Happy Faces, Sore Feet, and that was just the dancing. There was an extra special buzz throughout the valleys of Connemara yesterday, as the 39.3 mile Ultra Marathoners, merged with the 26.2 mile Marathoners and the 2,000 strong field of brave Half Marathoners. Giant runners entertained the nervous participants at the start area of the Half Marathon, U2 Massive Heads blared and danced on the ‘devil’s mother’ just outside Leenane and devils goaded the runners up the ‘hell of the west’ and on to the finish at Maam Cross.
As always, there is a serious element to the Connemara Marathon – Kenyan Sammy Kiron Sittok blazed to victory in a course record time of 2 hours 27 minutes for the full marathon. Fellow countryman Lezan Kimutai took first place for the 5th time in the Half Marathon. There was an Irish success in the Ultra Marathon for Donegal’s Gary Crossin who finished the marathon and a half ‘Ultra’ in an impressive 4 hours 22 minutes and a local winner in the womens half marathon with Regina Casey repeating her performance in Connemara with her second win in the race. But no one was as surprised as the winners in the women’s full and ultra as Clonliffe Harrier Finnuala Doherty and UK’s Carol Morgan from the UK took top places.
… and the dancing went on until 2am at the celebration night!
Top Three Results:
1 Female Full 6125 Fionnuala Doherty Clonliffe Harriers 3:11:47
2 Female Full 6129 Vanessa Fenton 3:13:51
3 Female Full 6113 rosemary Heneghan 3:17:20
1 Male Full 5001 Freddy Keron Sittuk 2:27:48
2 Male Full 5327 Brendan Gill Mayo AC 2:47:40
3 Male Full 5003 Keith Whyte Ennis Track Club 2:51:16
1 Female Ultra 39362 Carol Morgan 5:20:18
2 Female Ultra 39326 Cleo Oliver Winchester and District Athletics Club 5:31:55
3 Female Ultra 39330 Valerie Glavin AthenryAC 5:32:32
1 Male Ultra 39111 Garrett Crossan Letterkenny AC 4:22:17
2 Male Ultra 39204 Martin Rea 4:27:37
3 Male Ultra 39208 Mick Rice 4:29:05
1 Female Half 2119 Regina Casey Galway City Harriers 1:31:08
2 Female Half 2002 Orla Ni Mhuircheartaigh 1:34:01
3 Female Half 3328 Orla Gormley Raheny 1:34:17
1 Male Half 1667 Lezan Kimutai 1:11:16
2 Male Half 1144 Thomas Kelly North Sligo 1:19:31
3 Male Half 1221 John MacEnri IMRA 1:21:40
