Marathon success for M35 team, and Mary Murphy

Our runners have finished the 34th Dublin Marathon – congratulations and well done to them all.(See below for some more pics taken near mile 16) Times for each finisher are displayed below and are ‘gun time’. The race was a genuine Irish Marathon championship with the absence of elite runners due to there being no official sponsor until Airtricity came on board. Women’s race winner was Maria McCambridge in 2:38:53, while the first man was former Balla 10k winner Sean Hehir in 2:18:21. This the first time an Irish duo has won the race in over 20 years. While the weather in Mayo may have looked benign, bright and sometimes breezy, it was not so in Dublin at the edge of storm St Jude, so we await the experiences of our field of 26. Split times over the final 10k indicate these last few miles were tough in blustery conditions.
Our first three home: John Byrne 26th overall, Paddy O’Toole 43rd and Brendan Gill 87th finished with a combined time of 8:00:42 over 10 minutes better than last year when Mayo AC won gold M35. Noel Gibbons ensured we had 4 finishers in the top 100. AAI results have been published (29/10) covering 2,021 runners in the Marathon Championships. Our M35 team led by John Byrne won silver, supported by gutsy performances by Paddy and Brendan, with Noel Gibbons backing up and finishing 10th in M40 category. John was in bronze individual position when AAI published results, but sadly he lost out to Peter Mooney when AAI amended results (Mon 4th Nov). Paula Prendergast was 31st woman and led the senior women team home five minutes better than her 2012 finish time. Colette Sweeney (7th in W40) and Sarah Syron finished a couple of minutes later. Their total of 9:46 placed them 4th just outside the Senior team medals. Mary Murphy won her second individual marathon medal with a great run to finish with bronze in W60. Ambrose Gaughan continues to amaze – knocking over 26 minutes off his time last year for another PB. Mary Beston W50 seems to have run the most even paced race with a first 10k in 55:04 and final 10k in 55:22, and she finished 10th in a competitive over 50 category in 3:48:57. Next to finish was the youngest runner Aine Gallagher in 3:50:15. Earlier this year she finished the 39.3 mile Connemara Ultra Marathon and completed over 81 miles in the Energia Belfast 24 Hour Race 2013. Lucy Brennan W50 (Sligo AC) finished 10th woman overall in 2:58:45 and easily won gold W50! There was also a PB for marathon first timer Ann Marie Staunton 3:54:20, and she will be able to show off her medal to her primary school class next week. Sean Murphy completed another PB race in a great season of improvement. John Roddy will have learned a lot from his experience as the Kilmovee man finished his first marathon. Lots to talk about in the coming days and updates will be posted as received.
There were 12,317 finishers in the Dublin Marathon 2013.

Finishing times for our runners in Dublin Marathon 2013: (gun time as published AAI results)

Masters Men M35+ A: John Byrne M35 2:35:11, Paddy O’Toole M35 2:38:47, , Brendan Gill M35 2:46:44, Noel Gibbons M40 2:49:17, Anto Devaney M35 3:06:43, Sean Murphy M40 3:06:52, Patrick Walsh M35 3:20:19.

Masters men M35+ B: John Fitzgibbons M45 3:10:43, Ambrose Gaughan M40 3:27:27, Tom Charles M35 3:41:19, Frank Cloherty M35 3:58:28, Christy O’Malley M45 4:40:12, Mark Fitzgerald M40 4:58:09, John Roddy M35 5:34:04.

Masters Men M50+ PJ Hall M55 3:59:33, Val P Glynn M60 4:06:33, Chris O’Connell M55 4:06:50, Tom Waldron M70 5:25:40.

Senior Women: Paula Prendergast 3:14:25, Colette Sweeney W40 3:15:56, Sarah Syron 3:15:51, Aine Gallagher 3:50:15, Ann Marie Staunton 3:54:20.
Masters Women W35+: Mary Beston W50 3:48:57, Mary Murphy W60 4:14:38, Maggie Heneghan W35 4:17:46, Ann McDonnellW35 4:17:46. Chris Clarke W40 4:39:56,