You know, I haven't really written a proper race report in ages, and I'm not sure if this rambling will end up to be a long or short account of my latest marathon adventures, but here goes anyway. I'll keep this as short as possible. (I'm typing this after writing the full report to apologise for the length)

A look back first to fill you in on the background here.
I started running in April 2000 after giving up 30-40 fags a day and a stressful life. First marathon in November that year - New York in 5 hours 15 minutes! I've done a few since and the intention at the start of this year was to finally have a shot at a 3:30 having posted a PB of
3:42 in Dublin last year.

LONDON April 2005
London was the chosen destination for this endeavor but, be it the crowded streets or simply that I always fail to string 18 weeks uninterrupted training together, I ended up happy enough with a 3:48 although the now regular run/walk-walk/run-walk strategy kicked in at mile 22. I quickly reassessed my goals for the year ahead and since I had another sub 4 behind me I decided to try to do my next five marathons in 2006 under four hours each and forget PB's for the moment.
Looking at what was on the cards for the year Dublin and New York with six days apart would be the biggest challenge.

BELFAST May 2005
Two weeks after London I found myself on the starting line of the Belfast marathon on the first weekend in May. Let's skip to the important parts. No watch strategy employed and I posted a PB half marathon of something like 1:44. I say 'something like' because the guys in Belfast like to surprise us with a mile marker every now and then. I absolutely fell to bits at mile 20 and really struggled home, walking, limping and doing a kind of shuffle thing I've developed which resembles running, but it's really moving at around 12 mins per mile without looking like walking! I crossed the line in 3:56 and found out that because of a bomb scare we actually did an ultra (about one mile longer is the general consensus).

EDINBURGH June 2005
On then to Edinburgh in mid June as a bit of a club outing. Absolutely no gory details to report no watch at all, no crumble and no walking - a perfect 3:58.

LONGFORD August 2005
8 weeks later - Longford late August. I had the longest gap between marathons so far this year and felt in good shape and very confident of breaking the 4 again. Hold back strategy employed to good effect and with a lot of help from Máire Tarpey at mile 22 I easily paced a very good and consistent run and got a 3:45 for my efforts.

4 down, two to go.

The training that was working for me was the Tuesday night 10 milers, which I got to maybe half the time and the hard Wednesday night track sessions which I also probably made every other week. I would throw a couple more runs in here and there, but concentrated a lot on getting decent long runs in between marathons, and not taking any break.

So in my run up to the Dublin/New York double I was in good shape except for a niggling groin strain that wasn't slowing my training but was just there. 5 weeks out it popped! Sore knee, thigh, and hip. The Physio helped clear up the whole 'men don't understand the pain of childbirth' thing, and set me on my way to the National Marathon Championships with a slight niggle and only two training runs in 5 weeks.

Having just secured Sponsorship for the Connemarathon, we decided to exhibit at both Dublin and New York, which should put enough stress on my body to really prepare for an effort that I once described as complete madness when I heard that Mick Rice was running the Longofrd/Connemara double in Sept 2002... but then again he was/is a complete nutter. At that time the notion of someone taking on two marathons in a week seemed to be as far away as landing on the moon. In fact I didn't even know it was humanly possible, but Mick showed me that it was. Mind you, his times on those two marathons would be enough to send me happily into marathon retirement.

DUBLIN October 2005
The week went like this. Drove to Dublin on Saturday morning at 6am and basically stood all day at the stand talking, meeting, greeting, and generally being Mr nice guy to everyone. Sunday was the same and we took the stand down at 6pm and headed off on our weary way. I felt fine on the start line and having an elite number really made a difference as we avoided the rain.

Let's breeze through the Dublin marathon then. Goal sub 4 - strategies employed, take it handy and no watch - (there were clocks on the road).
Despite the distraction of being passed by about 5,000 people in the first half hour I got to 10K in 50 minutes was a nice indication that I was going steady at about 8's and by the time I hit half way point in
1:47 all was going swimmingly well. Yes we were swimming. It bucketed rain - absolutely p*ssed down. I tucked in behind an unsuspecting pacer from mile 9 to 15 and found this great as I didn't even notice the miles going by. His legs fell out of their sockets at the 15 mile mark
- he literally stopped in the middle of the road and I had to swerve to avoid a major incident, but this gave me a real boost and I started to pass out hundreds over the next few miles.

Mile 20 whizzed by in 2:47 and my calculations indicated that a pb was possible if I ran my fastest last 10K in a marathon ever. I needed something like 8:30's to get me home, but I wasn't sure... and then again, it always takes me an hour and a half to do the last 6! Just then Andrew Talbot jumped in beside me. He was spectating but was now running along with me checking my progress. I instantly perked up and started flying by literally hundreds on the road. Andrew was keeping an eye on the watch and he knew that my PB was in sight although he didn't say much. We started knocking the miles 8:20, 8:10, 8:30 (by memory) and I felt great. The first weary mile was up to the 25 mile mark but that was still under 9 minutes. Andrew paced me to about a mile to go and shouted at me to get stuck in... I almost crumbled but kept it going and amazed myself with a very comfortable 3:40 PB - I owe andrew
26.2 pints.

My assessment of this run is that I finally accept that running a marathon is hugely dependent on a good psychological approach.

NEW YORK November 2005
Flew to New York the following day and spent the week talking to yanks at the stand. All indications were that it was going to be hot, but I felt fine and relatively confident of my final sub 4. Let's cut to the chase then. Half way in about 1:54 was nice and steady, mile 20 in 3 hours (ish) and I was ok. BUT mile 23 fell on me... Psychological warfare kicked in and I lost - in fact I think it was a sky-scraper that fell on me. I went from doing really well sub 8's to an 11:35 mile and I was instantly beaten up, picked up again, thrown down and spat at by what is probably the longest 3 mile stretch of any marathon in the world. Getting from mile 21 in the Bronx to 24 at Central Park is like going from Dublin to Galway on a bad train with no toilets. It was horrendous! I had to re adjust my finish times about five times in the last two miles and when I saw that I only had 12 minutes to do the last mile I panicked and tried to run... no, shuffle again. 3:59 on the clock at the finish and 3:58 on the watch - I was in a heap. This was the toughest marathon I've run to date and boy was I sick.

I recovered enough to jog down to the finish line the following morning which is a tradition of mine - a slow 4 mile warm down after a long year with many highs, the biggest being my reward of a PB and also the reflection that I had achieved a long term goal - 6 sub 4's. Oh and I must book an appointment with a shrink!

Ray
The most experienced marathoner in the club (except Mick)
20 down 80 to go.

Our esteemed comrades Ray and Johnny O'Connor completed yesterday's ING New York City Marathon in fine style. Johnny lined up for this race with perhaps his best ever months of training behind him, while Ray had only run the Dublin City Marathon six day's previously.

As it turned out both Athenry runners made it home in highly respectable times. Johnny struck out initially at a cracking pace passing the 10K point in under 45 minutes. He maintained this pace past the halfway mark, which he saw with only 1:36:07 on the clock. Although the 'wheels' didn't come off in the second half of Johnny's race they must have run a bit short on oil as it took a slightly slower 2:01 for him to cover the second half of the famous New York Course. He finished with a highly commendable time of 3:37:58.

His older, if not wiser, brother Ray ran his usual well-paced race. He passed the halfway split with 1:54:43 on the clock and came home well under four hours. His eventual finish time of 3:58:49 placed him in the top 25% of runners. This was Ray's sixth marathon this year (Belfast, London, Longford, Edinburgh, Dublin, New York) and I'm sure he's now looking forward to a well-earned rest.

Craughwell AC Newsletter1 November 2005 - By Michael Tobin

Connacht Cross-Country in Co. Leitrim

Ballinamore was the venue for day 1 of the Connacht cross-country on Sunday last. A bright clear sky opened the day as parents and athletes arrived at the hall in Craughwell at 9am for the bus. The day got off to a bad start with the bus arriving 10 minutes late, thankfully not an omen for the rest of the day! But the driver made amends on the journey up, reaching Ballinamore in good time for around 11.45am. Everyone alighted at the community hall in Ballinamore where race numbers, programs and more importantly toilets were available. Then a short miles walk back to the cross-country course, leaving athletes and coaches with plenty of time to prepare for the races. The course was well marked out – but very soft and marshy in places, with plenty of fresh evidence that cattle had recently departed the field! Pat Hannon and Teresa Helebert took charge of the U14s and older athletes for their tour of the course and warm-up routine, while Michael Tobin took the U12 teams. The course was heavy going – we were probably the first teams to jog/walk the course and even then, it was mucky – with clean runners and tracksuits well-coated in mud by the time we finished the warm-up lap, and a nice pattern of black dots sprayed across some of the athletes white tops. Lesson one of the day was not to wear your Sunday best to cross-country events! The U12s stuck manfully to their warm-up lap on instruction to “plough through the muck as we’re up here to win medals

Super U12 Girls The time was fast approaching 1pm now as the weather changed to dull and overcast at this point, with rain looking likely. The U12 girls were first up for their 1000m. The Craughwell team of Linda Porter, Eimear Geoghegan, Laura Porter, Orla McDaid and Orla Ryan were all fired up as 1pm neared. They knew that they faced stiff competition – with Swinford, GCH and Ballinamore having taken the top 3 team positions in Ireland in last year’s U11 cross-country. There were upwards of 50 athletes in the race as they lined up on the start line. Then they were off! And almost immediately misfortune struck the Craughwell team, with Laura taking a bad tumble in the congested start, rolling a few times and spiking team-mate Orla M as she rolled. With strong spirits and determination, both Laura and Orla recovered quickly from this bad start to slowly move up the field. Linda took up a strong position in the top 4 from the start, with Eimear and Orla R further back. Lap one and two stretched out the field and as they approached the final 100m, Linda was neck and held onto 9th place. David Farrell and Padraic Tobin ran a great race to take 15th and 16th positions. That was four of the A team in the top 16, surely good enough for medals. Then the strength and depth of the Craughwell U12s came through – with 5 athletes finishing in positions 19 to 23 (Paul Joyce, Ross Haverty, Eoin O’Connor, Jason Kennedy and Paul McGill) followed by Padraig Hannon in 29th place and Patrick Prendergast in 32nd place. This was a quality performance, with 9 athletes of the first 23 athletes being Craughwell – opening the incredible possibility of the B team also taking a medal. And sure enough when the scores were counted, Craughwell A took silver medals with a score of 42 points and Craughwell B took bronze with a score of 89 points, ahead of Ballinamore and Westport in 4th and 5th place. Another highlight of the day!

U14 Girls Take GoldNext on the agenda were the U14 girls in the 1200m, with the team coming mainly from the U13 age group. Craughwell had 9 athletes running – unfortunately only 6 can make up a team, so Noreen Murphy, Sophie Ralston and Maeve Curley ran as individuals with the team being Rachel Finnegan, Rebecca and Sarah Helebert, Laura Mitchell, Ashley McDonnell and Aoife Callanan. This team were bidding to hold onto the Connacht title for Craughwell AC, having won it each year U11, U12 and U13 so far. Over 50 runners took to the field for the 1200m distance, with Rachel Finnegan going into the leading group from an early stage in the race. The rest of the Craughwell athletes were tightly bunched further back in the field but in a strong position for the team. As the race progressed, Craughwell held their positions well and entering the final 100m, Rachel was battling it out with a GCH athlete for the leading position. As the race wound down into the final sprint, a Sligo and Westport athlete came from behind to take the top 2 positions with Rachel holding on strongly to take 3rd position, well clear of her regular rival and National 800m champion Rachel Shaw who took 13th place in what was a very strong field of runners. The Craughwell pack finished strongly down the field, with Ashley coming home in 15th place, followed by Laura in 16th, Rebecca in 18th, Aoife in 19th and Sarah in 20th. Six runners in the top twenty was a remarkable performance. Noreen finished a little further back in 27th, a promising performance for her own age group in 2 weeks time, with Sophie in 36th and Maeve in 39th, a very good performance by all 3 athletes considering the poor conditions and the high standard of the competition. When the results were announced later, Craughwell held onto their position as top girls team in this age group in Connacht with a team score of 52 points versus 58 points for GCH in 2nd place – making it 4 titles in a row in this age group. and neck at the front with Sive Brassil from Ballinasloe. The Ballinasloe runner just edged it in the end by a small margin. Eimear had made great progress at this point of the race moving up into top 10 around the 100m mark and finishing strongly in 6th place to give the team a great chance of featuring in the medals. However, our fate was in the hands of the rest of the team at this stage and strong running from Laura, Orla M and Orla R saw them finish in 15th, 18th and 30th positions. This was fantastic running – 4 runners in the top twenty, and in addition a top-class race from Orla R to finish half-way up the field (by far her best cross-country race and an indication of more to come!). Naturally we had to endure the wait until the end of all the races to know the team result – but it was worth waiting for as we finished 2nd with 41 points, just 2 behind Ballinamore and 16 ahead of All-Ireland champions Swinford.

Domination by the U12 BoysThe action continued immediately after the girls’ race with the U12 boys 1000m. Craughwell had 2 good teams in this race and the 12 boys were in form for a good run. The starter lined up the teams to go. We hadn’t told the Craughwell boys who was on the A or B teams and when the starter told them to line up behind each other, there was a bit of confusion. There was a lot of congestion at the left-hand end of the start line where the Craughwell boys were lined up. The starter moved teams up towards the right, leaving plenty of space on the left for Craughwell – over compensated in fact with the result that Craughwell had plenty of space and the best position on the start line (to the dissatisfaction of some of the other spectators).The starter struggled to get the race going, with at least 3 false starts by some overly zealous athletes before we got a clean start. Luke Cormican took an early lead, sprinting out of the blocks and taking a lead of 7 or 8 metres. It was a great start by Luke but a little too fast for the distance and this told on him later in the race – but more experience of the pace over this distance and he will be right up there with the best. David Concannon held 2nd place at this point, with Padraic Tobin, Jack Raftery and Padraic Hannon all in top 10 in the early stages of the race. As the race progressed, we fell back a little with just David remaining in the leading bunch. As the final 100m approached, the race for gold was between 3 athletes, with a Ballinamore athlete finishing strongly to take gold and David Concannon holding off the 3rd place athlete to claim silver with a fast finish. Eyes then turned tothe rest of Craughwell team. Jack had maintained a good positionU14 Boys Surprise the OppositionCraughwell’s fifth and last team to compete on the day were the boys U14 team who were tackling the 2000m. Even though they had taken a medal in the Galway competition, Craughwell would have been considered rank outsiders in this race as we never had a strong enough group of older boys to be serious contenders for medals. But the current crop of boys, comprising both U13 s and U14 s, reset everyone’s opinions with a top-class performance to take the team silver ahead of Athenry and Ballina. Very impressive considering that 3 members of the Athenry team featured in the top 8 in Ireland three years ago. David Porter ran the best race of his career to take 4th position and is improving with every race these days. He was followed in by Paul Concannon in 11th place, Micheál Hannon in 15th, Shane O’Halloran in 20th, Aidan Jennings in 22nd and Niall Rooney in 23rd. Jeffrey Simpson, running his first cross-country race, had a very creditable finish in 27th place in this age group. It augurs well for the U13 team with 4 of these 7 being U13s. Craughwell’s team score was 50 points, 8 ahead of Athenry in 3rd place and just 9 behind GCH who took the gold medals.It was down to the last 2 runners of the day for Craughwell now, with Shane Concannon contesting the U16 3000m and Sarah Finnegan competing in the U18 3500m. Shane ran very strongly in the early laps of the U16 race to stay with the leading bunch. As the race progressed, he drifted back a little but finished strongly to take 7th place overall and in the process, earn himself a place on the Connacht team for the Celtic International Cross-Country early next year. In the U18 3500m, Sarah competed strongly against top quality opposition to take 8th place overall. Well done Shane and Sarah!Overall, it was a tremendous performance by Craughwell – taking a total of 5 team medals (1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze) and 3 individual medals (2 silver and 1 bronze). The closest any other club got to this was GCH with 3 team medals (2 gold and 1 silver) and 2 individual medals (both bronze). We look forward eagerly to the next day of the cross-country which takes place on Saturday, November 12th in Sligo Racecourse. We will have strong teams competing in the U11, U13 and U15 age groups and individuals in the older age groups. If you are travelling, please confirm as quickly as possible whether you are interested in seats on the bus. The bus will be filled on a first come/first served basis.

From the Galway Independent

New sponsor for Connemara Marathon 2006

This year’s Connemara International Marathon has a new title sponsor ”“ Fáilte Ireland.

Welcoming the new sponsor, Race Director Ray O’Connor said: “I would see this sponsorship as a natural fit with Fáilte Ireland’s strategy to attract more visitors to Ireland. This marathon is already attracting participants from the US, Australia and many of Fáilte Ireland’s key markets in Europe.”

This year’s marathon will be held on 26 March in the heart of Connemara. The website where further details can be found is: www.connemarathon.com.

It was raining. Heavily. It was cold and the wind was blowing.

Marathon day had arrived. I had the training done, logged the miles, bought the runners, wore a revealing running singlet. I was ready.

Its 8 am on a Bank holiday Monday morning and I'm standing outside Tescos on Baggot street questioning my sanity. This wasn't, despite Peter Delmer's protestations, 'ideal marathon weather'.

Now, I had done some training runs in abject conditions, weather you wouldn't put a dog out in, most notably in Connemara, always thinking, 'marathon day could be like this. you may as well be ready just in case'.

I really didn't think it would come to this. According to the marathon website. Dublin gets 30 cm of rainfall per year: we got a good percentage that morning.

I followed Mick Rice and Peter to the start, [Philip was holding out for better weather] and true to their word, they had me up at the front [where we belonged!]. It only took 17 secs from starting Gun going off to me crossing the starting line.

And I was off. I was determined not to rush the first mile. Its all adrenalin and its easy to go much quicker than planned. The shock of people taking a piss after only 500 metres wore off and I passed the mile 1 marker in 8 mins, as planned. Now if I could repeat that 25[.2] times more, I'd be grand.

But I was soaked to the skin and cold. I ran through a few puddles to add insult to injury. All I could think that I had 25 miles to run with soaking shoes. Not the ideal start.
But I kept on moving on. I picked up the pace a little, unconsciously. I must have been trying to keep warm [but I was on the Northside, not a place to amble through] and by the time we hit mile 5 in the park, I was a minute up on pace. This wasn't the end of the world. I was running well within myself.
Paul Kilkelly passed me at 10km, looking strong, and he pushed on mercilessly. A guy from Donegal heard me chatting to Paul abut Pace etc and indicated he was heading for the same planned pace, 3:30. So we ran together for the next 10 miles or so.
There were a few shouts of 'Go on Athenry!' along the way, but I didn't recognise the supporters [I was running fast , you see!].

I slowly ate into the extra minute I had picked up earlier on and hit half way dead on 1:44, dead on pace. To be honest miles 10 to 19 weren't much fun. It was still raining on and off. Just as I dried off, the rain would pour down again.

But things picked up again around mile 19. I had started overtaking people who had misjudged pace badly, and I was running well. I knew when we hit the dual carraigeway, it was the home stretch, about 6 miles to go. I met Andrew Talbot at UCD, who took a photo and offered encouragement.

Adrian and Cora were out to shout me on at around mile 22, and It was good to see familar saces at this point. I started feeling the pinch around mile 23. Were it any other run, I would have tried to push on and up the pace to the finish. But I had 22 miles in my legs, which were still cold and beginnning to cramp, and still 3 miles to go. My main aim was to finish in one piece without stopping, so I decided to just plough on at the same pace I had slightly slowed to. Depite this, I was passing loads of people and this cheered me up no end!

At mile 25 you get a glipme of the finish line, but it cruelly disappears from view pretty quickly. Vinny and Declan roared me on with a half mile to go and got a splash of the last of my water bottle for their trouble. John Cuniffe was as surprised as I was when I saw him.
For the first time I was enjoying the crowd and picked it up a little for the run up Merrion square and over the finish line in 3:33:17. Finisher!
A lot of hard work had paid off. Slightly outisde target, but I feel I can blame that on the conditions for the first 20 miles. I met Mick and Peter again. They both came in around the 3 hr mark and were in good form.
I spent a half hour waiting for a massage, my gear was soaked though and I had to walk to Smithfield. But I was still smiling.
I might well do this again.
Alan

PS Thanks to all who gave me advice, help, support, abuse from the sidelines and questioned my mental stability. It was all needed.
PPS When I got back home, there was a text on my phone from Derek offering me a raincoat. Message sent at 9:25, no doubt while pissing himself laughing. I'm planning a suitable revenge.

Before we get to 9 am on a wet Dublin Monday Bank Holiday, I'll take you back to the start of the year and a decision taken to simply enjoy my running this year, not worry about times etc., and hopefully get fit enough to run another marathon. It has been 4 years since I last completed 26 miles, and although I have been at the last 3 Dublin races, I have not lined up at the start.
OK, Confession time. My training has been great this year. Great that is if I had been running a 10 Mile Race. I have checked my running log and as an experienced marathon runner, 18 completed before yesterday, my training diary is definitely not one to be copied. On July 28th I ran 6 miles, which was my longest run of the year, up to that point. On August 20th I raced over 10 miles. At no other point this year have I run further than 5 miles. Can you see a disaster brewing?

Notiwthstanding this total disregard for long runs, or even medium runs, I had been averaging 20 miles per week, so not a total disregard for training, just no long runs. To complete my training, the last two weeks saw NO runs at all. I raced over 5 miles at Loughrea two weeks ago, and then had a few days when I was tied up work wise, with plans to run last weekend. Last Saturday, nine days before the marathon, I woke up to find the tendons on my right foot making it extremely sore to walk. I was limping for three days, icing my foot, and seemed to have only a 10% chance of starting on Monday. However, the icing and rest worked, and on Saturday I collected my number from the expo, managed a massage on my foot from Paul McNamara from my club, and knew that I would at least start.

Knowing how little I had done in marathon training, and knowing that I am due to run the Philadelphia Marathon on Nov 20th, it was my intention to run much slower than any previous race I have ever taken part in, and having been chatting on here with Kelly from Boston who was coming over to take part in her first marathon, I had offered my services to pace her and help her get around. All in all, I was hoping that I could manage an 11 minute pace and ensure Kelly could get under 5 hours.

On the Sunday, it was back to the expo, meeting Kelly and her family, Norman and his running partner Marina, the lads from Athenry, and briefly Derek from the Cool Running Forums, and then in the evening the Italian Restaurant with most of the above, home to bed by 10:30 and a good sleep to prepare for the day.

Monday morning was wet and wild, well wet anyway, and the 9 o'clock start, with an 8 o'clock meet with Kelly, saw me soaked by the time the start came, and eventually we squished off, and my first ever pacing run outside of my normal zone was off.

Now given my lack of anything, my pacing was spot on, even if I do say so myself. The first two miles were 11:20 and 11:21, which was to be expected weaving around the walkers etc., and the puddles!. After that we settled into an easy rhythm, chatting away, clicking off mile after mile , 11:13, 11:04, 10:50, 11:11, 10:37, 10:46, 10:46, 10:58, reaching 10 miles at 1 hour 50 mins and 6 seconds. Pretty good attempt so far,

The rain stopped somewhere around here, although we were soaked to the skin, so it didn't make a lot of difference for now. Kelly was feeling great, and looking superb. She had written her name on her shirt, after we had told her of the way the crowd will call out support, and was really enjoying the "Go Kelly" shouts from the small (not suprisingly given the weather), but enthusiastic crowd.

Our next five miles were chipped away with 10:37, 11:25 (the one hill), 10:53, 10:43 10:38, so we were still running on course for that 11 minute average. However it was around here that I was feeling that lack of training, and with Kelly and I taking a toilet break it was time for me to reasses my own capabilities, knowing that Philly is around the corner. My quads were tightening, my calfs hardening, and I knew that I would be slowing down over teh next few miles. It was time to set Kelly off on here own to achieve her goal. She was reluctant to leave me, but I knew that I would slow and maybe miss her sub 5 target, so after a 13:20 mile 16 (the toilet break), we ironically ran our fastest mile at 17, our last together, we ran 10:29, and I knew that if Kelly kept going and didn't tie up she would make it easily.

Me, I took a walk. Planning to write this up as a good 17 mile training run, and run/walk home to complete the marathon. However, my work as a pacer wasn't quite over for the day. As I was walking that 18th mile, I met Dean. An Irish Lad from Larne, taking part in his first marathon, and distraught. His legs and feet were killing him. He had hit the wall, and was struggling both physically and mentally. We walked that whole mile and talked, He would have dropped out if there was anywhere to do so, but as we were in no-mans land, so to speak, at this point in the race, our talking kept him walking. We tried a little run, but he could only last a few minutes before grinding to a halt, so now I had a decision to make.

It was an easy one to make. I had no thoughts of a time. It had alwasy been my intention to simply use this as a training run, so given Dean's obvious discomfort, we walked home. 16 minutes per mile, walking along in the now sunny Dublin, chatting away, Dean understanding that you have to repsect the Marathon, no doubt getting bored by my relentless chatter, but bored or otherwise we passed each mile marker, and at the 26 mile marker Dean summoned up the courage to jog home, so we ran across the line together, and my training run had resulted in my 19th marathon finish, Deans first, our times around the 5:33 mark - Who cared, we had done our jobs for the day.

I caught up with Kelly and her family in the massage tent. She had completed her first Marathon in 4:51, a fantastic achievement, and hopefully she will recount her views of her run when she completes her vacation in Ireland and returns home next week.

From the finish I changed and headed for my first drink in 10 months, refreshing, and after Dee had joined me, we had met up with Selina and the Womens Running Network from England, Dee and I headed for dinner, then joined Noel McInerney, an Irish runner who I work with, who had completed his 100th Marathon here in Dublin, and his 25th Dublin Race to boot! Norman, Marina and Steve joined us there, and hopefully they enjoyed their trip to Dublin.

Me, I am sore today. My quads are really tight, but they will loosen in a day or two, and I will ensure that in future I will do my proper training, the longer runs etc. I have broken my 4 year break from marathons, enjoyed my weekend, knowing my limitations, and look forward to a pleasant trip to Philadelphia, and to 2006 with renewed enthusiasm.

Liam

Gerry Ryan and Veronica Colleran take title at St. Marys Road Race.
The Bernie Meaney Memorial and the 31st Annual St Marys 5. 5 mile road race held at Kilmurry Mc Mahon and organised by St. Marys A.C. attracted a small turnout of athletes with Gerry Ryan Galway City Harriers recording a very easy victory in (26mins . 36secs) over a very hilly course in windy and damp weather with Ian Egan Galway City Harries having to work hard to take second place ahead of Jason Broderick Loughrea who captured the Junior Mens Title and the Tommy Mc Carthy Cup going to Galway City Harriers ahead of Loughrea and Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare.

Veronica Colleran Ennis Track Club notched up another great win with a very time of (32mins . 53secs) the exact same time as last year with Sue Garrahy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare second and Maura Falsey Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare third.

The race was run in windy and damp weather conditions and right from the start Gerry Ryan Galway City Harriers laid down and early marker when he opened up a twenty metre lead on the rest of the field with a group of six athletes working together as they made their way towards the mile marker Ian Egan Galway City Harriers was leading the way along with Jason Broderick, Loughrea, Pat Sherry Galway City Harriers, Brian Murphy, Eugene Moynihan, Marian, and Kevin Darcy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare with a great contest between this group for the minor places.
Gerard Mullane Bilboa and Michael Harvey Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare were battling for honours in the masters O/50’s and with both men running shoulder to shoulder going towards the five crosses it was any one’s title and facing into a tough hill climb for the next mile the leader Gerry Ryan was in complete control up front and he came home with and very easy victory in (26mins . 36secs) and took the Bernie Meaney Memorial Shield to Galway with two more galway athletes filling the next two places Ian Egan in (28mins . 43secs) and third was Jason Broderick Loughrea and he was the first Junior athlete in (28mins . 47secs), next was Pat Sherry and the leading master O/40 in (28mins . 51secs) followed by Martin Corcoran the second O/40 and the first Clareman in sixth place was Brian Murphy Marian with Kevin Darcy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare 8th.
Eugene Moynihan Marian finishing 7th overall and he took the masters O/45’s title and he will represent Ireland in theMasters International Five Nations in Santry Demense Dublin on Saturday along with Pat Nugent in the O/40’s and Frank Garrihy in the O/50’s, second in the O/45 was Tom Mackey Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare with Tom Fitzgerald West Limerick Third.

The big battle of the day was in the masters O/50’s with Gerard Mullane Bilboa sprinting clear over the final 100metres to take the title from Michael Harvey and Tom Madden Marian with Roger Rush Tuam taking the masters O/60.

The Junior mens title Jason Broderick Loughrea running a very big race and finishing third overall was a very impressive winner with Thomas Garrahy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare second and his Clubmate David Mackey third.
The Team award and the Tommy Mc Carthy Cup went to Galway City Harriers on (29pts) with Loughrea second on (41pts) and third Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare on (50pts).

The first three St Marys Novice athletes for the James Hanrahan Memorial Shield the title going to Denis Meaney St Marys with Dermot Moran second and Shane Donnellan third.

The Ladies race was dominated from start to finish by Veronica Colleran Ennis Track Club for the second year in a row when she set a blistering pace and she went through the mile mark at (6:30pace) with Sue Garrahy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare working hard to keep the leader in her sight as they made their towards the two mile mark with Bernie Kelly Galway City Harriers, Marion O’Loughlin Ennis Track Club, Joan Sheehy West Limerick, and Maura Falsey Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare all battling for major honours in the various Categories with Siobhan Garrahy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare contesting the Junior Ladies award.

With two miles to go Veronica Colleran was moving well on the hills and working hard all the way to cross the finishing line in (32mins . 53secs) and that was being the same time as 2004 with a great last mile by Sue Garrahy to close the gap and finishing second with a time of (37mins . 04secs) with Marion O’Loughlin a very competitive athlete finishing strong in third place and taking the masters ladies O/35’s with Bernie Kelly Galway City Harriers fourth and the leading masters lady O/45 and her cousin Maura Falsey Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare fifth with Joan Sheehy West Limerick sixth and she took the ladies O/40 title, with the Junior ladies title going to Siobhan Garrahy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare in (44mins . 53secs).

Results.
Senior Ladies
1. Veronica Colleran Ennis Track Club (32 : 53)
2. Sue Garrahy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (37 : 04)
3. Maura Falsey Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (41 : 26)

Masters Ladies
O/35.
1. Marian O’Loughlin Ennis Track Club (38 : 54)
2. Hillary Cunningham St. Marys (44 : 53)
O/40.
1. Joan Sheehy West Limerick (42 : 49)
O/45.
1. Bernie Kelly Galway City Harriers (40 : 52)
Junior Ladies.
1. Siobhan Garrahy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (44 : 53)

Senior Men
1. Gerry Ryan Galway City Harriers (26 : 36)
2. Ian Egan Galway City Harriers (28 : 43)
3. Brian Murphy Marian (29 : 09)
4. Kevin Darcy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (30 : 10)
5. Alan Whelan St. Johns (31 : 05)
6. Darragh O’Brien Loughrea (32 : 25)
7. Ger Quigley Tulla (34 : 00)
8. Danny Fahy Ind. (39 : 22)
Teams.
1. Galway City Harriers (1. Gerry Ryan, 2. Ian Egan, 4. Pat Sherry, 22. Tom Porter) = 29pts.
2. Loughrea (3. Jason Broderick, 7. Martin Corcoran, 14. John Mannion, 17. Darragh O’Brien) = 41pts.
3. Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (8. Kevin Darcy, 11. Michael Harvey, 13. Tom Mackey, 18. Thomas Garrahy) = 50pts.

Masters Men.
O/40.
1. Pat Sherry Galway City Harriers (28 : 51)
2. Martin Corcoran Loughrea (29 : 35)
3. John Mannion Loughrea (31 : 38)
4. Paul Talty St Coco’s (32 : 06)
5. Sean O’Sullivan Fergus (40 : 09)
O/45.
1. Eugene Moynihan Marian (29 : 03)
2. Tom Mackey Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (31 : 32)
3. Tom Fitzgerald West Limerick (32 : 03)
4. Michael Quinlivan Kilmihil (34 : 17)
5. Denis Meaney St Marys (34 : 46)
6. Tom Porter Galway City Harriers (34 : 46)

O/50.
1. Gerard Mullane Bilboa (31 : 02)
2. Michael Harvey Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (31 : 08)
3. Tom Madden Marian (31 : 30)
4. Brendan Cusack Kilmurry Ibrickane/North clare (37 : 54)
5. Kevin O’Loughlin Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (38 : 02)
6. Dermot Moran St. Marys (38 : 32)
O/60.
1. Roger Rush Tuam (37 : 36)
Junior Men.
1. Jason Broderick Loughrea (28 : 47)
2. Thomas Garrahy Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (33 : 36)
3. David Mackey Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (39 : 48)
4. Shane Donnellan St. Marys (40 : 19)

Confined to St Marys A.C. (James Hanrahan Shield)
1. Denis Meaney St Marys (34 : 46)
2. Dermot Moran St Marys (38 : 32)
3. Shane Donnellan St Marys (40 : 19)