Pollock and Duncan for World “Half”; Fitzgibbon for Winter Throws

Paul Pollock of  Annadale Striders and Galway native Nicola Duncan who runs with the Portobello club in Edinburgh will represent Ireland at the World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark on March 29.

Pollock, who is based in London, qualified for the event after  running a personal best 63 mins 52 secs at last Sunday’s Bath  Half Marathon, where he finished third. He represented Ireland in the marathon at last summer’s World Championships finishing 21st and second European.

Duncan, aged 31,  ran a personal best 72 mins  12 secs at the Barcelona Half Marathon on February 16. Last weekend, she ran  56 mins 58 secs at the Lasswade 10-Mile in Rosewell. She burst on the scene last October when she clocked a time of 2:36.44  at the Amsterdam Marathon – the fastest time by an Irish woman  in 2013 and enough to qualify her for this year’s European Championships in Zurich.  On a visit home to Galway, she ran  35 mins 26 secs at the Galway Bay 10km last September.

Duncan,  an actuary who has worked in Edinburgh since graduating from NUIG in 2003,  began running about seven years ago. In 2007, she clocked a time of 40 mins 58 secs at the Great Edinburgh Run 10km. In 2010, she finished the Edinburgh Marathon in 2:58.46 and  improved that to 2:49.53 a year later. She started training regularly, taking in the cross-country season  and her times began to  improve dramatically.

This  isn’t her first taste of sporting success – tennis was her first love and as a  member of Galway Lawn Tennis Club, she represented Galway  and Connacht at underage events when growing up.

She had signed up for the Inverness Half Marathon next Sunday, but that may change now that she has been selected for the Worldf Championships.

* Irish women’s javelin record holderAnita Fitzgibbon of Dundrum South Dublin leads a small Irish team at the European Cup Winter Throws  in Leiria, Portugal  on March 15/16. Also travelling are Tralee’s  Clare Fitzgerald, who competes in both shot and discus, and Marco Pons of DMP  in the U23 discus.
Both Fitzgibbon and Fitzgerald are aiming for  European Championships qualification – 57.40m for the javelin and 64m for the discus. Fitzgibbon improved the Irish record to 54.92m last summer, while Fitzgerald has a best of 53.01m for the discus.