Dublin City Marathon
There was a huge entry of 14,500 runners for this year's Airtricity Dublin City Marathon on Bank Holiday Monday and runners were very thankful that Dublin escaped the very stormy conditions that crossed the Irish Sea on Sunday night. The absence of any elite overseas athletes meant that there would be Irish winners of both the men's and ladies' races with Sean Hehir and Maria McCambridge taking the honours.
There were some fantastic performances from Carrick AC athletes on the day. Brian Murphy was once again our first finisher in a brilliant time of 2:30:24. Brian ran very consistently throughout the race as he passed the halfway mark in 1:14:20. Our second finisher was Daragh Byrne who clocked a personal best time of 2:50:55. Tommy Falconer made a fine debut at the 26-mile distance to finish in 2:56:44 and Andrew Downey also broke the magical 3-hour barrier as he came home in 2:58:33. Michael O' Sullivan was our next finisher in 3:18:26 while experienced marathoner, Seamus Ward, clocked 3:30:24. Robert Glascott was also tackling the distance for the first time and finished in 3:44:29. Our two representatives in the ladies' race were Melanie Ward who will be well pleased with her time of 4:27:35 and Lisa Bartley who also did well to complete the course in 4:48:59. Well done to all our runners who now deserve a well-earned break from the very long training runs.
SuperValu Winter League
Week Three of the SuperValu Winter League in Kildalton College, Piltown, saw 106 runners complete the 5km course on another perfect evening for running. First finishers on the night were Benny Hahessy and David Cantwell with times of 18:32 and 18:35 respectively. The fastest time recorded was Pat O' Sullivan's 17:33. Martina O' Dwyer posted the fastest time for the ladies with a speedy 18:15. The league table will begin to take shape over the next few weeks as runners improve their times for the distance. Indeed, some huge improvements have already been achieved. Prizes will be awarded to the most improved runners over the ten weeks of the league with each runner's best eight performances to count. Remember that the first group will start at 7 pm sharp each week, followed at two-minute intervals by the other groups. Hi-viz bibs should be worn at all times by participants and numbers should be worn on the front of runners' bibs. It is important for finishers to remain in single file while passing through the finish 'tunnel' so that their numbers can be accurately recorded. Full results for Week 3 and starting times for Week 4 can be viewed at http:www.carrickroadrunners.ie/