The very first Connemara Breakfast Run in aid of juvenile athletics in County Galway took place last Saturday. Although the weather had been poor earlier in the morning by the time it was time to run conditions were near perfect in the Inagh Valley. Runners from all of the Galway clubs as well as other clubs from further afield were represented in the field of starters. Both the Galway Triathlon Club and Athenry’s Predator Triathlon Club also had members at the starting line and to round off the group there was a liberal sprinkling of meet and train members as well as those with no affiliation whatsoever.

The task ahead was 4.2miles of, mostly uphill, road towards Maam Cross. After a few words from race director Mick Rice, during which runners Barbara Szlacheta, Frank Haines and the recently deceased Ger Mullane of Bilboa AC were remembered, the runners literally headed for the hills.

A keen contest soon developed at the front of the men’s race with Athenry AC’s Brian O’Connor, GCH’s Ian Egan, Loughrea’s Darragh O’Brien and Mayo AC’s Timmie Glavey all running together at the front. After a short bout of shadow boxing during which the lead changed a couple of times Brian O’Connor injected a little extra pace and the field started to string out. It was Loughrea man Darragh O’Brien who stayed in closest attendance and despite Brian O’Connor’s best efforts on some of the steeper sections of the climb he was unable to shake the Loughrea athlete off completely. It soon became clear that pre-race favourite Ian Egan was having a hard day at the office and clearly hadn’t recovered fully from his strong showing in last week’s Streets of Galway 8k.

Runnin' Up That Hill

By the time the finish line was in sight Brian and Darragh were still locked together and at the end of a superbly fought finish Brian O’Connor prevailed by only one second. Darragh O’Brien can be very proud of his run in second place. Mayo AC’s Timmie Glavey of Mayo AC was third home in the men’s race.

The women’s division of the race was another closely contested affair with the first three finishers, Ann Carter, Deirdre Brophy and Kathryn Casserly only separated by twenty-four seconds.

When the running was done everyone headed back to the Connemara Gateway Hotel for breakfast and the prize giving. Runners and officials alike were treated to a fine feed courtesy of the hotel and the race awards were presented over coffee in the hotel bar afterwards.

And that was that. After the last award had been presented, runners and organisers headed home. It’s hoped that this event will become an annual event and that in years to come even more runners will be able to experience the beauty of Connemara on a summer’s morning before breakfast.

In terms of funds raised our cause was greatly helped by three main event sponsors. First and Foremost the Connemara Gateway Hotel was magnificent in providing us with a race headquarters and our breakfasts free of charge after the race. They have our sincere thanks and appreciation. The Connemara Marathon in the person of Ray O’Connor was another major sponsor of the event and also supplied professional help and expertise that was invaluable in making the event possible. We were also lucky to receive some support from TG4 for which we were very, very grateful.

In addition to thanking all those runners who took part in the race, a number of other people have supported the event even though other commitments prevented them actually being there on the day. In this regard our thanks go to Frank Burke, Maeve Noone, Bernie Kelly, Paul McNamara, Ray O’Connor, Margaret Cunningham, Peter Delmer, James Lundon, Alan Burke, Adrian Fitzmaurice, Christy Delmer and Peter Delmer. If I’ve left anyone off this list please forgive me – all support and help was greatly valued.

Until next year….

Men's Race Winner - Brian O'Connor

Connemara Breakfast Run Result

623 00:25:10 Brian O'Connor 1st Male

629 00:25:11 Darragh O'Brien 2nd Male

748 00:25:33 Timmie Glavey 3rd Male

615 00:25:48 Maurice Clarke

633 00:26:11 Ian Egan

614 00:26:27 Paraic Raftery

621 00:26:38 Johnny Lane

758 00:26:58 David Huane

612 00:27:37 Larry Kelly 1st Male Vet

749 00:27:53 Mark Breen

609 00:27:56 Ann Carter 1st Female

628 00:28:06 Deirdre Brophy 2nd Female

743 00:28:20 Kathryn Casserly 3rd Female

604 00:29:32 Antoine Piraud

610 00:29:39 Lyall Guiney

741 00:29:43 Mark Flannery

745 00:29:49 Diarmuid DeFaoite

753 00:31:18 Patrick Moran

616 00:31:20 Gary Doherty

618 00:31:21 Michael Rooney

543 00:31:22 John O'Connor

625 00:31:39 Jon Hunt

607 00:31:44 Francis Byrne

747 00:31:55 Anna Shelton

757 00:32:28 Miriam Cuddy

750 00:32:39 Darragh Geraghty

626 00:32:49 Ruth Staunton

611 00:32:53 Mary Beatty 1st Female Vet

632 00:33:05 Peter O'Halloran

606 00:33:14 Ger McManamon

624 00:33:14 Tom O'Connor

541 00:33:46 Tony Daly

744 00:34:00 Jean O'Connor

544 00:34:23 Aaron McCormack

605 00:34:53 Maria Hehir

756 00:35:27 Adrienne Walsh

608 00:37:00 Grainne Breen

631 00:38:03 Pauline Murray

613 00:38:09 Pauline O'Halloran

630 00:38:13 Brid Moran

634 00:40:03 Bridget-Anne Walsh

635 00:40:04 Fiona Fahy

617 00:40:54 Iain Shaw

739 00:44:14 Geraldine Brogan

545 00:44:25 Lisa McCormack

636 00:44:38 Mags Nohilly

755 00:47:32 Grainne Flannery

751 00:47:32 Triona Ryan

752 00:47:32 Nina Orfali