One highlight chased the other in April with the Club 5km Race in Blackrock Park, the Clontarf 10 Mile and Barkley Mini Marathon being just three of many happy memories made this month.
Highlight of the Month: Barkley Mini Marathon
Blackrock A.C. members Ger O’Toole and Ted Burke took part in the Barkley Mini Marathons (Ireland) series on Saturday, 30th April 2022. In line with the official Barkley Marathon, participants are given short notice on where to go, the morning of the event. Although unlike the official Barkley Marathon, they are given a start time and general idea of how long it will take to get there. So at least pre hydration and the like can be planned a bit better!
Once on the course, participants covered 62.5km during 5 mountainous laps (total incline circa 2.2km) collecting pages from books in order to complete the full challenge. Incredibly Ger finished 1st in the O50 category and 5th overall. Ted, whose aim was to try to finish and had sought some guidance from Ger in the early stages, went on to win the event and came first overall! Although Ted is a highly experienced runner, many felt the calibre of veteran mountain ultrarunners taking part was of a very high standard. So it was with surprise but huge delight that we learned of Ted’s extra achievement. A fitting tribute to a hugely supportive and contributing member of Blackrock A.C. and he could not have been in better company in such a race than with Ger. Well done guys!!
2nd April 2022
National Indoor competitions
April started with some stellar performances by Blackrock A.C. juveniles at the 2022 National Indoor competitions.
You can find the complete report HERE.
3rd April 2022
Paris Marathon
Bryan Sheils completed his 78th Marathon (that we currently know of) in April. Pictured here he marked his 77th in Paris. More locally then was the Royal canal Marathon for number 78. Amazing determination and we are sure there’ll be more to add next month.
3rd April 2022
Milan Marathon
Valeria completed her second Marathon in Milan with a fantastic time of 03:52:00.
Someone clearly caught the Marathon bug as we heard rumours of further long distance running plans for 2022.
9th April 2022
Great Ireland Run
Three Blackrock A.C. members got up early to take part in the Great Ireland Run.
Daniel Mourenza (00:44:49), Mark Coughlan and John Sheehy (00:39:03) achieved some great results on a breezy Saturday morning.
15th April 2022
Noel McManus Run/Cycle 2022
Congratulations to Blackrock A.C. member Owen Kelly, who came first in the Leitrim Half marathon on 15th of April.
18th April 2022
Boston Marathon
We had two fine performances in the Boston Marathon from Blackrock A.C. members Brian Lenihan and Ger O’Toole who finished in 2:39 and 3:13 respectively. We suspect Brian may be targeting club records and we certainly hope to see more of that!!
Race Day: Clontarf 10 Mile
A great day out in St Anne’s Park for the Leinster 10-Mile, Battle of Clontarf on 18th April 2022. St Anne’s seems to always make a great day out for members of the club and all who attended felt the same for this race.
| Name | Result |
| Paul Hunt | 01:02:33 |
| Charlene Carty | 01:15:40 |
| Johnny Sheehan | 01:17:50 |
| James Curran | 01:19:39 |
| Jamie Kennedy | 01:19:53 |
| Pat O’Brien | 01:19:57 |
| Dee O’Mahony | 01:21:26 |
| James Dowling | 01:22:23 |
| Patricia Forde | 01:22:24 |
| Lynn McMahon | 01:22:21 |
| Gerry Flaherty | 01:22:36 |
| Clare Morgan | 01:25:02 |
| Sinead Howard | 01:28:08 |
| Aideen Sheehan | 01:43:06 |
| Imelda Callaghan | 01:49:24 |
Club Event: Blackrock A.C. 5km
A huge thanks to Rob and the team for a super-organised event and reminding us all how we are part of something bigger than running itself. It was great to see so many members at the Club 5k on 24th April 2022. A super event and hoping to do even better in 2023. Full results can be found HERE, some incredible performances by our juveniles winning both overall male and female categories! There are lots of photos on our Facebook page, thanks especially to Michelle, Patricia, Roisin and Valeria for some great snaps.
24th April 2022
Wexford Half Marathon
Blackrock A.C. Fit4Life members Caiman and Karen also completed the Wexford half marathon in April.
Caiman finished with 01:56:13, Karen with 01:58:38.
24th April 2022
Connemarathon
Dermot Hughes and Jamie Kennedy completed the Connemarathon. Dermot, injured as he was, still took on the challenge and even gave some personal reflections which can be viewed on our Twitter page. We also had Patricia, Jamie, Darren and Patrick take part in the Half, a great day out for all involved.
25th April 2022
Blackrock A.C. AGM
The annual club AGM took place this month and we would like to thank the committee, all attendees and our outgoing chairperson, Barry Thornton for his amazing contribution to the club in recent years. A special thanks to outgoing child welfare officer Emer Mooney and juvenile captain Nuala Hunt for their great work too. A full report will follow soon.
30th April 2022
Kelpies Half Marathon
A shout out also to David Graham who finished 3rd at the Race the Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland.
All month
Plank Challenge
Fair play to all Blackrock A.C. members who completed the Plank Challenge this months not hesitating to plank after training in the streets of Blackrock.
All month
Parkrun
Last but not least a special mention to everyone who ran and volunteered at Parkruns this month. We saw some fantastic PB’s and are grateful for everyone who is keeping the weekly Parkrun going.
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