Rathfarnham’s Sean Hehir finished best of the Irish in a personal best time of 2 hrs 16 mins 18 secs – comfortably inside the qualifying mark for the World Championships later this year.
Behind him, Kevin Seaward of St Malachy’s finished in 2:17:08, England-based Stephen Scullion on 2:17:59 and Raheny’s Mick Clohisey in 2:18:34. Hehir was also best of the Irish in London a year earlier.
In the first half of the race, Clohisey was on target for a sub-2:14 times going through the half way mark in 66:41, with Seaward and Hehir not too far behind on 67:07. Seaward led the Irish through 30km in 1:35.16 which meant that a fast time was still in his sights. Clohisey was six seconds behind, Hehir on 1:35.44 and Stephen Scullion on 1:37.04. By 35km, Seaward was still leading the Irish on 1:51.48, with Hehir half a minute behind on 1:52.20 and Scullion on 1:53:50.
All changed in the final two kilometres with Hehir catching Seaward and Clohisey fading. Seaward was chasing the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark of 2:16.30 and may make a second attempt in the autumn; Scullion, who dropped out after two miles in London last year and then took up rugby for a brief period, was knocking three minutes off his previous best time.
In the women’s race, Laura Graham faded after a good start. At 30k, which she went through in 1:51.36, she was on target for a time of under 2:37 , but she struggled as the race went on and finished in 2:42:38, which was 44 seconds off her best. Behind her was Barbara Sanchez of Clonliffe in a time of 2:47.36. Gladys Ganiel of North Belfast Harriers started btu dropped out through illness.
In the wheelchair race, won in dramatic fashion by Britain’s David Weir in 1:31.06, Kildare man Patrick Monahan of Le Cheile AC finished 19th in 1:33.41- five minutes quicker than last year.
In Hamburg, Clonliffe’s Sergiu Ciobanu went through 35km in 1:53:48 but with rain and hail battering the runners and making fast times impossible, he dropped out soon after. Paul Pollock tops the Irish men’s marathon rankings for this year with his time of 2:15.30 from Oita in Japan last February.
CONOR DOONEY anchored Raheny Shamrock to a dramatic victory over Donore Harriers at the Irish Life Health National Road Relays in Raheny today. On the opening leg, Mark Kirwan tripped and dislocated his shoulder but battled on. Kieran Kelly took over and then it was the turn of Kevin Dooney who was up against John Travers.
Travers took over in front putting Donore into the lead and then hand over to Eric Keogh for the final two mile leg. For Raheny, Kevin Dooney was followed by big brother Conor for the final leg. Dooney chased hard to catch Keogh and then held him off in the chase for the line to ensure the home side retained the title. It was an eighth senior men’s title for the Shamrocks.
On a good day for Raheny, the club narrowly beat Finn Valley for the M35 title in a new record time and also took the W50 title. St Finbarr’s from Cork won the M50 race, beating Raheny.
In their first ever appearance at the relays, Queen’s AC from Belfast won the women’s title, with a fast two-mile leg from Emma Mitchell proving crucial. However the win proved controversial, with one member of the team allegedly registered with another club and the team subsequently disqualified.
UCD, who finished second, were promoted to first, Letterkenny to second and defending champions Leevale to third. Letterkenny, with a powerful two-mile leg run in 10 mins 43 secs by Anne Marie McGlynn (who later an even faster time of 10:29 for the senior team), won the W35 race in a new record time. Winning the Boland Cup as best overall club was Raheny Shamrock.
THOMAS BARR ran “a sneaky, windy 49.99 secs” at his warm weather training camp in Torremolinos but whether that was for 400m flat or 400m hurdles isn’t clear. His training partner Paul Byrne opened his summer campaign with a time of 51.39 secs (flat or hurdles?). Harry Purcell of Trim made a good start to his outdoor season in the USA with a time of 47.56 secs for 400m today in Princeton. Also at Princeton, Conor O’Mara ran 3:55.65 and Mitchell Byrne 3:56.65 for 1500m; Liam Harris 14:43.08 for 5000m, and Orlaith Monahan 17:38.56 for 5000m while Emma O’Hara threw 58.32m in the hammer to put her second on the current rankings behind Michaela Walsh.
At Mount Sac, Clonliffe’s David Flynn ran a personal best 14 mins 9 secs, while Eilish Flanagan ran 10 mins 28 secs for 3000m – just off Linda Byrne’s national junior record.
RAHENY’S Freddy Sittuk and Sinead Tangney of Crusaders AC won the Virgin Media Night Run 10km in Dublin tonight. DSD’s Killian Mooneywas second of the men. Exactly 4,928 finished the run.
RAYMOND CAROLAN of Shercock and Deirdre Kenns from Moate were the winners of the Sheelin Challenge 16 mile held along the shores of Lough Sheelin, with Crover House the main sponsors.
For the first time, a 10km race was also held and the winners of this were Feichin Heery of host club St Brigids AC and Annalee’s Lyla Dolan Annalee AC.
COLM HILL pipped his CNOC team mate Kevin O’Boyle on the long 8.2km course in the Leinster Spring Orienteering League round at Carrick Mountain, Glenealy, Co Wicklow. Hill’s time for the tough physical course was 75 mins 27 secs; O’Boyle was half a minute behind. Women’s performance of the day came from 18 year old Clodagh Moran of host club 3ROC, who beat her Irish team mate Eadaoin Mac Cavana of GEN with two minutes between them. The event was a final blow-out before next weekend’s Irish Championships in Co Galway.
IN DONEGAL, Gary Murray won the O.N.E. St Eunan’s Branch 5km in Carrigans. His time of 15.18 left him a full two minutes clear of his nearest challenger. Letterkenny’s Ciaran Doherty was an impressive winner of Friday evening’s Milford Community Games 5km in 15.23.
Irish Life Health National Road Relays, Raheny.
Women – Senior (18 teams): {Queen’s University (Sinead Sweeney, Emma Mitchell, Rebecca Henderson) 20.58 disq}, 1 UCD (Alanna Lally, Ellie Hartnett, Ciara Everard) 21.04, 2 Letterkenny A 21.15, 3 Leevale 21.21. W35 (19 teams): 1 Letterkenny (Irene McFadden, Annemarie McGlynn, Monica McGranaghan) 22 mins 32 secs (rec), 2 Crusades 23.02, 3 Drogheda and District 23.06. W50 (6 teams): 1 Raheny Shamrock (Adrienne skins, Orla Gormley, Nora Byrne) 25.22, 2 DSD 25.44, 3 Finn Valley 27.42.
Men – Senior (27 teams): 1 Raheny Shamrock (Mark Kirwan, Kieran Kelly, Kevin Dooney, Conor Dooney)37.38, 2 Donore Hrs 37.39, 3 Kilkenny City Hrs 38.10, 4 City of Derry 38.27, 5 DSD 38.36, 6 Ennis Track 39.00. M35 (25 teams): 1 Raheny Shamrock (Ian Conroy, Michael McMahon, John Dunne) 19.28 (rec), 2 Finn Valley 19.31, 3 Sportsworld 19.53. M50 (12 teams): 1 St Finbarr’s (Michael Murphy, Cathal O’Connell, Ken Devine) 21.13, 2 Raheny Shamrock 21.21, 3 Rathfarnham 22.22.
Virgin Media Night Run 10km, Dublin (4,928 finishers; www.virginmedia/ie/nightrun/results)
Men: 1 Freddy Sittuk (Raheny Shamrock) 31.37. 2 Killian Mooney (DSD) 31.41 3 Shane O’Neill (Rathfarnham) 33.07, 4 Brian O’Kelly 33.51,5 Colin Griffin 34.06, 6 Brian Purcell 34.36. Women (results very hard to read)1 Sinead Tangney (Crusaders) 37.19, 2 ?? 3 ?? 4 Karen Burns 39.45, 5 ?? 6 Edel Gaffney 40.28.
Sheelin Challenge 16 mile and 10km (www.popupraces.ie)
16 mile (101 finishers)- Men: 1 1 Raymond Carolan (Shercock AC, M40) 1:40.242 Derek Hunter (Dunshaughlin AC, M50) 1:43.07, 3 Andrew Linsley (Trim AC, M40) 1 :51.10. Women: 1 Deirdre Kane (Moate) 1:55.15, 2 Olive Malone 2:04.38, 3 Ann Lynch (St Brigid’s, W50) 2:14.36.
10km (42)– Men: 1 Feichin Heery (St Brigid’s) 39.50, 2 Tom Donnelly (Kilgarry RC, M40) 41.23, 3 David Cunningham (St Brigid’s) 41.44. Women: 1 Lyla Dolan (Annalee, W50) 44.55., 2 Ali Shortt (St Brigid’s) 46.003 Yvonne Stratford (Innycvale AC, W40) 48.45.
Run for Boylo 10m (178 entries; www.myrunreuslts.com)
Men: 1 Sean McLaughlin 33.52 2 John Byrne 35.20, 3 Daire Comer (Tuam A) 35.59. Women: 1 Lorraine Carey 38.05, 2 Colette Tuohy (Mayo AC) 3 Mari Johnston (Sligo AC) 42.03.
Wexford Half Marathon and 10km (www.redtagtiming.com)
Half Marathon (869 finishers) – Men: 1 Myles Gibbons (SBR, M40) 73.44, 2 Eoin Lyons 74.20, 3 Mark McKenna 75.10. Women: 1 Emma Furey (St LOT) 91.44, 2 Clara Ryan 93.36, 3 Louise Morgan 95.25.
10km (515) – Men: 1 Niall Shiels (St Killian’s) 36.24, 2 Paul Gibbons (SBR) 36.59, 3 Alan Duffy 37.36. Women: 1 Vanessa Lavelle 43,17m 2 Clare Mullarkey 47.23, 3 Lavinia Leahy (W40) 47.34.
Great Railway Run 25km, 10km 5km (www.premiertimingsystems.ie)
25km (319 finishers)- Men: 1 Alan O’Shea 1:22.58 2 Alan Lehane 1:30.53, 3 Jeremy O’Donovan 1:33.45 Women: 1 Una Murphy Plant 1:47.08, 2 Mary Sweeney (W50) 1:54.09, 3 Sheila Buckley 1:56.35.
10km (262 finishers)- Men: 1 Tim Twomey 33.29,2 Brian kearney 35.55, 3 Gearoid O’Leary 37.08. Women: 1 Eimear O’Brien 42.32, 2 Ali O’Connor 43.22, 3 Linda Kelly 44.30.
5km (81 finishers)- Men:1 Graham Nudds 19.53, 2 Mark Kells 20.57, 3 Cathal Twomey 21.11. Women: 1 Mairead Lonergan 23.25, 2 Katie Harte 25.38, 3 Emma Riordan 25.58.
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