Civil Service Harriers A.C. | Running Club | Dublin

Time for a Parkrun

Civil Service Harriers — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 12:52:20 +0000

Sport Ireland Campus Parkrun Our Saturday morning training session yesterday, 4th November, was the Sport Ireland Campus parkrun which takes place at the national cross country course in Abbotstown.

A hardy group of 9 from the club took part in less than ideal conditions as heavy overnight rain had turned the grass course into a mudbath. Hopefully these are the worst conditions we’ll encounter during this cross country season.

Despite the mud (and an ambitious warm-up lap meaning some of the group nearly missed the start) we performed well with Aaron Mullan first finisher. Laura Cullen was first lady (and third overall), closely followed by Aislinn Ahern in 4th place. They were followed by Gemma Treacy, John Meagher, Fiona Byrne, Nick Devery, Paul McEvoy and Denis Murphy.

Well done to all for turning out on such a rotten morning!

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National 5K Road Race

Civil Service Harriers — Sun, 15 May 2022 14:43:00 +0000

We had a sizeable contingent racing in the National 5k on Sunday which took place in the familiar surrounds of the Phoenix Park. It wasn’t the easiest of courses with a tough climb out of the Furry Glen before the finishing stretch on Furze road. Despite the challenging course there were fantastic times and even some PBs.

First home for the club was Patrick O’Boyle who broke 18 minutes, finishing in 17:55. Next was Padraig Creed in 19:08, followed by Stephen O’Connor in 19:36 and Sean Ryan not far behind in 19:39. John Meagher (19:44) and James Gaffney (19:49) both achieved big PBs – well done guys.

First lady home for the club was Gemma Treacy in a time of 20:49. Nick Devery was next in 21:03, followed by Deirdre McCarthy in 21:17, Owen McFeely in 22:11, and Mark Rodgers in 22:57. Sunil Singh (23:25) and Claire Shanahan (23:30) were next but their times were affected by them stopping to help a fellow runner. A very kind gesture from both of them.

Meadhbh Ni Lochlainn was next in 24:09, followed by Joe Delaney in 25:19, Maria Pozo in 25:51, and Marie Norris in 28:05. Very well done to everyone who raced.

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National Road Relays

Civil Service Harriers — Sun, 24 Apr 2022 20:20:00 +0000

We had a different kind of race this weekend with three teams toeing the line for the National Road Relays which took place on a 1 mile loop along the roads of Raheny. We had three teams in the mix – Masters O50 Men (Sean Ryan, Padraig Creed, Nick Devery), Senior Women (Deirdre McCarthy, Laura Cullen, Claire Shanahan) and Senior Men (Patrick O’Reilly, Declan Cassells, Brian Walls, Aaron Mullen). The Masters Men and Senior Women had 3 legs to run (1 mile – 2 mile – 1 mile) with 4 legs (2 mile – 1 mile – 3 mile – 2 mile) for the senior men. These are incredibly competitive races with many clubs bringing out their elite athletes, even Olympians in some cases.

The Masters men were up first with Sean Ryan running a steady first 1-mile leg, followed by Padraig who nobly took on the tricky 2-mile leg, and Nick taking it home for the final 1-mile leg. It was tough going but they held their own among a very strong field to finish 10th O50. Well done lads.

The senior ladies were up next with Deirdre McCarthy, in her first race for the club, braving the first 1-mile leg and running really strongly. Laura Cullen ran a superb 2-mile leg to move the team up the field. It was then up to Claire Shanahan to bring us home and she rang an excellent leg to hold onto the team’s position and finish 24th.

After a long wait the senior men were finally up. Patrick Reilly showed no sign of post-marathon or post-Covid fatigue in a strong 2-mile leg which positioned the team well up the field. Declan Cassells took on the shorter – but by no means easier – 1 mile leg, with an excellent run that kept the team well in the mix. It was into the business end now with Brian Walls taking on the tough 3 mile leg for the team. He ran a lightning fast but well-measured leg, making up several paces for the team in the process. Finally Aaron Mullan took off like a greyhound for his 2 miles, looking like he was trying to reign in Mick Clohissey ahead of him. He may not have succeeded in that endeavour, but he still ran a stormer to leave the team in in strong standing at the end, finishing 20th in a top-class field.

Some great performances out there today. Well done to all – you did the clubproud.

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Intermediate Cross Country and Clontarf 5 Mile & Half-Marathon

Patrick O'Reilly — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 20:09:27 +0000

Sunday 28th November saw a return to cross country championship action for the club with the Intermediate races in Tymon Park. Once again we were able to field full teams in both women’s and men’s events with some of our runners taking on their first competitive cross country fixture and some shiny new spikes getting their first outing! Weather conditions were more traditional than the tropical temperatures experienced for October’s Novice races and the hardy CSH cheering squad had to wrap up warm.

The women were up first with their 5km race. Our team of 5 battled hard in a strong field and finished in 24th (Gemma Treacy), 28th (Amanda Keane), 31st (Chloe Foley), 44th (Claire Shanahan) and 52nd (Leonie Macauley) positions. Great running by all the ladies.

Next up was the men’s 8km run over a gruelling 4 laps. Brian Walls had a great race running well with a strong group for the duration before proceeding to pick off a host of runners on the last lap and finish in a fantastic 7th position overall. Well done Brian! He was followed home by Aaron Mullan (46th), who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience, Dermot Grogan (68th), Fergal Browne (70th) and Nick Devery (71st). Well done to all our men.

Full results are available on www.myrunresults.com. Next up on the cross country calendar (for all our over-35s) is the Masters on 9th January

We also had a gang in action on the road over the weekend with the Clontarf road races taking place in Baltic conditions on Saturday 27th. Kevin O’Sullivan and James Gaffney took on the 5 mile race finishing in a fantastic 11th and 25th positions. Kefuwe Ntsamai opted for the half marathon distance and finished in a PB time, breaking the 2 hour barrier while he was at it. Well done lads!

We have a big gang from CSH taking on the Jingle Bells 5km next weekend, 4th December. Good luck to all and keep those PBs coming!

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Dublin Novice XC 2021

Patrick O'Reilly — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 18:56:14 +0000

Championship racing is back! Several of our women and men donned the club colours for the Dublin Novice Cross Country championships in Tymon Park last Sunday. For many of our runners it was their cross-country debut. Luckily for them, it was from regular cross-country conditions. The sun was shining and the going underfoot was exceptionally firm. Nobody tell them what cross country is really like…..

First up was the women’s 4k race where we had 7 women taking part. Amy Gallagher went out hard from the start and managed to maintain it to finish 30^th overall and was the first club woman over the line. Well done Amy. Aislinn Ahern was right behind her in 31^st place with a strong finish that saw her pick off several runners at the end. Places mean everything in cross country! Amanda Keane also had a great run, finishing in 37^th place. Next home for the club was Meadhbh NiLochlainn in 83^rd place, followed by Elizabeth Bolger in 93^rd, Leonie McCauley in 97^th and Eli McMahon in 99^th. Great running in what was a first championship outing for most of them.

The team consisting of Amy, Aislinn, Amanda, and Meadhbh finished in 7^th place in the championship, ahead of several other big Dublin clubs. A great performance from our women.

The men had a couple of extra laps to contend with, which was tough going given the unseasonably warm weather. First home was Patrick Creed in 81^st place, followed by James Gaffney in 109^th, Joseph Marinan in 112^th, and Sunil Singh in 134^th. Injury has taken out several of our male runners so was great to be able to field a team on the day. Well done to all the lads who raced.

It was great to see so many people out racing in the club colours. Let’s hope we can keep this up as we go through the season.

Full results available from the Dublin Athletics Board.

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5K Club Race

Patrick O'Reilly — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 19:03:30 +0000

5K Club Race 2020

By ORLA COX

On Saturday July 25 we had the inaugural Club “Covid” 5k. I say inaugural, but let’s hope we’ll be renaming it next year.

The race was the brainchild of Patrick O’Reilly who came up with the idea of a virtual 5km training plan while we were still in the depths of lockdown in early May and along with Noel Ryan put in place a fantastic race. The purpose of the training plan was to allow club members follow a structured plan on their own, while also providing a race that members could work towards. Thankfully restrictions eased and we were able to resume group training quicker than anticipated. Nevertheless, the club race continued to provide us with a focus for our training, especially given that mass participation races still look uncertain.

After 10 weeks of intervals, tempos, and easy miles, 28 club runners lined up to put their training to the test. The route started on Furze road and took in just under two anti-clockwise laps of Furze road, Chesterfield avenue and Ordnance Survey road. It’s a flat route with a slight pull on Chesterfield avenue on the first lap, but which feels like a hill climb on the second lap. Participants were asked to predict their times and Gemma arranged us into groups based on those times. Our budget didn’t stretch to chip timing, instead we relied on people’s watch times which lead to some anomalies with the results…

There were some very ambitious times predicted for our first group and some who did not have confidence in their own abilities. Jason Reilly was first past the post with a blistering time of 16.02, almost 1 minute faster than predicted. Patrick O’Reilly was next in 16:46, matching his 2 week old PB although this can be considered an official race PB!. Brian Walls left everything out there to finish in 16:56. Bernard and Podge, the comeback kids, were next in 17:20 and 17:32 respectively.

In the next group we had a 3 way cat and mouse between Noel, Gareth and Paul. Gareth triumphed in the end in a time of 18:05. Paul Foran was next with a time of 18.14 (PB) with Noel Ryan just behind him with a time of 18.16. Last minute entrant Jonathan Murphy was next in a time of 18:57, with Sean Ryan not far behind in 19:05.

There was nothing to split William Beausang and Padraig Creed with both finishing in a time of 19:24. We had our first lady in this group with Brid Ryan finishing in an excellent 19:33. Next was John Meagher in 20:18. It was a tough day at the office for Nick Devery who finished in 20:28. Keith Farrell bridged the gap between groups to finish in 20:25. I was next in 20:44.

Fiona Fagan finished a PB time of 21:09. It was then a photo finish between Hannah Snowe and Maria Mellsop with times of 22.30 and 22:31 respectively.

Dermot Grogan was first finisher from the next group in a time of 22:01. Eamonn Prunty was next home in 22:43, followed by Sunil Singh in 23:33 and Ciaran Belton in 24.39.

Club newcomer Aedin Donnelly was first home from our final group in a time of 24.44, followed by Jean Neary in 25.51. Another club newcomer Michael Moloney was next in 26:09. Next was Tom Turner in 28.20.

Maria Mellsop was the winner in terms of predicted time; she was only a second out. Well done Maria. Jonathan Murphy was next (3 seconds), followed by Gareth Horgan (8 seconds), Patrick O’Reilly (9 seconds) and Bernard Duggan (10 Seconds)

Well done to everyone who raced on the day. 5K races are notoriously hard, as some of the photos attest to. Everyone really gave their all and there were some amazing finish times.

A massive thanks to Noel Ryan for organising the race itself. Everything on the day was really well planned and the bonus drinks and medals at the finish were a nice touch.

A big thanks to Andy, Barry and Tom who took on stewarding duties on the day.

Thanks to Brendan Healy for capturing the smiles before and after the race and the painful grimaces during the race. A full selection of photos are available to members on the Facebook members page.

Thanks to Nick for leading our training sessions each week and to our “race director” Gemma for keeping on top of everything as usual! There are probably a few more who deserve a mention so just a big thanks to everybody who contributed in the build-up and on the day and of course to all those who raced.

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Khyber/S-Bends Challenge

Patrick O'Reilly — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 18:41:28 +0000

Khyber/S-Bends Challenge

By ORLA COX

Last Saturday we had our second challenge in the CSH training plan for the upcoming club 5k. The route was a challenging 2.4 mile lap of the Khyber and S bends, starting at the bottom of the Khyber.

The pace was set by Eoin Devlin but Patrick O’Reilly pushed him throughout with both finishing in times of 13:14 and 13:20 respectively. There was race on for 3^rd with Noel Ryan (13:58) setting a good pace but unable to hold off the challenge of Gareth Horgan (13:48) and Paul Foran (13:56) who finished strong for 3^rd & 4^th place respectively.

Andrew Moore (14:25) continued his recovery just holding off Johnny Murphy (14:29) and Sean Ryan (14:50). We had strong finishes from Nick Devery (15:44), Vincent O’Neill (16:07) and John Meagher (16:20) and also Brendan Healy (15:46) who’s on the comeback trail from injury.

Next home was Keith Farrell (17:11), just back to training following the first few weeks of fatherhood. He was “happy to have survived” the race. Next home was our first lady Christina Kerr (17:24) after a great run, followed by Tom Walsh (18:35), Sunil Singh (19:15), Barry Ryan (19:27), Ciaran Belton (19:42), Brain Doyle and Joe Delaney (20:46) who still had a smile on his face afterwards. It was unclear whether it was of joy or delirium.

Paul McEvoy and Andrea Doyle could not be separated over the course in a photo finish of 23:54.

It was a great challenge and one I’m sure we will revisit once we get our breaths back so thanks to Patrick O’Reilly for organising as part of the training plan. Keep up the training – just one challenge to go before the Civil Service Harriers 5k on July 25^th.

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Are you getting the most out of your expensive running watch?

Patrick O'Reilly — Sat, 09 May 2020 12:03:53 +0000

Are you getting the most out of your expensive running watch?

So many runners have expensive Garmin running watches and barely use any of the functionality. Check out this video which explains how to use the My Workout functionality within Garmin Connect.

Easily create a speed session such as 10 x 200m with 60 seconds recovery or any other session direct from your phone to your watch.

(functionality may not exist on older Garmin models)

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Training during lockdown: COVID-19

Patrick O'Reilly — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 21:32:53 +0000

COVID-19

Below are suggestions to vary your sessions until we can train collectively again. Please ensure you warm up before and cool down correctly after each session. Follow Government guidelines on social distancing.

Speed or Interval Session:

Pyramid session: up to 4/5 mins with 2 mins recovery on flat/hills.
Tempo run @ 70/75% of race pace – 35 minute session
90 secs on / 60 secs off – 35 minute session
1 km or 1 mile intervals with 2 min recovery – 40 minute session
Hill Tempo – 35 minute session

Easy Tempo or Interval Session:

One minute on / minute off – 25 minute session
Easy Tempo @ 60% of race pace – 25 minute session
Easy intervals i.e. 10mins on / 2min off – twice

Tempo Runs

Ashtown & Blackhorse Avenue

The 3k loop around the Aras, Ashtown Gate & Chesterfield Avenue provides for a good tempo or speed session loop

Islandbridge

The 3.8k loop around the S-bends & Khyber provides for a good tempo / Pyramid loop incorporating hills or the Acres loop on the path around the pitches. Inside this is the Munich mile loop you will be familiar with some good hill work too

Speed Sessions

Ashtown & Blackhorse Avenue

The 1.2k straight on Furze Road provides for a good speed session with the white barriers being 400m apart so perfect for a 90sec on 60sec off session or up and back for your 800m session

Islandbridge

The Polo Ground loop provides for a speed session of 800m circuit or you can divide this up into run the barriers and jog the bend for a good speed session The exterior road is also 1 mile for longer speed sessions

Hill Training

Ashtown & Blackhorse Avenue

The 1.2k from Knockmaroon Gate to Glen Road provides for a great hill session where you job down and run up each side starting from the lake

Islandbridge

The Khyber is the ultimate hill session being 950 meters from each barriers but the road is now marked in 100m intervals so divide it up into 200m, 400m or 500m repeats

Other Tempo & Speed Sessions

Islandbridge & Blackhorse Avenue

The Blackwood is a great loop for either tempo or speed sessions. It’s on the trails and often quieter than the roads

Islandbridge

Memorial Gardens also provides a nice run by the Liffey or hills either side of the rose garden

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BHAA AIB XC Maynooth

Patrick O'Reilly — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 17:04:12 +0000

BHAA AIB XC Maynooth

By ORLA COX

Last weekend brought us the final cross country race of the season with BHAA AIB 2 mile/4 miles races in Maynooth. Conditions have been tough this season with lots of wind and mud to contend with. Thankfully we got some respite from the storms for our the last outing.

The 2 mile race was up first with 5 ladies form the club taking part. First over the line was Grainne Butler in 4^th place, with Gemma Treacy not far behind in 5^th place, finishing off a great cross country season for both of them. Brid Ryan went for the shorter option this time round and finished in 7^th place. Grainne, Gemma and Brid all won their age categories. Well done ladies. Cliodhna McGowan, in her first race since joining the club, finished in 11^th place. A great debut from Cliodhna. Margaret Moloney was next home in 25^th. Well done all.

In the 4 mile race, Nick Devery was first home in 42^nd place. Next was Vincent O’Neill in 45^th place and once again first in his age category. Well done Vinny. Paul Cullen was next home in 64^th, followed by Tom O’Flaherty (78). Joe Delaney (88), Paul McEvoy (97) and Tom Turner (102). Well done lads.

Time now to fumigate the spikes!

Elsewhere…

Well done to Eanna Kavanagh who finished 6^th in the Straffan 10k in a time of 35:23. Eoin Kealy also raced on the day, finishing 17^th with a time of 41:02

We also had a couple of club members participating in the Bohermeen Half Marathon in Meath. Well done to Brendan Healy who finished in a time of 1:27:44 and Dermot Grogan who finished in 1:41:07 in his half marathon debut. Well done guys!

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