Raheny 5 Mile

The 27th Annual AXA Raheny Shamrock AC 5 mile road race was held in excellent conditons on Sunday 30th January and attracted a record 1600 runners.
This is one of the biggest club races on the athletics calendar and brings out many top class runners anxious to test their early season form.
Joe Sweeney (DSD) was the race winner in an impressivet 23.23, while Deirdre Byrne (Sli Cualann) was first woman to finish in 26.43. There were three Mayo AC participants.
TJ McHugh beat his 5 mile PB by 20 seconds coming home in 26.26 in an excellent 23rd place.
Mayo AC’s leading senior, Catherine Conway recorded her fastest 10k time in Athenry earlier in the month and smashed her 5 mile PB time by 50 seconds in Raheny, finishing a brilliant third in 27.58. She was 20 seconds ahead of 4th placed Annette Kealy – Irish Marathon champion in
2009. Catherine’s consistent improvement is even more notable given the poor training conditions recently. Christy O’Malley finished in 34.56 – almost two minutes faster than his 2010 Raheny 5 time.