packie Enright

Castleknock, Saturday October 10th – There was a strong Sportsworld turnout at Castleknock for the BHAA Teacher’s cross country race. The race is so titled because one of the BHAA members is a teacher at the school more famed for its rugby than its athletics. Without the help from his pupils (mainly non-exam students from 2nd & 5th years) at registration, stewarding and catering this race would not have taken place. Taking place in ideal conditions – a grand soft morning with not a puff of wind, the simultaneous start saw women competing over 2m and men over 4m. The flatter than a pancake course took place around the perimeters of the 5 rugby pitches within the grounds of this well renowned school, with over 150 finishers.

Performance of the day went to Lucy in the women’s race where she took 2nd place, and admitted afterwards that she could have caught the winner Fiona Reid, but such races are not meant for busting your guts. Lucy was followed closely by a determined Helen. Next up were Stephanie, Tara and Sandra, all running in the 13s, with the latter showing off her beautiful new little daughter after it. Edel completed the Sportsworld contingent in the shorter race. Tara helped her team to win, while Edel also collected a team prize as her company came 3rd. Helen, Lucy and Sandra picked up individual prizes.

Women’s 2m XC

Position Name Category Company Time
1 Fiona Reid Senior Teachers 12:21
2 (1) Lucy D’Arcy F40 12:25
4 (2) Helen White F40 12:29
6 Stephanie Bergin Senior AIB 13:21
10 Tara Whyte Senior Teachers 13:49
14 (2) Sandra Armstrong F35 Dublin Hospitals 13:51
30 (7) Edel O Connell F35 Irish Life & Permanent 17:34

The men’s race was won by recent Irish international and track star Rob Connoly. The DSD man (who hasn’t competed in over a year) admitted to being 10 kg overweight, but it didn’t matter because class is permanent. We had two club men in the top 5 – Paul & Phil, performing magnificently; and 3 in the top 20 (Packie). The latter helped his team (the DIT) to 2nd place. Kathleen’s husband Declan wasn’t far behind. Brian and Killian were the next Sportsworld men in, both running in the 28s.

Men’s 4m XC

Position Name Category Company Time
1 Rob Connoly Senior 20:30
4 Paul O’Connell Senior 21:49
5 Phil Kilganon Senior 21:52
20 Packie Enright Senior DIT 23:47
26 Declan Horgan Senior Intel 24:23
70 Brian Conway Senior NUIM 28:40
73 (10) Killian McMorrow M50 Law Library 28:49

Report by Packie

Paul continued his excellent run of form by finishing second and winning his category in the summer league which included 3 individual wins and 3 second places, very consistent running by Paul, well done.

Next home was Joe Byrne who jogged around in 39 minutes according to him as he was due to do a long run the next day !!

Stephanie kept up her good recent form by finishing third female behind Annette Kealy and Donna Mahon and also was part of the AIB team which were 2nd in their category.

Sandra was 1st in her age category. Helen Dixon was 2nd in her age category. Judith was 1st in her age category and Trevor not to be outdone was also 1st in his age category.

Susan ran a pb by 3 minutes and Ray looked as fresh at the end as he had at the start of the race.

I would highly recommend that you try one of the upcoming races www.bhaa.ie for remaining races in 2009 as all standard of runner is catered for and if you ask any of your colleagues that run in the BHAA races I have no doubt they will agree that their running has improved since taking part in the races.

Race Report by
Stephen Willoughby

Good turnout from the club at last Wednesday’s Zurich sponsored BHAA series of 2 mile races which took place in Irishtown Stadium. All races were run on a handicap basis. Unfortunately Paul O’Connell’s unbeaten run came to an end and no Paul I still had nothing to do with your handicap being reduced after you winning your respective race at the previous Irish Life & Permanent race night.

Stephanie Bergin kept up her good recent form by winning her standard and Valerie Power making a welcome return to BHAA races won the open race.

Ray Carpenter, Tommy and Sandra Armstrong also ran very well although Sandra was spotted being dragged off at great speed by Valerie’s dog which she was trying to look after whilst Valerie ran.

For those of you who are not aware of what goes into organising an event, brief summary of what was involved in organising this event (which would also apply to the Irish Life & Permanent race night which Kathleen Horgan was responsible for organising with her colleagues).

Responsibility of race Promoter to book stadium, organise race flyers/promoting event. Making sure adequate stewards in attendance to look after registration and track side and to tidy up afterwards. Timing Clock for evening and accurate recording of finishing times. Providing Tea/Coffee/Water and Refreshments, Prizes, St. Johns Ambulance to attend. Posting of results after event.

Although first race started at 7.30pm myself and my colleagues were at venue from 5.15pm to set up and got to leave at 10.15pm even though last race was at 8.35pm.

So do please give some appreciation to race organisers when you are attending races.

Photos from Racepix365

Report by
Stephen Willoughby

Just to show that track running isn’t just a young kids game, this is tommy armstrong finishing strongly at the BHAA Irish Life 3km track race on wednesday last. The race organiser and club member kathleen horgan, can be seen in the background. Other club runners on the night were paul duffy, stephanie bergin, colin mahon, jean wilson and POC. The Zurich 2 Mile track race organised by Stephen Willoughby is on wednesday 26th August.

Paul and Crona obviously used their experience of running on the beach in Lanzarote, as Paul won the race in what I believe to be a course record of 16.03 finishing 22 seconds ahead of Davy Byrne who has won this race for the last three years. Crona was first female home and winning her first BHAA race, in what I also believe is a course record time of 18.51, well ahead of Orla Gormley who has won the race for the last 6 years. Mary Finn just missed out on a club one, two as she finished two seconds behind Orla Gormley in third. Stephanie finished 4th and Kathleen 6th.

Not to be outdone Ed was 9th overall, and first in his age category. Tommy won his age category. Kathleen also won her age category and was part of the Irish Life & Permanent Team which were second and Stephen was part of the Zurich Team who were 3rd in Grade 1.

Well done to Tara and Colin who also ran very well

Report By
Stephen Willoughby

There was a large turn out of club members for the BHAA RTE 5Mile road race in donnybrook today. Tommy Armstrong, Breda, Paul Duffy, Stephanie, Phil, Orla, Stephen, Louise and others all seemed to enjoy the race, you can browse the full BHAA Online Results and scold me for the name i missed.

6 121 00:33:53 Paul O’Connell
43 211 00:40:03 Rachael Morgan
57 103 00:41:17 Kathleen O ‘Callaghan
61 209 00:41:25 Mary Finn
99 130 00:45:20 Louise Bruton
128 204 00:48:06 Susan Mc Donnell

I’m fairly sure i missed two people from the list, please let me know if so and i’ll update.

People ‘drafting’ behind mary finn

00:15:39 O’Connell Paul
00:18:31 Duffy Paul
00:19:39 O’Callaghan Kathleen
00:20:27 Willoughby Stephen

2 00:16:18 O’Connell Paul
6 00:17:35 McEntee Ed
69 00:20:41 O’Callaghan Kathleen
103 00:21:59 Willoughby Stephen
143 00:23:12 O’Brien Eoin