Road
Our sole competitor on the road in recent weeks was Mark Gilligan who competed in his first marathon at the Dublin
City Marathon. Mark finished comfortably within his target time, completing the distance in an impressive 2.51.19.
This was a fantastic achievement for Mark for whom the Dublin marathon was only his third ever time to toe the start
line of a competitive race!
Cross Country
A busy few weeks of cross country racing saw DCH athletes take home a number of individual and team medals. The
first ever edition of the National Cross Country Mixed Relay Championships saw two DCH teams on the podium with
the teams composed of Philip Marron, Pierre Murchan, Edel Monaghan, Niamh Carr, Elizabeth Gahan, Claire Rafter,
Órán O’Hare, and Conor Duncan. This result has secured DCH a spot on the start line at the inaugural European
Cros Country Club Mixed Relay Championships that will take place in Portugal in February. Pierre followed up his run
in the relay with a second-place finish at the Autumn Open XC race a few hours later, while Conor Murphy placed
34 th . In the women’s race, Clíona Murphy finished a strong 13 th , while Avril Deegan and Deirdre McDermott finished
22 nd and 23 rd respectively.
Next up was the Leinster Novice championships which were held in Ballyhale, Kilkenny. Following up on their bronze
medal at the Dublin Novice championships, the Men’s team, composed of Órán O’Hare (6 th ), Alex Crowley (15 th ),
Conor Murphy (32 nd ), Christopher McGloughlin (43 rd ), and Paul McGloughlin (82 nd ) were able to all put in strong
performances to secure 2 nd team on the day. Led home by Faye Dervan (1st) and Orla Duffy (2nd), the women’s team
were able to retain their team title. Faye and Orla ran the race with great composure by picking off the early leaders in
the final laps which enabled them both to take their place on the podium. While Sorcha MacAllister (4th) and Cristín
Scollard (7th) completed the scoring team, strong performances by Ellen Byrne, Aislinn Moorehouse, Clare
O’Connor, Aoife Corr, Aoife Donaghy, Katie Greene, and Aisling Purdy demonstrated the depth in the women’s
squad, with 9 DCH athletes placing in the top 30!
The women’s team were once again able to show their dominance over cross country by taking both the Leinster and
Dublin senior cross country titles in the same weekend. Over a muddy course in Cow Park, a sprint for the line saw
Avril Deegan just edge out Orla Duffy for 2 nd place. Claire Rafter was the third DCH woman home in 12 th place with
Sinead Cronin putting in an impressive final few laps to complete the scoring team with a 17 th place finish. The team
was rounded out by Aislinn Moorehouse (18 th ), Eimear Fitzpatrick (20 th ), Aoife Corr (22 nd ), and Aoife Donaghy (28 th ).
The following day, it was the turn of Edel Monaghan, Faye Dervan, Clíona Murphy, Sorcha MacAllister and Cristín
Scollard to tackle the muddy conditions, this time in Santry demense at the Dublin senior cross country
championships. Edel, Clíona, and Faye broke away from the rest of the field for much of the 9km, with Edel putting in
a big surge with just over 3km remaining. Edel’s decisive move was enough to secure her the win with Faye and
Cliona following in closely behind to complete a clean sweep of the podium by DCH athletes. Sorcha (11 th ) and Cristín
(14 th ) completed the team and enabled a comfortable victory for the DCH team. In Junior Women’s race Clíodhna
Ryan and Clare O’Connor finished 7 th and 12 th respectively while Christopher McGloughlin finished 26 th in the Junior
Men’s race.
Over in the US, Fiona Hawkins raced brilliantly in the Open race at the NCAA Division 2 South Central Regional in
Texas, running out an easy winner over the 6km distance and leading her team of Adams State to the team title.
Ronan MacMahon-Staggs debuted for his new University team Washington at the Pac 12 Cross Country
Championships covering the 8km distance in an impressive 23.54 and helping his team to place 2nd.
Training & Upcoming Racing
We are now firmly in the middle of the cross country season and both training and racing continues for all DCH
athletes. A number of the club’s athletes will be competing for their respective universities at the upcoming IUAA
Road Relay championships which often forms a perfect tune-up race for the National Senior Cross Country
Championships the following weekend. The final cross country race of 2023 will be the National Novice Cross
Country Championships in early December where both the men’s and women’s teams will have their eyes set on
claiming some silverware.
Dublin City Harriers 