John Byrne, 15:27 – 3rd in Ballymote 5k
Sat May 2nd, Ballymote Athletics 5k (214 finishers) results http://www.precisiontiming.
Men 1 Tommy Casey (Sligo AC) 15:02, 2 Emmett Dunleavy (Sligo AC) 15:11, 3 John Byrne (Mayo AC) 15:27, 4 Richard Gorman (Sligo AC) 15:32
Women 1 Mary Cullen (Nth Sligo AC) 15:58, 2 Natalie Weir (Derby AC) 17:27, 3 Eimear O’Brien (Sligo AC) 17:28, 4 Sara Doohan (Corran AC) 17:33
Well done to John Byrne on a fast 5k time – splitting three top Sligo runners and heading Richard Gorman for a brilliant third place in 15:27, with Mary Cullen first woman home in 5th overall.
It’s good to see Mary back racing and winning. She ran her first race in Sligo for some time and on a blustery day came home well clear of the three women behind her who had just 6 seconds between them. Her Irish International career began in 2006 and she was 4th in the European Cross Country Championships in 2008, and won a bronze in the European Indoors in 2009.
In 2014 Mary won the Raheny 5 when she successfully defended the women’s title she won the previous year, with a brilliant time of 25 mins 35 secs knocking 20 seconds off her course record. Last December she ran 15:37 to win the Jingle Bells 5k in Dublin in competitive company.
It’s good to see Mary back racing and winning. She ran her first race in Sligo for some time and on a blustery day came home well clear of the three women behind her who had just 6 seconds between them. Her Irish International career began in 2006 and she was 4th in the European Cross Country Championships in 2008, and won a bronze in the European Indoors in 2009.
In 2014 Mary won the Raheny 5 when she successfully defended the women’s title she won the previous year, with a brilliant time of 25 mins 35 secs knocking 20 seconds off her course record. Last December she ran 15:37 to win the Jingle Bells 5k in Dublin in competitive company.
It was another successful event organised by Sligo coach Dermot McDermott, who is also working with an enthusastic group of young athletes at Corran AC, Ballymote. Almost half of the 214 participants in the 5k field finished in under 22 minutes.