Running in her first ever marathon Linda Byrne produced the star performance at Monday’s National Lottery Dublin Marathon from an Irish point of view at least.
After a career of ups and downs, the Dundrum South Dublin athlete showed impressive maturity when she backed off the fast early pace set by her former clubmate Maria McCambridge of Letterkenny.
Byrne’s clubmate Ava Hutchinson also showed in the early stages, but still Byrne held back.
She found herself closing on McCambridge around half way and moved to the front at around 16 miles.
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| Ava Hutchinson |
When she went through 20 miles in 1 hour 59 minutes, she was on target for a time of around 2 hours 36 minutes and held on to finish in 2 hours 36 minutes 20 seconds. That not only gave her the Irish title, but an A qualifying mark for London 2012.
Afterwards, Byrne confessed that she was “wrecked” and “absolutely shocked”. She plans on running another marathon early next year to nail down her Olympic place.
Her victory was well deserved. After a brilliant career as a junior followed by a DCU sports scholarship, she wasn’t sure what to do next.
She turned to the roads with great success, although her decision to try a “practise” 17-mile run at last year’s Dublin Marathon raised a few eyebrows.
By the end of the year, Byrne had run herself into the ground and had to take a long break. She resumed training with coach Enda Fitzpatrick in May and ran a few low-key half marathons over the summer.
When she finished the Athlone Quarter-Marathon in 1:59.45 a month ago, she timed her run perfectly. The big question was whether she could hold that pace over a full marathon.
That question was answered on Monday, although it didn’t prove easy. “The last five miles was very tough. It was just a matter of getting through each mile and keeping the same pace,” she said.
In the men’s race, hopes of having two or even three men under 2 hours 20 minutes proved unfounded, with only race winner Sean Connolly of Tallaght breaking the barrier when he finished in 2:18.54.
He had hoped for faster, but it was simply not his day. With the “Marathon Mission” still aiming for a full quota of marathon men and women at next year’s Olympics, he will try again in spring, along with a number of others disappointed with their times last Monday.
Well done to RTE on its coverage of the Dublin Marathon – at last this great race, a showcase for Irish sport and for the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, is getting the recognition it is due.
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| .. and then the rain came! |
Top marks to the commentators for encouraging viewers to get out and give the runners a cheer – and for putting up the estimated times of their arrival in various parts of town.
That must have helped bring out the high spirited and supportive crowds all remarked on. Kudos also for the spectacular helicopter shots of Dublin – especially the kite surfers!
A few quibbles: although the elite runners’ names were written on their numbers, these were way too small and there were a few errors in the commentary. Better coverage of the Irish race, especially when it came to the women, would have been appreciated – these are our heroes after all. Finally, how about some fresh talent on the commentary team? We can think of quite a few opinionated young athletes who could fill the job splendidly!
Joe Sweeney of DSD defends his men’s title at Sunday’s Dublin Cross-Country Championships, where DSD will also hope to retain the team title they won from Raheny and Rathfarnham last year. DSD is without Breandan O’Neill, currently in the US, but can rely on athletes such as Alan McCormack, Robert Corbally and Emmett Jennings, who won the junior men’s race last year. In its 125th anniversary year, host club Clonliffe will hope to win at least one of the races. They took the junior men’s team title last year, when Jayme Rossiter and Ian Guiden were second and third.
In the women’s races, DSD is again likely to dominate although last year’s winner Hazel Murphy hasn’t been racing much. In her absence Aoife Culhane, second behind Fionnuala Britton in the recent Sheila Brennan Cross-Country, could be the one to beat.
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| Pauric McKinney 7th overall |
Darragh Rennicks of Bohermeen took the Leinster Novice Cross-Country title when he beat Dunboyne’s Luke Forde on the rollng hills of Belvedere House, in Mullingar. Ellie Hartnett of Sli Cualann proved best of the women, beating Liffey Valley’s Leona O’Reilly. Masters winners were Tony Reilly of North Laois and Helen White of Sportsworld.
Top Irish masters at the National Lottery Dublin Marathon were Tullamore Olympian Pauline Curley and Pauric McKinney of Letterkenny. These durable former champions finished seventh and sixth overall in their races, McKinney with a time of 2:29.51 and Curley in 2:44.48. That time could have won Curley the Irish title in other years. Winner of the women’s over 75 title was Slaney’s remarkable Catherine O’Regan in 4:23.08 – a time that would have beaten the fastest men in that category.
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