Gideon Kipsang running for Derry Track Club and Letterkenny’s Caitriona Jennings were the winners at 5th annual Belfast City Half Marathon. Kipsang was a comfortable overall winner of the race with his time of 64:38 seeing him finish well over a minute ahead of early leader Stephen Scullion, the Northern Ireland athlete who runs for Dublin club Clonliffe Harriers.

Two days earlier, Kipsang had won the Memorial 5km in 15:30 at the Memorial 5km.

Scullion finished second in 66:12, and had almost four minutes to spare on last year’s winner Freddy Sittuk of Raheny Shamrock who came home in 70:06. For Scullion, it was a second half marathon inside a week after his 65:52 at the Great North Run last Sunday.

In the women’s race, 2012 Irish Olympian Caitriona Jennings of Letterkenny AC proved the class of the field winning in a personal best time of 75:38. Judith Lonnen from City of Lisburn finished second in 83:25, with Ciara Toner of Springwell RC a close third in 83:33.

John Travers of Donore Harriers and DSD’s Laura Shaughnessy lived up to the pre-race hype when they came home comfortable winners at the Charleville International Half Marathon in Co Cork.

Travers, better known for his track exploits, was first overall in 67:42, with Jonathan Escalante-Philips of Cambridge and Coleridge over half a minute behind for second in 68:16. A distant third was Michael Carmody of An Bru in 70:07 with Raheny’s Michael McMahon fourth in 70:31.

Congrats to our winner today John Travers.Full results here.https://t.co/8d1Tw6DktE pic.twitter.com/cwcrnu8dp1

— Charleville.Half-Mar (@charlevillehalf) September 17, 2017

Laura Shaughnessy’s winning time of 73:59 puts her second on the Irish rankings for the year behind Fionnuala McCormack who ran 72:35 in Barcelona last February. After her run in Belfast, Jennings moves into third place on the rankings.

On Saturday at the British and Irish Youth Mountain Running Championships, held over a tough course at Cademuir Hill, Peebles, Scotland, the Irish U20 men took team bronze behind England and Scotland.Paul O’Donnell of DSD in ninth place led the team home.

In the U17 boy’s race, Ben Ryan of Craughwell finished 14th and ninth for the team, with Conall McClean, running for Northern Ireland, not far behind in 16th. England won all four team titles and also had B teams running in some of the races, as did Wales.

Elsewhere, Charlie O’Donovan proved the star of the young Leevale team competing at the European Junior Club Championships B group in Leiria, Portugal.

O’Donovan, who competed at the European U2o Championships in Grossetto last month, won the 3000m in 8:56.71, beating Martin Pinta of Slovenian club AD Mass Ljubljana, by 14 seconds. Also picking up good points was Matt Murnane second in the 800m. Leevale finished eighth of the ten clubs competing. 

The post Gideon Kipsang and John Travers win Half Marathons in Belfast and Charleville – Weekend Round-Up appeared first on Fast Running.

Defending champion Freddy Sittuk of Raheny Shamrock AC leads the 3,500 strong field at Sunday’s 5th annual Deep RiverRock Belfast City Half Marathon.

Just two weeks ago, Sittuk was in action over the 13.1 mile distance, to retain his Waterside Half Marathon title in 69 mins 9 secs. Sittuk followed this up with three races victories last weekend, the Tony O’Donoghue 10km in Moone, Co Kildare, followed by the Dromiskin 5km in Co Louth on Saturday and then the Ratoath 5km on Sunday morning.

Fellow Kenyan, Gideon Kipsang, representing Derry Track Club, and Northern Irish athlete Stephen Scullion, who runs in Clonliffe Harriers are certain to give Sittuk a hard race. Kipsang, who like Sittuk, spends much of his time in Ireland, ran 63 mins 56 secs at the Peterborough Half Marathon last year and was a clear winner of the Bobby Farren 5km last Tuesday evening in 14 mins 51 secs.

England-based Scullion is in steadily improving form having run 2:17.59 at the London Marathon last April and 65 mins 52 secs at last weekend’s Great North Run, which puts him third on the current Irish listings behind Kevin Seaward of St Malachy’s and Rathfarnham’s Sean Hehir. He is targeting the SSE Dublin Marathon at the end of next month.

The women’s entry has a more local field, led by Amy Bulman of Willowfield Harriers, who ran 81 mins 15 secs at this year’s Larne Half Marathon.

Dubliner John Travers of Donore Harriers, better known as a track man, makes his debut at the Kerry Foods Charleville International Half Marathon where entries have closed at a record 1,400. Last month, Travers finished second in the gruelling 15km Warriors’ Run in and around Knockrarea mountain outside Sligo, where he is based.

Another athlete moving up the distances is Laura Shaughnessy of DSD, who is favourite to win the women’s race in Charleville. After a summer break, Shaughnessy proved that she had lost none of her fitness when she won the Lakes 10km last weekend.

The course is billed as the fastest and flattest in Ireland. Last year’s winners were Olympian Lizzie Lee of Leevale, with defending champion Ismail Ssenyange, originally from Uganda, overall winner in 65 mins 49 secs.

Over the shorter distances, pick of the races is the Harry Mallon/Willie Connor 4-Mile organised by Boyne AC in Drogheda on Sunday (12 noon).

Internationally, Paul O’Donnell of DSD, who was best of the Irish at the World Junior Mountain Racing Championships in Italy last July, will lead the Republic Ireland team at Saturday’s British and Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships on the steep slopes of Cademuir Hill above Peebles in Scotland.

Also selected for the U20 men’s team are Cian McDonald (Ballyroan Abbeyleix and District), Iosac Coleman (Ratoath AC) and Alex Hunter (Ratoath). Caelainn McQuaid (Omagh Harriers), Grace Dervan (DSD) and Enya Haigney (Derry TC) will compete in the women’s U20 race.

At under 17 level, Ben Ryan (Craughwell), Luke Maher (Le Chile)and Ryan Hogg (Ballyroan Abbeyleix and District) make up the men’s team while Niamh James (Rathkenny), Cassie Lagan (Omagh Harriers) and Jessica Brennan (Ballyroan Abbeyleix and District).

Running for Northern Ireland in the men’s U20 race Oisin Brennan, Ethan Dunn, Tom Magee and Jonny Brattle with Molly Brennan and Leila Ponziani going in the women’s U20 race. Conall McClean, Jamie Anthony, Callum McCabe and Tony McCambridge make up the men’s U17 team, with Miceal McCaul also running.

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