On Sun 28th Sept, Breffni Worrall ran in the Loughrea 5 mile road race in Galway. Breffni had a great run finishing in a time of 35 mins 47 secs and placed 9th in his category. Well done Breffni.

On Sun 28th Sept, our women's team ran in the Dublin Novice Cross Country Championship in the Phoenix Park. Well done to our ladies team of Freda Comiskey, Sinead McIntyre, Bernie Stapleton and Nicola Daly who competed in the Dublin Novice Cross Country championship over 3K. On a notoriously challenging course, Freda Comiskey made light of the conditions and was the first Lucan athlete to cross the finishing line in an excellent time of 12 mins 20 secs finishing in 21st position overall. Hot on her heels was the in-form Sinead McIntyre in 12 mins 51 secs who was 28th overall while Bernie Stapleton challenged her all the way in 29th position and finished in 12 mins 59 secs. Nicola Daly, too, is having a great season and completed the Lucan team’s performance in 13 mins 11 secs finishing 36th overall. Our women have used this race as a good early season marker for themselves over the past few seasons and the experience gained at these championships is invaluable. In the team event, we finished 8th overall with a combined score of 114 points (21, 28, 29, 36). Well done to all.

On Sun 28th Sept, our juvenile athletes competed in the first Dublin Board Juvenile Cross Country League of the winter in the Phoenix Park. Starting with the U10 Girls, Nicole O Gorman had a great run finishing 2nd overall. Saoirse Rehill also continues to show her talent and she finished 11th overall. There were also good runs from Amy Halpin, Sarah Robinson and new member Gina Cohen who was running her first race after only one training session. In the U10 Boys, Oisin Smith had a fine race, also his first in Lucan colours. In the U11 Boys, another new member, Niall Flanagan, finished an impressive 6th while in the U12 Girls, Tara Andrews continues to impress in all her races and she finished 2nd in her race. Sarah Rehill was also in top form finishing 11th, while Caitlin was hot on her heels in 13th. In the U12 Boys, Sean Townsend continued his winning form, producing a sensational run to win the race. In the U13 Girls, Rachel Briggs had a very good run in finishing 14th, with Shannon Browne in close attendance in 17th. In the U13 Boys, another new club member, Sam Kelly, had a fine race in this category. Finally, in the U18 Boys, the much improved and still improving, John Grimes, continued his excellent run of form in finishing 2nd over 4,000 metres in his race. Overall Lucan had 15 juvenile athletes in action and all can be very happy with their performance over a hilly Phoenix Park course. Well done to all.

On Sat 27th Sept, Eithne Reid, Myra Nolan and Lorraine Heffernan competed in the Dublin Brewery Triathlon at the Guinness Swimming pool and the Phoenix Park. Myra, making her debut in the triathlon, completed the 750M swim, 20K cycle and 5k run in an outstanding 1 hr 38 mins. Lorraine, also making her triathlon debut, was very close behind in a quite superb 1 hr 41 mins while chasing her all the way was Eithne in an excellent 1 hr 42 mins, who is also quite new to the sport. Well done to all.

On Sun 21st Sept, Conor McGee ran well in the Philadelphia Half Marathon. Conor continued his excellent form as he had an outstanding run finishing 32nd out of more than 13,000 athletes. Conor’s time of 1 hr 9 mins 19 secs was extremely close to his personal best of 1 hr 9 mins exactly. Well done Conor. More.

On Sat 20th Sept, a group of Lucan athletes ran in the Lifestyle Sport/Adidas-sponsored BHAA Half Marathon in the Phoenix Park. Derval McCarthy led the way for Lucan running a brilliant 1 hr 35 mins 44 secs for the half marathon distance finishing 2nd in her category. Bernie Stapleton continued her busy season running a great time of 1hr 50 mins 52 secs finished 26th of the 207 athletes in her category. Eileen O’Brien had another super performance for Lucan finishing 2nd her category in 1 hr 54 mins 30 secs. David O'Doherty had a very good run finishing in 1 hr 32 mins, Brid Fogarty clocked 2hrs 02 mins, Sinead McIntyre 2 hrs 04 mins, Anne Murtagh 2 hrs 08 mins, Ursula Murphy 2 hrs 08 mins and Bernie Doyle 2 hrs 14 mins. These are some very good times on a course which is quite challenging. Great to see so many representing the club. Well done to all. More.

On Tue 16th Sept, Sinead McIntyre and Colm O'Connor captured the Lucan Harriers handicap-based road race in Griffeen Park. This race is one of our really enjoyable club traditions and the handicap-based race always prove to be exciting. We set the handicap times based on the results from the previous week's club championships - the winner of the club championship is the last person to start in the handicap race, and since they are considered the strongest runner, they are set the task of running everyone else down. So having placed 4th in the club championship one week previously, Sinead McIntyre set off 4th from last in the handicap race. And she knew that if she let up at all, Freda Comiskey or Eithne Reid or Bernie Stapleton would be ready to take advantage and would come sailing past. Sinead ran a very strong race, passing all who started before her, and she held off the challenges from Freda, Eithne and Bernie. Sinead's superb 2nd mile sealed the win for her in the ladies 2 mile race to cross the finishing line first in 16 mins 37 secs (total time). Colm O'Connor had placed 5th in the men's club championship the previous week and he improved hugely this time around. Colm started with a 2 minute handicap made up the ground on Breffni Worrall in the 2nd mile of the men’s 4 mile race. Colm continued to pile on the pace and no one was going to catch him as he pushed on over the remaining 2 miles to cross the line 1st in 27 mins 09 secs with the handicap. Well done to everyone.

On Tue 9th Sept, John Grimes and Freda Comiskey were crowned Lucan Harriers' Road Champions for 2008. Congratulations to this year’s road race champions Freda Comiskey and John Grimes who proved strongest in the terrible conditions prevailing on the night in Griffeen Park. The women’s race over 2 miles proved to be an entertaining affair with Freda Comiskey just edging ahead of Bernie Stapleton in the first mile. Eithne Reid and Sinead McIntyre led the chasing pack at this stage. Freda continued to run strongly over the second mile and came home a convincing winner in 13 mins 49 secs. Bernie also rang well throughout and clocked a time of 13 mins 58 secs. Eithne Reid and Sinead McIntyre pushed on strongly to the finish in times of 14 mins 37 secs and 14mins 40 secs respectively. Throughout the field there were hotly contested battles taking place as can be seen from the results. The men’s race over 4 miles was also keenly contested. John Grimes, Edward Grimes and Gareth Faraday pulled away from the field over the first mile. The twins, John and Edward, ran together over the next 2 miles before John pulled clear over the last mile to win in a time of 23 mins 40 secs. His brother Edward finished very well in 2nd place in a time of 23 mins 52 secs. Edward, too, has clearly improved a lot over recent months. Gareth Faraday, just returning from an injury lay-off was 3rd in 24mins 41secs. Henry Langton and Colm O’Connor led the chasing pack for much of the race before Henry pulled away in the second half to finish in 4th in 25 mins 38 secs with Colm 5th in 26 mins 34 secs. Breffni Worrall continued his sequence of races after injury in running a time of 28 mins 31 secs. The handicap based race will take place on Tuesday next and we expect to see 2 more close competitions. Results.

On Sun 7th Sept, John Grimes, Alan Cassells, Liz Arkins and Eileen O'Brien all ran really well in the Le Cheile 5km road race in Leixlip. John Grimes, especially, had a good run in 2nd place in the men's race. John has shown a lot of improvement in recent months and this time he ran a very noteworthy time of 16:59. This time is clear evidence of John's improvement and, combined with his recent 800 personal best of 2:09, shows that he has a lot of ability. Combining that ability with some hard work, he will go far. Alan Cassells is making a comeback and he displayed that he is on the right course with a 4th place finish. On the women's side, Liz Arkins in 2nd place overall and Eileen O'Brien, 3rd overall, continued their excellent seasons. These two women turn in good performances all year round and it's great to see them doing so well. Well done to all on a great day for our athletes.

On Sun 7th Sept, Joe Corcoran and Henry Langton ran in the National Half Marathon in Waterford. The two guys continued their preparations for the upcoming Dublin marathon by competing over the half marathon distance and both had very good runs. Lucan’s first athlete to finish was Joe Corcoran clocking a very good time of 1:26:03, while Henry finished close behind in 1:29:06. Well done guys.

On Sat 6th Sept, Bernie Stapleton and Jim Dwyer ran in the Pearl Izumi-sponsored BHAA 10K road race in Tymon Park. Bernie Stapleton and Jim Dwyer continued their impressive seasons at this race. Bernie was the first Lucan athlete across the line in 47 mins 57 secs, while Jim Dwyer continued to show his consistency in clocking a time of 60 mins 12 secs for the distance.