Road
Our athletes had a strong day out at the highly competitive Raheny 5 mile road race, where Faye Dervan led the
women’s team home with a 6th place finish, followed in by Orla Duffy (7th), Sorcha MacAllister (12th) Cristín
Scollard (14th), Sinead Cronin (25th), and Aislinn Moorhouse (28th). This great team performance ensured that the
women secured the team title on the day. On the men’s side, we had Órán O’Hare finish in 16th place with
Christopher and Paul McGloughlin also completing our men’s team that finished 28th out of 91 teams. Órán O’Hare
also ran a brisk 5k at the R-ACE in Drogheda crossing the line in 15.58. Niamh Carr (9.42), Edel Monaghan (9.45),
and Aoife Carr (10.22) packed nicely at the Armagh 3k, all placing well in a highly competitive race. Over a slightly
longer distance, Cristín Scollard put in an excellent performance at the John Tracey 10 mile which took place in
Dungarvan. Cristín’s time of 60.12 was enough to see her claim 2nd place on the day.
Track
Many of our athletes got their track season underway in recent weeks. Philip Marron clocked an impressive 3.47 and
3.48 over 1500m at the National League in Athlone and AAI Games in Abbottstown respectively, while also clocking
1.52 over 800m at the mid-week NIA Live meet. At the same NIA Live meet, Conor Duncan ran a time of1.53 to take
2nd place just behind Philip who ran 1.52. Meanwhile, Edel Monaghan PBs over 1500m (4.32) and 3000m (9.42) at
the AAI Games and IUAA Indoor Championships respectively. Other club athletes that represented their respective
universities at the recent IUAA Indoor Championships included Joe Fogarty who reached the final of the 800m while
setting a PB, Faye Dervan and Sorcha MacAllister who placed 3rd and 5th over 3000m respectively, as well as
Clare O’Connor who was part of the TUD 4x200m relay team. These races will no doubt be great preparation for our
athletes ahead of the upcoming National Indoor championships that will be held at the National Senior Indoor Arena
in Abbottstown. At the National Masters Indoor Championships, Paulo Silva also picked up medals in the high jump
and long jump while also competing over 60m.
Over in the US, Sean Donoghue became DCH’s latest sub-4 minute miler clocking a time of 3.58 at the Penn State
Invitational and lowered his time by a further half a second two weeks later at the Windy City Invite meeting in
Chicago. Meanwhile, in Seattle, Ronan McMahon Staggs claimed first place at the UW Invitational over 1000m,
clocking 2.21 for the distance. Over in New Mexico, Fiona Hawkins competed over the mile (4.57) and 3000m
(10.18) at the New Mexico Team Open Invitational. Further afield again, Jodie McCann got her track season off to a
blistering start, setting huge PBs over both 1500m and 5000m. Jodie hoisted herself to 9th placed on the All-time Irish
rankings over 1500m after running 4.08 at the Adelaide Invitational. A week later, Jodie competed at the Maurie Plant
meet over 5000m where she knocked over 40 seconds off her previous best time to clock 15.35 for the distance.
These performances will no doubt give Jodie the confidence she needs ahead of 2024 track season.
Cross Country
The final two cross-country championships of the season took place in recent weeks, with the men’s and women’s
DCH teams represented on both occasions. The Leinster Intermediate championships were held in stormy conditions
in Avondale Forest Park in Wicklow where our men’s team claimed the first Senior Men’s title for DCH in over 35
years. The team was made up of Órán O’Hare, Liam Naughton, Conor Murphy, Mark Gilligan, Christopher
McGloughlin, and Paul McGloughlin. To complement the team title, both Órán and Liam took their place on the
individual podium placing 2nd and 3rd respectively. This haul of medals was repeated in the women’s race where
Aislinn Moorhouse and Cristín Scollard placed 2nd and 3rd respectively and led the team to silver overall. Aislinn
and Cristín were followed in by Clare O’Connor, Katie Greene, Aoife Donaghy, Edel McNamara, and Lorna
Walsh.
These results gave the athletes great confidence going into the final cross country championship of the season, the
National Intermediate Championships, which were held in the Dundalk IT. First up was our women’s team who were
on the hunt to make it three team titles in a row at these championships. From early in the race it was clear that our
women’s team would be hot contenders to retain the title, with Orla Duffy, Susan McManus, and Aoife Carr all in
the top 5 and Clare O’Connor battling it out close behind. Our women’s team were successful in their endeavors,
with Orla and Susan both collecting individual medals to complement the team title as they crossed the line in 2
nd and 3rd place respectively. The team was rounded out by Aoife Carr (4th), Clare O’Connor (22nd), Aoife Donaghy
(25th), Edel McNamara (27th), Katie Greene (29th), Lorna Walsh (35th), and Aisling Purdy (38th). Our men’s team
were next up as they would try to maintain the momentum that has built in recent months after claiming team medals
at Leinster and National Novice as well as at the Leinster Intermediate championships. Órán O’Hare, Liam
Naughton, and Oisín McKinley all placed themselves near the front end of the race from early on, while
Chrisotpher McGloughlin and Conor Murphy worked together for much of the race with Mark Gilligan following
closely behind. The men’s team fought hard through the muddy conditions to finish third behind strong teams from
Clonliffe Harriers and East Cork AC. The scoring team was made up of Órán (8th), Liam (9th), Oisín (20th) and
Christopher (26th) who had a fantastic performance. Edel Monaghan also represented Northern Ireland at the
Parliament Hill Cross Challenge.
Training & Upcoming Racing
We will have two teams represented at the European Clubs Cross Country Championships which will be held in
Albufeira, Portugal at the end of February. Following this, our athletes will be looking to focus on preparing for the
upcoming Track season, with some athletes opting to compete on the roads.
Dublin City Harriers 