from Donore Harriers website Cold conditions were ideal for some and not for others but overall it was a positive day for club members. Unfortunately Ken Nugent had to pull up in the early stages with a foot injury which was a very disappointing end to his race. Fergal Whitty who had been running in close contention with Ken pushed on to run an outstanding 2.34.33 knocking ten minutes of his best. He finished 5th O35 and this superb run was no surprise considering his recent form on the roads.
Next we had Joe Fagan who was running very strongly for most of the race but developed breathing problems in the latter stages and pulled up at 21 miles, he bravely walked in to the finish in 3.34. Watch this space as Ken and Joe who will be back fighting another day. George Brady ran an unusually conservative race for the first half but thundered through the field in the second half ending up with a 251.03, consistent as ever, one of the many 250 or so marathons he has done this year! He was followed in by Anne Curley who struggled from 11 miles on but rallied in the latter stages to finish in a very solid 2.54.08, she finished 2nd O40 and 6th Irish woman so it was a good day’s work. Ronan Lambe was close behind in a superb 2.54.45 a pb by 4 mins, he is improving rapidly over the distance and hopefully the pb’s will keep coming. Next in we had new member Paul Mallett who was over the moon with a 2.55.57 followed by a superb run by Shane McCauley 2.59.48 and Stephen Dawson who annihilated his previous best by 25 mins to finish in 3.10.05. New member Brian O Riordan had a brilliant debut marathon in 3.12.31 a great effort considering he can find the time to train with his busy acting career. Next in was the consistent John Gleeson who finished in 3.21.01 followed by Ciaran Ahern son of former president Maurice in a brilliant debut 3.24.09. The evergreen Charlie O’Neill was happy to break the 3.30 barrier in 3.29.39. Audrey Doyle was our second lady finisher in an outstanding debut marathon of 3.37.15, her first words were “never again” well we’ve all said that once! We had yet another stormer from the girls team with Angela Eustace breaking the 4 hour barrier with a brilliant 3.58.26 destroying her previous best by 18 mins. Her running partner Michelle Dawson ran a superb pb not far behind in 4.05.33 also knocking nearly 25 mins off her previous time with Sheila Casey 4.02.59 and Aisling McDonagh 4.03.42, just ahead. They were followed by Hilary O’ Connor in very decent debut of 4.13.21. Heres to the next one girls! Apologies to anybody missed here, we can update later.
The support on the course by club members was superb all the way around, and a big thank you to Jennifer O’Keefe and all the club volunteers whose alarms started early to help at our drinks station – it always makes the 8 mile mark the best part of the race!
As is always the day before the Dublin marathon we had the annual Leinster Novice and Masters races this time in the lovely but tough setting of hilly Rathdrum and our ladies team didn’t disappoint and easily won the gold medal. The twins Íde and Sorcha NicDhomhnaill went with the early pace and Íde finished a brilliant third chased down by her sister in 6th place, there is a lot more to come from the twins as they are getting more experience with each race, they were followed by Michelle Murray who had her best race yet in 21st closely followed by Breda Mahoney in 23rd, next in were Aisling Swaine 29th, Medhb Peavoy 32nd and Marianne Dunleavy in 34th who all packed well and ran very strongly as a team, well done girls. In the masters race we had Samantha Conroy who showed her old class on the cross country to finish 3rd O35 and 11th overall followed by the comeback kid Cliodhna Carthy in 17th, Karen Behan showing a welcome return to good form in 19th and Michelle Murray in an excellent 33rd. In the men’s novice race Jonathon Daly finished in a brilliant 9th place followed by Patrick Moriarty in 27th and Darren Hand in 30th, unfortunately they didn’t have a complete team but it was a good solid effort and shows that there are medals to be won in the future. The masters men’s race saw Barry Potts returning from injury in a creditable 70th and 2nd O60 followed by a very strong run by Des Gill in 73rd and Terry Mee 2nd O65 in 102nd.