Strength in Depth

Fair play to the BHAA and the AAI; this time out they were really fast with results of the marathon. We had Dublin Marathon Results and National Marathon results in no time at all. Credit where credit is due.

Heading into the marathon this year we knew that Athenry AC would be up against it to win National Team Medals and we were well content with our fourth place finish. We did however know that this year we really did have strength in depth with a seventeen strong team toeing the line.

One topic that was hotly debated in the days and weeks before was how many sub-3hr finishers we'd have. We had a few certainties, a few maybes, and a few hopefuls but we reckoned that if all went well we might just have more sub-3 finishers than any other club in the country. That was one of the targets we set ourselves ... and oh but we came close.

Both Athenry AC and Letterkenny AC had six finishers under 3-hours. Next came Mayo, Rathfarnham and North Belfast with four each.

In order to resolve an overall winner I looked to the seventh finisher for Athenry and Letterkenny, only to find that Letterkenny had a 3:01:38 finisher against our 3:06:08 finisher. We must concede that Letterkenny really are the best marathoners in the country at the moment.

Here's the breakdown ...

Club................................Sub-3 Athletes

Letterkenny A.C...............6

Athenry A.C.....................6

Mayo A.C........................4

Rathfarnham WSAF AC....4

North Belfast....................4

Iveragh A.C......................3

Tallaght A.C....................3

Clonliffe Harriers A.C........2

Clonmel A.C....................2

Dundrum A.C..................2

Finn Valley A.C...............2

St Finbars.......................2

Up and Running N.I..........2