Snowdon International Mountain Running

Shane O'Rourke was 8th man home for the Irish team at the Snowdon International Summer Mountain Race finishing in 84th. The Irish A team finished 5th and the Irish B team 6th. Aoife Joyce was 2nd Irish woman home finishing in 215th place (unisex finishing). Check out the team scores after the jump.

Men
7 England (1, 2, 4)
18 Scotland (3, 7, 8)
31 Italy (6, 10, 15)
33 Wales A (9, 11, 13)
33 Ireland A (5, 12, 16)
57 Ireland B (14, 19, 24)
64 Wales B (18, 21, 25)
89 France (28, 30, 31)

Women
3 England (1, 2)
12 Wales (5, 7)
14 Scotland (6, 8)
21 Ireland A (10, 11)
22 Italy (9, 13)
27 Ireland B (12, 15)

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Heusden, Belgium

Thomas Chamney got run out to 12th place in a jam-packed 800m in Heusden, Belgium this weekend where he ran 1:47.20. Winner was american alan Webb in 1:43.84.

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Crus Chronicles

GOOD PERFORMANCES AT SANTRY
Congrats to Stephen 1st long jump, Ian 1st 110H, Jack 1st jun 35 lb ht, Thomas 2nd 800m, Antoine 2nd 400H, Aoife 2nd TJ, Eugene 3rd S/C, Francis 3rd jun 35lb ht, Mary Coghlan 3rd PV, Ruairi 4th PV, Kevin 4th shot, Philippa 5th discus, Rachel 6th discus, Thomas 7th LJ, Eoin 8th 800m, Maxime 8th LJ (who also ran the 200m); also Simon and Brendan 800m and Garrett 1500m. Good also to see so many out in support, including the Conway family (best wishes to Maeve on her forthcoming marriage), Michael & Susan; James and Rory (threatening a road running comeback); Rob, and a few more we missed.
Pics at
Good luck to all in second rd ESB League in Santry on Sun; supporters again more than welcome.

WELL DONE TEAM!
Not only was the Crusaders women's team the only one of 20 to run all 13 rounds of hill running's senior league, the team (Aoife, Bronagh, Martina ended up the backbone, with solid support from Orla ,before and after her injury; Niamh, Maureen McG, Geraldine, Mary D, Rachel, Dee, Marcella, Colleen, Eva, Caroline, Maureen O'R, Eileen, Liz) ended up second behind Clonliffe. Well done also to our lads - Shane, Alan O'K, Mike, Gavan, Sean H, Paul K, Bill, Diarmuid, and more recently Rene (apologies to anyone I'm missing).
Good luck to Aoife, Shane and the rest of the Irish team at Sat's Snowdon International (five miles up, five miles down; v.tough!) and to Oran at the Kinsale Triathlon also on Saturday.

MONDAY - TRAINING FOR ALL
We would like to stress that the main training day for most of the senior members of the club during the summer is Monday; Thursday is a recovery day, while Tuesday is a pretty hard session for track or more experienced athletes. For newcomers, Monday 6.30pm is definitely the day.

TRACKSUITS – LAST WEEK TO ORDER
Still not got your order in for our super-trendy track suits? Contact Rosie NOW at lenehanrosie@yahoo.co.uk. Remember the sizes are huge; if you're medium, you will go with small, etc.

MARATHON LONG RUNS
These have already started on Saturdays in the Phoenix Park and other venues; to get on list contact Geraldine.

FROM THE COMMITTEE
* Club Championships/sports day Thurs Aug 16 (6.30); this will include a mini-pentathlon-style competition, plus a few fun events (egg 'n' spoon, three legged, etc). Food after at a venue TBC.
* Paddy O'Dwyer 5 mile handicap trail run for Saturday Sept 29 in the Phoenix Park; will need stewards, including a few on bikes because of the new one-way car system. This is a lovely run, which everyone enjoys so put in your diary now!
* Club agm Thurs Oct 18.
* Managers still need for Nat Half Marathon (involves ringing Neil Martin asap in Ballybofey to book accommodation) and Marathon (involves registering the team in time).

MASTERS T/F TULLAMORE AUGUST 19
Closing date for this looming. Good fun; I'm still hoping to do a throw or two, as is Tony Clarkson. Anyone else?

GOOD RUN FROM MIKE
As usual Mike and family are in Trondheim for summer, where Mike produced his best run yet in the Oslo Skogsmarathon where he finished fourth M40 (34 in the class; 350 in all). This is a beautiful marathon on trails, which Mike runs very year. One year we really should organise a trip! Here is the result:
1 Høst,Gudmund Heming IL 2:50:24 + 00:00 1
2 Nilsen,Vidar Norges Bank BIL 3:02:17 + 11:53 9
3 Berntsen,Atle NOTEAM 3:21:36 + 31:12 6
4 Long,Michael Crusaders, Dublin 3:22:22 + 31:58 6
PS: Well done also to Emma on her run in the Dublin City Council 5k and to all who are running the Raheny League.

THIS WEEK
Tonight: LONG: 3-4 sets 4 x 500 (200 hard, 100 float, 200 hard); 90 secs rest or jog between reps; 5 mins rest between sets)
MEDIUM: 6 x 500 as above
SHORT: 500-400-300-200-100
Tues Track session with Michael
Wed HILLS: Kippure H'cap
Thurs Recovery or tempo run
Friday TRAIL: Friday Night Off-Road 5K Fun Run Series Final Race, Dog Pond (opp Zoo) Phoenix Park 7.30. Prizes each night; souvenir all who complete 3-race series. Entry Eu5. C: Stephen Lynch 01-8203628 . ROADS: 23rd Guide Dogs for the Blind 6k R-R, Ballytore, Co Kildare, 8.30. Prizes usual categories M&F. C: Charley Lavin 059-8623355 .
Saturday Long run 11am. Contact Geraldine.
TRIATHLON: King of the Hill Sprint Triathlon, Kinsale, Co Cork. C: www.corktri.com.
Sunday ROADS: Ballynonty AC 10 mile, Ballynonty (1.5 miles from Killenuale, Co Tipperary), 1pm. Entry Eu10; reg Community House. Prizes sen, masters,jun teams M&F; Eu150 first M&F. T-shirt first 100 to enter. C: 052-56564/086-8754161; ballynontyac@gmail.com . Newmarket to Kanturk 5 Mile R-R, 2pm. C: Jerry Twomey 029-58088/086-2050821. Knockananna 8k, Knockananna, Arklow, Co Wicklow, 7pm. Medals, trophies all finishers. C: Pat Carroll 059-6471541 . Kinsale Regatta 5k. TRACK & FIELD: ESB National League Rd 2, Santry and Cork IT. Woodie's National U13-19 Juvenile Relays, Tullamore. TRIATHLON: Lisburn City Sprint Triathlon & Aquathon. C: Maura Kelly 048-92509461.

All items for this bulletin to lindien@eircom.net before Mon morning. Don't forget our e-group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crusaders_online/ and website at www.crusadersac.org.
Information on how to post, subscribe, unsubscribe can be found there. New members email: crusaders_online-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Queries to sinead_ro@yahoo.com; training queries to lindien@eircom.net

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National Championships

A wet weekend in Santry still produced a number of Crusaders Medallists. Saturday saw Steve Fleming in the long jump defend his title with a 7m23 leap. This was some way off his best 7m51 but enough to win retain gold. In the womens triple jump Aoife Hoey took home silver with a jump of 11m22. Phillippa Conway was 5th in the ladies hammer. Eugene O'Neill finished 3rd in the mens steeplchase. O'Neill who had won the last 5 championships was bitterly disappointed with this result but says he will rise again.

New french man Maxime performed well over 200m, sharpening his speed for his preferred distance of 400m and later took part in the Long Jump to finish a creditable 8th just behind team mate and new signing Thomas Burke. Thomas' brother Kevin competed in the Shot Putt to take 4th place just outside the medals. In the mens 800 there were a number of Crusaders competing. Brendan Carrigan ran a life time best of 2.03. Brendan has been taking seconds off his best time in every race this season and hopes to get under the 2 minute mark next. Simon Kenny also had a great run getting a seasons best time of 2.01. He plans to attack his personal best of 1.58 in the coming weeks. In the 1500 Garrett Coughlan ran a seasons best 3.59. Garrett was delighted to dip under 4 minutes.

Sundays action for Crusaders began with Ruairi O'Briain returning from his trip around the world last year. A former winnner of this event Ru was up against very tough competition. Despite a good clearance at his opening height of 4m50 this was only good enough for 4th. The winner set a new Junior Irish record of 4m90, ANthony McCreevy of Clonliffe Harriers. The 800m final was the event to feature Crusaders. Thamas Chamney and Eoin Cummins had qualified for the final along with training group member Ivan Kinahan. Thomas was defending his title from last year but unfortunately fell short this year to finish 2nd. Eoin was a creditable 8th having produced a big seasons best 1.54.05 in his heat.

Another Lady competing was the well seasoned Mary Coghlan. Mary is known of course for her speed and endurance over 400m but this year through some setbacks decided to take on the challenge of the Pole Vault. Mary cleared a height of 2m to finish in 3rd place taking home a bronze medal.

Later in the day the medal tally was to increase with a gold from Ian McDonald in the 110m hurdles in a time of 14.61. Antoine Burke returned to the track after a trip around South America. He pushed the in form Jonathan Miller right the way to the line but had to settle for silver.

Thew last medals went to two of our up and coming juniors in the 35lbs for height. Phil Conway has tutored many a powerhouse over the years and these two were no different. Jack Culllinane and Francis Keeling finished 1st and 3rd respectively. Two to watch for the future.

Click here to see some of Lindies photos from Saturdays action.

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800m Rankings

With a qualification for the World Student Games and a B standard time for the Senior World Championships Thomas Chamney is currently Crusaders best chance at a result in a major Championship in 2007. He goes in the 800m in the Irish Nationals this weekend, up against David Campbell who also has a B standard for the Worlds (P.B. from Lignano 15th of July - this blogger doesn't know whether the date for qualification has passed or not). Chamney lies 2nd in the Irish Rankings behind Campbell but over a second ahead of David McCarthy who has run 1:47.71. Fourth in the rankings is Eoin Everard with 1:49. As the specialist 800m runner with a decent kick my money is on Chammers to take the title ahead of Campbell in second....

McCarthy should be safe for 3rd but his ability to race twice in a weekend is relatively untested. Eoin Everard & fifth in the rankings Colm Rooney may not run the 800m leaving Conor Healy as next ranker. Healy has improved greatly this year and has run 1:51.4h. There are 7 more athletes under 1:54 but with a 1:51.75 in his last race in Irishtown last weekend his apparent consistency should see him safely in the final with a shot at a medal. Nial Tuohy ran a seasons best in the same race of 1:51.24 skipping ahead of Warne whos best is 1:51.54 from back in March! I wouldn't bet against experienced Crusader Eoin Cummins making the final but having underperformed so far this season his chances of a medal are very slim. My predictions for the the top 8 are Chamney, Campbell, McCarthy, Healy, Warne, Tuohy, Dunleavy & McCloy. Pretty much as the rankings go with the exception Dunleavy whos experience (and ability over 1500m) I think will tell. His last race in the Irishtown IMC meet was dissapointing and he was beaten by Eoin Flynn who also has a great chance of making the final.

But hey what do I know. Express yourselves in the comments! Check out (out of date) AAI Rankings here

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Nationals Preview

I'm not going to go to the effort of drawing one up myself. Instead read this good one. There are more than a few Crusaders mentioned (Euge O'Neill, Ian McDonald, Peter Coghlan, Antoinne Burke, Steve Flemming, Thomas Chamney). They are our main medal contenders but there are more competing including (I hope) Philipa Conway (throws) and Elizabeth Melvin (sprints) for the women. Good luck to them all. Look out for results on this site and AAI over the weekend and early next week.

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NEWS NEWS NEWS

Please contact the club committee if you are interested in publishing to the website.

Be it club news, articles, race reports or social event details, let us know if you will help us keep the members informed.

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Irish Runner 5 mile

The first race of the adidas series 2007 took place last Saturday in the Phoenix Park. It was a 5 miler and drew a good attendance from the red & whites of Crusaders. A digest of the results (very possibly inaccurate) follows:

26th Oran Murphy 28:08
32nd Rob Cross 28:34
92nd Michael McGovern 31:06
242nd Mary McDermot 34:28 (8th F35)
379th Mary Collins 36:17 (4th F45)

Full results can be found here. The next race in the adidas Race Series is the Frank Duffy 10 on August 18th, followed by the Dublin Half-Marathon on September 22nd.

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Passing of Dr John Fleetwood

Club president Jim O'Neill last week represented all Crusaders members at the funeral of club member Dr John Fleetwood. John was a member of the club since its founding days back in 1942 and died quite suddenly aged 91. For a long time John provided legendary costless health checkups for all Crusaders members and was a huge advocate and great example of preparation for and maintenance of post-retirement health. He was a priceless asset to our club in his time.

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IMC Races at Irishtown

The Irish Milers Club hosted a series of races in Irishtown on Saturday evening which saw several of Crusaders core middle distance section compete. A digest of the performances follows.

1500m 3rd Eugene O'Neill Crusaders AC 3.54.11
1500m 11th Garrett Coughlan Crusaders AC 4.08.51
800m B 6th Simon Kenny Crusaders AC 2.03.52
800m C 6th Brendan Carrigan Crusaders AC 2.05.68
800m A 9th Eoin Cummins Crusaders AC 1.56.70

Garrett, Eugene and Hugo Leeney were also all involved with the pacemaking.

Full results here

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Chammers P.B & Club Record

In Lignano Sabbiadoro Italy Crusader Thomas Chamney set a new personal best and club record of 1:46.46. Chamney is definitely one of the favorites for the National Championships in Santry this coming weekend but he will have to deal with David Campbell who in the same race ran 1:46.05. The deciding factor might be who is tested more by the semi-final on the Saturday. Full race result after the jump.

800m
1 ROBINSON Khavedis 1976 USA 1:45.15
2 JOHNSON Jonathan 1982 USA 1:45.47
3 SCIANDRA Livio 1980 AERONAUTICA MILITARE 1:45.93
4 LETTING Edwin 1984 KENYA 1:46.03
5 CAMPBELL David 1982 IRELAND 1:46.05
6 SHAW Brandon 1981 USA 1:46.20
7 BLOUNT Elliot 1979 USA 1:46.22
8 CHAMNEY Thomas 1984 IRELAND 1:46.46
9 BROMLEY Nick 1984 AUSTRALIA 1:47.38

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