Cork runner Lizzie Lee wins 5k race in the Phoenix Park in 16m 15s

The 30th Annual Jingle Bells 5k organised by Donore Harriers AC was held on Saturday 4th December 2021 in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. The first woman home was Lizzie Lee from Cork in an impressive time of 16 mins 15 secs.

As you can see from the photo above, Lizzie was pushed all of the way to the line by Sorcha Ní Dhómnaill of the host club Donore Harriers.

There were 1044 finishers in the race and it was a fast field with 346 finishing under 20 minutes. 

A total of 60 women went under 20 minutes which is in marked contrast to a lot of other 5k races where the field is much slower.

5k
1 John Travers Donore Harriers M 0:14:22  
2 Conor Maguire Monaghan Phoenix A.C. M 0:14:26  
3 Mitchell Byrne Rathfarnham W.S.A.F. A.C. 0:14:28 0:14:28
1 Lizzie Lee Leevale AC F40 0:16:15  
2 Sorcha Ní Dhómhnaill Donore Harriers F 0:16:19  
3 Catherina Mullen Metro/St. Brigid's A.C. F 0:16:31

Full results... https://www.popupraces.ie/race/jingle-bells-5k-2021/

Mark Hanrahan from Cork wins 5k race in Phoenix Park in Dublin

The annual Jingle Bells 5k race organised by Donore Harriers in the Phoenix Park in Dublin was held on Saturday the 2nd of Dec 2017 and attracted a large field of 1062 runners. The race was also unusual in that it had a pretty high quality field with 23% of the field running sub 20 minutes and 72 runners under 17 minutes.

The first man home was Mark Hanrahan of Leevale AC in Cork with a time of 14m 13s...that's 4:34 per mile!

The first woman home was Fionnuala McCormack who was 11 seconds ahead of Laura Crowe of An Ríocht AC in 2nd place.

1.Mark Hanrahan Senior Male Leevale AC 0:14:13
2. Danny Mooney Senior Male Letterkenny AC 0:14:30
3. Garry Campbell Male U20 Dunleer AC 0:14:31
36. Fionnula McCormack Senior Female Kilcoole AC 0:16:00
40. Laura Crowe Senior Female An Riocht AC 0:16:11
67. Siobhan O'Doherty Senior Female Borrisokane 0:16:52

The full results are HERE

Another performance to note was that of Mark Buckley of North Cork AC who finished in 16th place in a time of 15:24.

National 10k championships fails to get many entries from Cork and Munster

The Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park in Dublin on Sunday the 12th of April also doubles up as the National 10k Championships. Athletics Ireland released a list of club entries today.

One obvious fact from the list is that the vast majority of entries are from clubs close to Dublin or at least are a modest distance by car. Despite it being a National Championships, only 9 club runners from Cork are listed and 5 of those are from Leevale AC.

National 10k Entry List
Cathy Kenneally Female Ballincollig AC None
Carmel Crowley Female Bandon AC None
Mark Hanrahan Male Leevale Athletic Club Senior
Anthony Mannix Male Leevale Athletic Club Senior
John O'Connell Male Leevale Athletic Club 35+
Colm Sheahan Male Leevale Athletic Club Senior
Andrew Sheehan Male Leevale Athletic Club Senior
John Shine Male Leevale Athletic Club Senior
Nick Darmody Male Mallow AC None

It's pretty mush the same story for most of the other clubs in Munster. There are no entries listed for Waterford AC or West Waterford AC. Most of the other clubs in Kerry and Limerick are also missing or have very low numbers. The only exception seems to be Clonmel AC who have a team of 20.

Is it a case of it being too far? Does the fact it's a national championship mean much to most club runners? Or is it just the fact that there are plenty of other local races without having to travel to Dublin for one?

Results of the 'Dublin' New York Marathon...Sun 18th Nov 2012

To cater for those Irish runners who missed out on the New York Marathon this year due to Hurricane Sandy, the organisers of the Dublin City Marathon put on a special Marathon in the Phoenix Park today. Participants who finished were rewarded with the New York medals and running tops.

Place No Name Time
1 6917 Wayne Reid 02:43:48
2 6882 Niall Lynch 02:48:59
3 6962 Joseph Wright 02:50:55
10 6810 Karen Lavelle 03:09:27 1st Lady
18 6804 Shery Johnston 03:18:48 2nd Lady
22 6766 Olwyn Dunne 03:25:17 3rd Lady

A total of 147 runners took part. The full results can be seen HERE

Route for 'New York' Marathon route in the Phoenix Park finalised...

Due to the cancellation of this years New York City Marathon due to Hurricane Sandy, the organisers of the Dublin City Marathon have arranged a special Marathon for those Irish runners who were going to take part. It will start at 9:30am on Sunday, the 18th of November and it strictly an invitation only event. Only those who were registered to run New York City Marathon are eligible.

Anyone who is eligible and has not been contacted already should send a scanned copy of their NYC Marathon registration slip to: office@dublinmarathon.ie


The planned course in the Phoenix Park is shown below...

All finishers will receive a 2012 New York City Marathon official finishers medal.

Marathon in the Phoenix Park for NY Marathon runners?

Following the cancellation of the New York City Marathon last Sunday, the organisers of the Dublin Marathon are looking into the possibility of organising a Marathon in the Phoenix Park in Dublin instead in the next few weeks. This is intended for 500 or so Irish runners who had traveled to New York for the event. A possible starting point might be outside the US Ambassador's residence.

Assistant race director of the Dublin event Eugene Coppinger said it was planned to be an "invitation-only" marathon. In an interview, he said.........“A lot of people who were planning to run in New York have collected a lot of money for charity and they might feel guilty accepting that money if they don’t complete a marathon. That is why we want to give them that opportunity. We have had an amazing reaction to the idea, both here and at home. We've already forwarded our plans to the OPW, the gardai and the American consulate and will meet with them this week to finalise details."

He said there had been discussions between the Dublin and New York organisers and it had been agreed that runners who took part in the Phoenix Park event “will race in their New York vests and will be given the New York medals”.

The organisers of the New York Marathon have a very strict no-refund policy. However a spokeswoman said that those runners who had been due to run in the New York Marathon would be given the chance to race at some point in the next five years if they so wished. About 140,000 runners applied for one of the 47,000 spots in the 2012 race.

Coverage of the Great Ireland Run in Dublin on RTE Player...

Back on the 15th of April 2012, the Spar Great Ireland Run was held in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Among a host of elite national and international runners, the star of the show for the 10k race was Kenenisa Bekele from Ethiopia, the World and Olympic record holder for both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres. He is the reigning Olympic champion in both events and also won the 2004 Olympic title over 10,000 m.

For anyone that didn't see it, RTE still have the race on their Player service. The programme is 91 mins long. The elite womens race starts ~15:00 and the elite men and the masses start ~34:00. Some 11,000 people took part in the event. The RTE Player can be found HERE until Sunday, the 6th of May.

A selection of of the results....
Men...
Pos    Gender    Name    Club    Finish Time    Gun/Chip
1    M    KENENISA BEKELE         00:27:49   
2    M    AYAD LAMDASSEM         00:28:48   
3    M    DANIELE MEUCCI         00:28:49   
4    M    JOSE MANUEL MARTINEZ         00:29:00   
5    M    NICK MCCORMICK         00:29:04   
6    M    JESUS ESPANA         00:29:22   
7    M    MARK KENNEALLY    Clonliffe Harriers    00:29:23
17    M    23    JAMES MCCARTHY    East Cork AC    00:31:15
43    M    249    RUAIRI ODONNELL    Limerick AC    00:33:34
72    M    384    DAVID RYAN    Clonmel AC    00:34:52

Women

Pos    Gender    BIB    Name    Club    Finish Time    Gun/Chip
1    F    107    GEMMA STEEL    Charnwood A C    00:32:06   
2    F    104    CHARLOTTE PURDUE         00:32:10   
3    F    105    CHRISTELLE DAUNAY         00:32:27   
4    F    101    HELEN CLITHEROE         00:33:02   
5    F    108    ROSARIA CONSOLE         00:33:46   
6    F    103    LINDA BYRNE    DSD AC        00:33:49   
     F    5058    CATHERINA MCKIERNAN         00:35:35
13    F    113    ANGELA MCCANN    Clonmel AC    00:36:43
265    F    884    HELEN LEONARD    Rathfarnham WSAF Athletic Club    00:39:14
563    F    709    ÁINE ROCHE    Clonmel AC    00:42:23
968    F    918    CARMEL MAC DOMHNAILL    West Limerick A.C.    00:44:57