Fiona Stack from Ballyshannon produced the pick of the Irish performance at the Berlin Marathon when she finished in 2 hrs 53 mins 20 secs. Stack had shown she was in good form when she won the Waterside Half Marathon in Derry a few weeks ago in 1:22.18.
Other good runs came from Sli Cualann’s Ian McGrath 2:38.14, Colm O’Callaghan of Hudding AIS in 2:32.30, and Keith Russell of Reading Road Runners in 2:30.19.
Winner of the race in 2:04.15 was Kenya athlete Geoffrey Mutai; his compatriot Dennis Kimetto appeared to hold back and finished just one second behind for second, with Kenyans filling the top nine places in the men’s race.
Ethiopians took the first two places in the women’s race – Abere Kibedo was first in 2:20.30 followed by Tirfi Tsegaye in 2:21.19.
* At the Eco2Run 20-Mile in Dublin, Maria McCambridge ran a useful time of 2:04.08.
* Annadale’s Paul Pollock won the Bangor 10km in 30 mins 19 secs; Gladys Ganiel-O’Neill of North Belfast was first woman in 36 mins 49 secs. Pollock, who won the national half marathon title last month, is Ireland’s only representative at Saturday’s World Half Marathon Championships in Kavarna, Bulgaria (9am start).
Sunday September 30
Berlin Marathon – Irish under three hours:
Keith Russell (Reading RR, M35) 2:30.19; Colm O’Callaghan (Hudding AIS)2:32.30; Ian McGrath (Sli Cualann, M35) 2:38.14; Brian O’Sullivan 2:49.06; Fiona Stack (Bundoran) 2:53.20; Christopher Murnane 2:54.16; Benny Smyth 2:55.55; Padraig McDonnell (Chorlton Runners) 2:57.18; Alan O’Brien (Eagle) 2:57.40; Andrew Leary (W Waterford, M45) 2:58.33; Trevor Swift (M35) 2:58.35; Paddy Lennon 2:58.42; Ken Maher M35 2:59.47.
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