in the 29th running of the Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon on Monday 3rd May. Maria is hoping to beat her previous PB of 2 hours 35 minutes 29 seconds when finishing 8th in Paris a year ago. Should the 34 year old succeed she will earn an additional £1000 for breaking the course record of 2.39.22 set 2 years ago by Marashet Jumma of Ethiopia.
The Letterkenny athlete will be hoping there will be no repeat of the leg cramps which forced her out of this year’s recent Paris Marathon. She said “My legs just didn’t feel right early on so I just decided to cut my losses and pulled out. This is because I really want a good marathon time this spring so I was delighted when the Belfast organisers accepted me”.
Maria is likely to receive plenty of pacing support from husband Gary Crossan who is aiming for a similar time. Gary, who is just returning from injury, has a PB of 2 hours 19 minutes and finished 2nd in Belfast in 2002 behind England’s Simon Pride. He was also 3rd the previous year.
Other top female names include Moldovia’s Natalia Cerches who ran 2 hours 45 minutes two years ago and Ethiopia’s Enatesh Tadesse who has a PB of 2 hours 44 minutes from 2006. Also running will be international Sarah Stradling who ran just under 2 hours 50 minutes in London last year.
The Belfast Marathon office has had a late rush of entries from runners who had planned to compete in other marathons but have been thwarted by the blanket ban on flights. This includes 60 athletes from the Republic who were to compete in Boston plus others who have decided the hassle of travelling to this weekend’s London Marathon would mitigate against good performances.
Total Belfast entries at 3250 are again higher than a year ago and are fast approaching the all time high of 3600 in the early 1980s. One athlete who is undecided between Belfast and London is Gladys Ganiel O’Neill- she is hoping to take the London start line if flights resume by Friday. Gladys is hoping to take some 4 minutes off her PB of 2.46.46 when she finished 10th in Amsterdam last October. Such a time should be within her grasp especially given her PB by over 2 minutes in the recent Bath Half Marathon.
One veteran athlete also planning for London is North Belfast’s Matt Shields. Matt, who finished 3rd behind Greg Hannon in the first ever Belfast Marathon also has the distinction of a top 30 finish in 2 hours 20 minutes in the first ever London Marathon in 1981. This weekend his objective is to finish in under 3 hours- a highly respectable time for someone in the over 55 category.
The 2010 Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon takes place on May Day Bank Holiday Monday, 3 May, starting at the City Hall at 9am and finishing at Ormeau Park.
The Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon is also sponsored by Aer Lingus, Belfast City Council, Charles Hurst Renault, New Balance, Sport Northern Ireland, Tayto, Translink and Up and Running. Media partners are the Daily Mirror and U105. Official accommodation partner is Premier Inn.
The 2010 Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon is organised by Belfast City Marathon Ltd., in partnership with Athletics Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council, the Department for Regional Development, Newtownabbey Borough Council, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Sustrans and Translink.