Rathfarnham’s Sean Hehir was first Irish club athlete home at today’s SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon. Hehir’s time of 2:19.47 put him well clear of second placed Gary O’Hanlon of Clonliffe, also first M40, who finished in 2:25.21. David Mansfield of Clonliffe, who is coached by last year’s champion Sergiu Ciobanu, finished third in 2:30.45.
Freddy Kerron Sittuk of Raheny Shamrock was technically first Irish club man home in 2:15.19 but is not eligible for a national title since he doesn’t have an Irish passport and hasn’t fulfilled the residency requirements. He still counted for Raheny’s team victory; some kind of anomaly there? Overall winner of a tightly-fought race was Elemu Gemechu of Ethiopia.
Pauline Curley of Tullamore Harriers was winning her third national marathon title – ten years after she took her first. In eleven years, Pauline has run Dublin nine times and never finished outside the top three. She was also first W45 – and the oldest Irish champion ever, eclipsing Danny McDaid, who was a mere stripling of 42 when he won a national marathon title in his native Letterkenny. Jane Ann Healy-Meehan of Athenry was the surprise second woman, with Laura Graham of Mourne Runners third. Both Sarah Mulligan, who was ahead of Curley at 22 miles, and Michelle McGee dropped out late in the race.
When it came to the teams, Raheny Shamrock’s trio of Freddy Sittuk, Mick Boyle and Dermot Gorman came out on top in senior men with a combined time of 7:30.27 – less than a minute ahead of defending champions Rathfarnham WSAF, with Clonliffe third. A total of 150 teams finished.
Fastest overall of the women’s teams was Westport’s trio of Anne Marie Needham, Marian O’Malley and Michelle Needham who took the W35 gold with a time of 9:53.01, beating Ballymore Cobh’s trio of Sonia O’Sullivan (W45), Orla O’Rourke (W45) and Kathryn Carruthers (W50) who clocked a combined 9:54.39. Third were Raheny Shamrock’s Annmarie Woods, Lorraine Byrne and Elaine McNulty in 10:00.50. Taking senior gold with 10:11.54 was Donore’s team of Amy Moriarty, Breda Mahony and Sinead Graham with only eight minutes separating the top six teams. Second were Brothers Pearse and third were Springwell.
Leading home the massive 308 M35 teams who finished was St Finbarr’s. They beat Donore Harriers by seven seconds. Eagle was first of the 19 M50 teams, beating Mullingar Harriers. Raheny Shamrock were first W50 ahead of Lucan Harriers and Sligo; three teams finished. A grand total of 477 men’s and 239 women’s teams finished; take a bow all of you!
Winning the wheelchair category by a country mile in a phenomenal 1:43.05, which knocked NINE minutes off his own course record was Patrick Monahan from Naas.
Irish – Men: Sean Hehir (Rathfarnham) 2:19.47, 2 Gary O’Hanlon (Clonliffe Hrs, M40) 2:25.21, 3 David Mansfield (Clonliffe Hrs) 2:30:45.
Women: 1 Pauline Curley (Tullamore Hrs) 2:49.29, 2 Jane Ann Healy-Meehan (Athenry) 2:54.48, 3 Laura Graham (Mourne Runners) 2:56. 21
Wheelchair – 1 Patrick Monahan 1 hrs 43 mins 5 secs, 2 Barry Rice (M35) 2:10.05, 3 Richie Powell (M40) 
2:10.30, 4 Paul Hannan (M45) 2:15.24.
SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon (12,919 finishers; www.tdl.ltd.uk)
Men: 1 Alemu Gemechu (Ethiopia, M19) 2:14.01, 2 Francis Ngare 2:14.07, 3 Asefa Bekele (Ethiopia) 2:14.20, 4 Eliud Too (Kenya) 2:14.54, 5 Stepan Kiselev 2.15.17, 6 Freddy Keron Stituk (Raheny Shamrock) 2:15.19. Irish: 1 Sean Hehir (Rathfarnham WSAF) 2:19.47, 2 Gary O’Hanlon (Clonliffe Hrs, M40) 2:25.21, 3 David Mansfield (Clonliffe Hrs) 2:30.45, 4 Eoin Callaghan (Star of the Sea) 2:31.27, 5 Louis McCarthy (Rathfarnham WSAF) 2:32.11, 6 Colin Merritt (Carrig na bhFear, M40) 2:32.42, 7 Colin Griffin (Ballinamore) 2:33.16, 8 Raivis Zakis (W Waterford, M35) 2:33.19, 9 Richard Gorman (Sligo AC, M35) 2:33.22, 10 Pauric McKinney (Inishowen, M50) 2:33.51. M35: 1 Martin Matthews (BRAT) 2:32.13, 2 Zakis, 3 Gorman. M40: 2 Gareth Lowe (Clowne RR) 2:28.55, 3 Merritt. M45: 1 Stuart Campbell (Corstorphine AC,Sco) 2:34.24, 2 Mick Boyle (Raheny Shamrock) 2:35.05, 3 Eugene McCarthy 2:40.54. M50: 2 Cathal O’Connell (St Finbarr’s) 2:39.00, 3 Paul Moran (Rathfarnham WSAF) 2:42.22. M55: 1 Martin Halvey (Ranelagh Hrs, London) 2:56.14, 2 Terenece Coyle 2:58.20, 3 Norman Mawhinney (Ballydrain Hrs) 3:01.08. M60: 1 Martin Kearney (GCH) 3:04.11, 2 Ronan Ward (Civil Service) 3:04.44, 3 Hugh Boyle (Springwell RC) 3:10.00. M65: 1 Paddy Pender 3:25.48, 2 Sean Whelan (Ennis TC) 3:29.05, 3 Joseph Kvihaug (Marathon Tours) 3:29.38. M70: 1 Raymond Hall (Halifax Hrs) 3:32.25, 2 Jack Carberry 3:43.00, 3 Sam Higg (Lagan Valley) 4:01.35. M75: 1 Kevin Stynes 4:11.40, 2 Roald Olsvik 5:03.13, 3 Sean Lambe 5:20.39.
Teams – Senior (150 teams): 1 Raheny Shamrock (Sittuk, Boyle, Gorman) 7:30.27, 2 Rathfarnham WSAF (Furey, Hehir, McCarthy) 7:31.16, 3 Clonliffe Hrs (O’Hanlon, Mansfield, Ramsey) 7:47.54. M35 (308 teams): 1 St Finbarr’s (Morgan, Corbett, Cunningham) 8:12.23, 2 Donore Hrs (Whitty, Kinane, Moriarty) 8:12.30, 3 Clonmel AC (Ryan, Long, Curley) 8:14.55. M50 (19 teams): 1 Eagle (Hill, Boland, Leahy) 8:49.56, 2 Mullingar Hrs (Newman, Glennon, Naughton) 9:19.23, 3 St Finbarr’s (O’Connell, McEvoy, O’Brien) 9:29.05.
Women: 1 Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine) 2:31.08, 2 Grace Monanyi (Kenya) 2:32.16, 3 Tesfanesh Denbi (Ethiopia) 2:34.44, 4 Zerfe Boku (Ethiopia) 2:36.26, 5 Esther Macharia (Kenya) 2:39.23, 6 Hulnara Vyhouskaya (W35) 3:39.44. Irish: 1 Pauline Curley (Tullamore Hrs, W45) 2:49.32, 2 Jane Ann Healy-Meehan (Athenry) 2:54.48, 3 Laura Graham (Moyne) 2:56.21, 4 Charlotte Kearney (Donadea Runners, W35) 2:56.48, 5 Joan Ennis (Grange Fermoy, W50) 2:58.11, 6 Helen Barry (Sli Cualann, W40) 2:58.28. W35: 3 Jenny Rutstrom 3:04.53. W40: 2 Tara Kennedy Monks (Defence Forces) 2:59.24, 3 Gillian Wasson (Springwell Runners) 3:04.00. W45: 2 Sonia O’Sullivan 3:03.32, 3 Karen Lavelle (Star of the Sea) 3:05.58. W50: 2 Donna Philson 3:17.54, 3 Karin Etter-Quabeck 3:19.17. W55: 1 Susan Waterstone (Civil Service Hrs) 3:14.45, 2 Mary Sweeney (St Finbarr’s) 3:16.22, 3 Janet Binns 3:32.55.W60: Marianne Niemann (LC Solbad Ravensburg.Team 7i) 3:31.35, 2 Mary Jennings (Waterford AC) 3:37.50, 3 Mary Lynch 3:45.36. W65: 1 Eva Frisk Cook 3:54.40, 2 Jean-Francois Lafaye 4:06.35, 3 Eileen O’Brien (Lucan Hrs) 4:09.35. W70: Brigid Quinn (Ballymena Runners) 4:39.47, 2 Eileen Culhan 4:57.44, 3 Kate Farrell 5:15.32. W75: Maija Kainulainen 6:48.21.
Teams – Senior (114 teams): 1 Donore Hrs (Moriarty, Mahony, Graham) 10:11.54, 2 Bros Pearse (Clarke, O’Meara, McCann) 10:12.23, 3 Springwell RC (Wasson, Gillen, McSherry) 10:15.52. W35 (125 teams): 1 Westport (A Needham, O’Malley, M Needham) 9:53.01, 2 Ballymore Cobh (O’Sullivan, O’Rourke, Carruthers) 9:54.39, 3 Raheny Shamrock (Woods, Byrne, McNulty) 10:00.50. W50: 1 Raheny Shamrock (Manley, Purdue-Smyth, Kirwan) 11:36.00, 2 Lucan Hrs (McCarthy, O’Brien, Murphy) 12:38.04, 3 Sligo AC (Furey, Young, Seery) 14:15.47.
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