from Craughwell AC Written by Mark Davis
A large crowd of what seemed to be well over 200 brave souls defied the weather to take on two laps of Tuam’s breezy course yesterday. It was excellently organized and managed as usual by the experienced hands of host club Tuam AC. GCH legend Gerry Ryan was there and there was never any doubt of the outcome – he jogged away from all comers from the start to complete the race in about 25:02, on his own all of the way. Gerry is 44 now and shows no signs of slowing up. I just looked up the Masters world records – the world record for 10K for M45 is 30:02 – should Gerry stage an attempt next year..??? It would not be easy but I for one wouldn’t bet against him being the first man ever over 45 to break 30 minutes if he trained hard for it and it would be a fitting cap for his career. Maybe an idea for a promotion next year..?
Mayo’s Robert Malseed was stranded on his own filling the gap between Gerry and the rest of the pack – Robert finished somewhere about 26:35 I would guess. Behind him I had a good battle all the way with Mayo’s TJ McHugh for 3rd place and for once just snuck it ahead of him by a second or two. We both finished just under 27 minutes I think – about 30-40 seconds off our usual pace due to the wind. Martin Corcoran was not far behind in 5th place.
Catherine Conway led the ladies home and I can only remember a few of the results from memory. Tuam local Ian Egan was first M40 and our own Martin Corcoran was first M45.
It was great to see suh a good turnout from the club with many familiar faces there including Brian McGee,Kathleen Waters,Tony Nevin, Oliver Niland,Karen Guest, Pat Kelly, Pat Reidy,Liam Nolan,Tony o callahan, Julie gallagher , Sheila Cannon,Diarmuid Quill, Reena Deely,Rhoda Brown,Tony Fitzpatrick ,Helen van der Beek,Valarie Slattery and many more.
Well done to Tuam AC for organising it and stay tuned to their website: https://www.tuamac.com for full results as they become available.
