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| Joe Sweeney for Dunboyne? |
Three women may have made the Olympic A qualifying marathon time, but all three now must wait until the spring marathon season is over before they can be certain of selection.
Last Sunday, Maria McCambridge became the third woman to make the A standard of 2 hour 37 minutes when she ran 2:36.37 in Rome. She joins Linda Byrne who ran 2:36.23 at last October’s Dublin Marathon and Ava Hutchinson with a time of 2:35:33 at Houston in January.
For the remaining “Marathon Mission” members, the key date is April 15 when the Rotterdam Marathon takes place. Among those lining out are likely to be Caitriona Jennings, Lorraine Manning, Lizzie Lee and Breege Connolly.
Gladys Ganiel, who clocked a personal best 2:40.56 behind Hutchinson in Houston last January, may run London a week after Rotterdam.
Jennings, who ran 57 minutes 34 seconds at the Cara Bundoran 10-Mile earlier this month is in the form of her life and, whatever happens, looks certain to improve her marathon best time of 2:43.08 run in Dublin last October.
Lizzie Lee, the former triathlete who only took up running three years ago, is another to watch after clocking a personal best time of 57 minutes 17 seconds behind McCambridge at the Ballycotton ’10’.
Maintaining a consistent pace is the key to marathon success and in Rome, McCambridge stuck to around 5 mins 55 secs miling (or 3 mins 40 per km) from the start, only slowing down in the final 10km when her feet blistered badly.
McCambridge has now run four marathons in remarkably consistent times – Dublin 2008 in 2:36.33, Paris April 2009 in 2:35.29, Dublin 2011 in 2:40.24 and now Rome in 2:3637.
Clearly she has a faster marathon in her if the conditions are right – as indeed have both Hutchinson and Byrne. Exciting times for Irish distance running!
* Another “Marathon Mission” member back to winning ways is Lorraine Manning who struggled with injury over the winter. Her time of 58 mins 55 secs gave her victory in the Kostal Mallow 10-Mile on Monday. Overall winner was Bantry’s Alan O’Shea in 52:35.
All roads lead to Co Meath on Sunday for the EirGrid Dunboyne 4-mile Road Race (3pm), with national intercountry cross-country champion Joe Sweeney of DSD leading the elite entry. The top runners will chase the €400 cheque on offer to the winning man and women, along with a €250 course record bonus (under 18.09 for men and 20.20 for women). Runners , joggers and walkers of all standards are welcome, with a t-shirt, goody bag and post-races tea and sandwiches for all finishers. Online registration closes on Friday; see www.dunboynerun.com.
Civil Service Harriers has picked five athletes for the funding scheme it operates from the profits of the annual Frank Duffy 10-Mile Road race, which is part of the Dublin Marathon Series. The five are: promising cross country athlete Laura Behan (KCK Waterford) , 800m specialist Ciara Everard (UCD), high jumper , Barry Pender (St Abban’s), middle distance athlete Danny Mooney (Letterkenny) and sprinter Steph Creaner (Celtic/DCH).
Irish women’s javelin champion Anita Fitzgibbon of DSD opened her season with a throw of 46.45m at the winter Throws Meet in Bar, Montenegro. Fitzgibbon threw a personal best 47.09m to win the national title at Santry last August.
*Paul Fleming of Rathfarnham WSAF won the M35 1500m at the British Masters Indoors in Lee Valley. He also finished 2nd in the 800m.
Surprise winners of the St Patrick’s Festival 5km in Dublin’s city centre were Gareth Turnbull of St Malachy’s and Sarah Treacy of Moynalvey. Turnbull, who has been mostly inactive for the past six years, caught early leader Tomas Fitzpatrick of Tallaght in the final kilometre. A close second of the women was Lizzie Lee, with Lorraine Manning third. The race, organised impeccably by MSB, was well supported by club runners and had over 800 chipped finishers as well as a large number of familes walkers and children. A great day!
* Bohermeen’s Darragh Rennicks and Emilia Dan of Dunboyne were the winners at the Fr Murphy’s 5-mile in Co Meath. Darragh’s father Colm won the same race 40 years ago.
Barry Minnock of Rathfarnham WSAF beat Michael Shannon by just two seconds for victory in the Craughwell 10-Mile in Co Galway. Making it a hat trick of victories in the women’s race was Tullamore veteran Pauline Curley, who had also won the Streets of Portlaoise 5km a day earlier.
Fancy running the Düsseldorf Marathon on April 29? The Irish Business Network (IBN) in Germany is hoping to enter an Irish team of 40 runners – half based in Germany, the other half flying over from Ireland either as a solo runner or as part of a four-person relay team. Info Paul Cahill at paul.cahill@irishbusinessnetwork.de.
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