Sergiu Ciobanu of Clonliffe Harriers was an untroubled winner of the Clonakilty Waterfront Half Marathon IX on Saturday (December 8) in a time of 73:22.

Over a minute behind for second and first M40 was Niall Sheil of St Killian’s AC in 74:49, while third was Mark Guerin in 76:56.

First M50 was former Irish international athlete Tony O’Halloran of Dundrum South Dublin AC in 88:33.

Jackie Carthy of Kilmore was first woman and first W45 in 86:49, followed by Kana Akimoto of North East Runners AC in 92:59 and Deirdre Ansbro of Youghal AC in 96:14.

Winning the marathon was Freddy Sittuk of Raheny Shamrock in 2:39:20. First woman in 3:18:07 was Charlotte Kearney of Donadea RC.

Winners of the 10k were Barry O’Shea of Midleton AC in 35:26 and Zoe Quinn of Raheny Shamrock AC in 39:34.

At the Ballyroan 10 Mile on Saturday, An Bru AC’s Niall Shanahan ran a big personal best to win the men’s race in a time of 51:27.

Gowran AC’s Niall Sheehan was second in 54:01 ahead of Celbridge AC’s Stephen Conroy who crossed the finish line in 56:32. In total six men finished under the hour mark.

Tullamore Harriers’ Pauline Curley won the women’s race in 64:13. The Beijing Olympian finished ahead of Sharon Kiely in 67:28 and Tara Malone in 68:06.

In Dublin’s Phoenix Park, Brian Maher of Kilkenny City Harries led home over 800 finishers in 31:50 at the annual Aware Charity 10k.

Rathfarnham ESAF’s Sean Hehir in second place was given the same time. Eoin Taggart clocked 33:51 for third place.

Finishing sixth and first woman was Caitriona Jennings of Letterkenny AC in 36:16. Anne O’Brien of Balbriggan and District AC was second.

Aaron McGrady of East Down AC was the clear winner of the men’s 4-mile race at the Mighty Oaks Cross Country at the Mid-Ulster Sports Arena Playing Fields, Cookstown, on Saturday (December 8).

McGrady finished in 23:29, with the battle for second place won by Willowfield’s Neil Weir from Vincent McKenna of Acorns AC and Gareth Lyons.

Willowfield proved best of the 18 teams entered, with Ballymena Runners AC and Acorns AC second and third.

Katie Moore of North Down AC won the women’s 3-mile race in 20:03, with Karen Wilton of Jog Lisburn RC and Catherine Diver of Beechmount Harriers second and third.

Lagan Valley, led by Julie Murphy fourth and Shileen O’Kane fifth, were first team of the 19 teams ahead of Beechmount Harriers and Omagh Harriers.

Meanwhile, at the European Cross Country Championships, Ryan Forsyth impressed in the under-23 men’s race with a great run to finish fourth, while Sean Tobin delivered a strong performance to finish 10th in the senior men’s event.

Full reports from the European Cross Country Championships can be found here.

At parkrun events across Ireland on Saturday, St Malachy’s AC’s Conall McClean ran 16:14 at the Waterworks event to record the fastest men’s time, while Raheny Shamrock’s Annette Kealy topped the women’s rankings after running 18:24 at the Malahide parkrun.

The 10 fastest parkrun times in Ireland can be found here.

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The post Freddy Sittuk and Sergiu Ciobanu among winners in Clonakilty – weekend round-up appeared first on Fast Running.

At the Berlin Marathon on Sunday (September 16), Gary O’Hanlon of Clonliffe Harriers finished 22nd in 2:19:06 – not far off the personal best time of 2:18:53 he ran last year at the Dublin Marathon.

This was the fourth marathon this year for the Irish marathon champion. In April, he finished 17th overall and first over 40 in London clocking a time of 2:21:14 despite the searing heat which found him fading badly in the later stages of the race.

Less than two months later, he won the Cork City Marathon in a course record time of 2:21:10. In late August, he won the Longford Marathon in a slightly faster time of 2:21:00. Not bad for a man that turned 44 on July 31 and is highly likely to defend his Irish title in Dublin at the end of next month.

A large contingent of Irish athletes chased fast times in Berlin with four men in the top 100. The other three were Rathfarnham’s Robert Murphy 52nd in 2:25:23, Tomas Fitzpatrick of Tallaght AC 60th in 2:26:19 and Paddy O’Toole 83rd in 2:28:32.

Best of the Irish women was Sally Forristal of St Joseph’s AC who was 78th woman in 2:57:39. Letterkenny’s Ann-Marie McGlynn, who had hoped to make her marathon debut in Berlin, was a non-starter.

None were quite in the class of Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge who smashed the world record with a sensational time of 2:01:39. A full report can be found here.

Roads

Leevale’s Michele Finn won the Cork Women’s Mini Marathon 4-Mile on Sunday (September 16) in a time of 20:48. Anna Reddin of Crusaders AC was second in 21:29 and Martina Kiely of St Finbarr’s third in 22:09. A total of 5,824 completed the run.

Also on Sunday, Shane Lynch of Glenmore AC won the Conor/Mallon 5km in Dundalk, Co Louth in 16:51. He was followed home by Dunleer junior Peter Meegan in 17:30. DSD’s Niamh Devlin was first woman in 18:40.

First home at the St Brigid’s 5km in Castleknock, Co Dublin was junior athlete Daire Finn in 15:02. He took the scalp of Rathfarnham marathon man Sean Hehir who finished in 15:10. Third and first woman was Catherina McKiernan in 17:17.

Acorns AC made it a double at the Tafelta AC 10 mile on Saturday (September 15) with wins for Vincent McKenna and Leanne Sands. McKenna finished in 53:26 and Sands in 71:06.

Also on Saturday, former Irish steeplechase champion Tomas Cotter of Dunleer won the Fr Mulligan 5km in Co Louth in 16:10. Laura Mathews of North East Runners was fifth and first woman in 20:01.

At the Kilmore 10km, also on Saturday, Freddy Sittuk of Raheny Shamrock won the race for a second time finishing in 32:30. Niall Shiels of St Killian’s in 32:39 and Enda Cloake of Slaney Olympic in 33:44 were second and third.

First woman was local athlete Fiona Kehoe in 37:22, Jackie Carthy, fresh from the World Masters in Malaga, was second and Ann Sullivan of DMP third.

World Mountain Running Championships

Sarah McCormack of Clonliffe Harriers produced another top twenty performance for Ireland at the World Mountain Running Championships in Andorra-Canillo on Sunday (September 16).

In the tough uphill only 11.9km race with 1,000m of climb, McCormack finished 18th in 71:21, which was the best Irish performance of the day. It was a sixth World Championships for McCormack, whose best performance came in 2013 when she finished sixth.

In the men’s race over the same course, Zak Hanna of Newcastle and District finished 47th in 64:28, with Rathfarnham WSAF veterans Mark Ryan and Eoin Flynn right behind him in 50th and 51st places.

Ugandan athletes won the junior women and the senior men and women’s races, finishing top team in all three. Kenya won the senior women’s team title ahead of Great Britain.

World Masters

At the World Masters Championships in Malaga Spain, both Kelly Neely of City of Lisburn and West Waterford AC took double gold in the 800m and 1500m.

Neely, a former Irish senior international, was competing in the W4O age group while Gough lined out in the M65 races. He won the 800m in a new European record time of 2:16.38 and the 1500m in 4:49.63, beating Britain’s Kevin Archer into second place.

In the W50 800m and 1500, Anne Gilshinan of Slaney Olympics, making her world masters debut, took double bronze.

Other good Irish performances came in the 10km road race where Annette Kealy of Raheny Shamrock in the W50 age group and Sean McGrath of West Cork M35 both took silver, while Carmel Crowley took W65 bronze.

Bronze medals went to Letterkenny’s Ciaran Doherty in the M40 steeplechase and Snezana Bechtina of Clonliffe Harriers in the W35 200m.

In the cross country races that started the ten days of competition, Jackie Carthy of Kilmore AC was second W45 and Carmel Crowley second W50, while Niamh O’Sullivan of An Riocht, who is the coach to Shona Heaslip, was third W55.

parkrun

Annette Kealy ran 18:09 at the Malahide parkrun to recorded the fastest women’s time across the island of Ireland this week, while parkrun tourist Elly Tarus clinched the men’s official number one spot on Saturday with a 16:05 run at the Antrim event.

The fastest parkrun times across Ireland can be found here.

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The post Gary O’Hanlon best of Irish in Berlin – weekend round-up appeared first on Fast Running.

Leading home over a thousand finishers at the Viking Half Marathon in Waterford on Saturday (June 29) was Freddy Sittuk of Raheny Shamrock, who ran a time of 71:30. A minute behind for second was local athlete Trevor Power.

The first women in 83:51 was Ruth Fitzgerald of Waterford AC.

Stephen Scullion (Clonliffe Harriers) and Emma Mitchell of QUB AC were the winners of the Newell 10km in Coalisland on Friday evening (June 29).

Scullion’s winning time of 30:12 was a new course record and saw him finish comfortably clear of Conor Bradley from City of Derry AC who finished second in 31:45. Third was Paddy Hamilton of Slieve Gullion Runners in 32:07.

Equally dominant in the women’s race was Emma Mitchell with a winning time of 34:59 Her QUB clubmate and training partner Sinead Sweeney finished second in 38:16 with Amy Bulman of Willowfield Harriers a minute behind for third.

Thank You Newell 10K! Fantastic Event @NewellStores pic.twitter.com/oFwHr1kTpr

— Emma Mitchell (@EmmaMitchell05) June 30, 2018

In other Friday evening races, Lindsay Gordon of North Belfast Harriers and North Down’s Jessica Craig came out on top at the Comber 10km, which attracted almost 800 finishers. Gordon finished in 33:55 with Stephen Wylie of Victoria Park & Connswater AC second in 34:32, and Darrel Cooper a close third in 34:49.

Craig proved the class of the field in the women’s race, coming home in 37:59; Dromore’s Susan Smyth was second and Collette McCourt of Dub Runners third.

Winner of the St Coca’s 5km in Kilcock was Freddy Sittuk of Raheny Shamrock in a time of 14:52. Niall Shanahan of An Bru was second in 14:55 and Darragh Rennicks of Bohermeen AC third in 15:01. Donore Harriers, led by Rossa Hurley in seventh place, proved best of the teams, beating Newbridge AC and Thurles Crokes.

First woman was Fiona Kehoe of Kilmore AC in 17:33; Tallaght’s Laura McDonnell was second while in third place Catherine Thornton was leading Crusaders AC to team victory. over host club St Coca’s.

Winners of the Mount Uniacke 5km in Co Cork were Kevin O’Leary of West Cork AC in 16:40 and Aoife Cooke of Youghal AC in 18:10. First over 60 in 19:38 was West Waterford’s Joe Gough who recently improved on his own Irish M65 400m record.

At the Willie Neenan 5-Mile in Millstreet, Co Cork, Conor McCauley was the winner in 26:05 with his Leevale clubmate Lizzie Lee first woman in 27:42. On a busy night in Co Cork, Andrew Sheehan of Leevale in 32:45 and Carmel Crowley of Bandon AC in 38:23 were the winners of the Courtmacsharry 10km.

American visitor Kyle Masterson and Lydia O’Donnell from New Zealand added a touch of international glamour to the Docklands 5km in Dublin on Thursday (June 28).

Masterson won the race in 14:39, with Ben Branagh of St Malachy’s AC second in 15:04 and Colin Maher of Ballyfin AC third in 15:17. O’Donnell finished 10th overall and first woman in 16:31. Lauren Masterson and Eilish Flanagan were second and third women.

On the same night, Mick Carmody of An Bru in 32:37 and Jane Bandila of Dunboyne AC were the winners of the Clonee 10km in Co Meath, organised by Dunboyne AC.

Mountain running

Sarah McCormack of Clonliffe Harriers produced one of the best runs of her career to finish eighth in the women’s race at the European Mountain Running Championships, held at Skopje, Macedonia on Sunday (July 1).

McCormack, who is also a member of Ambleside AC in the Lake District, completed the 11km course with 700m metres of climb and descent in a time of 58 mins 1 second. Race winner by over four minutes in a stunning time of 52:32 was Switzerland’s Maude Mathias.

In the men’s race over the same distance, Zak Hanna of Newcastle and District led home the Irish team in 19th place with a time of 51:45. With Rathfarnham’s Mark Ryan 39th in 54.16, Seamus Lynch of Newcastle and District 44th in 55:30, and James Kevan, of Clonliffe Harriers and Horwich AC, 55th in 58:19, the team finished tenth.

Tony McCambridge of St Malachy’s finished a highly respectable 14th in the U20 men’s 6km race He was followed by international orienteer Ruairi Long of Rathfarnham WSAF 25th, Conall McClean of St Malachy’s 30th and Iosac Coleman of Ratoath AC 42nd. The team was seventh.

On the track this weekend, Northern Irish athletes Megan Marrs and Leon Reid impressed in Birmingham, Thomas Barr ran a season’s best and young athletes starred at Irish National Junior U20 and U23 Championships. An Irish track round-up can be found here.

The post Stephen Scullion and Lizzie Lee among winners on Irish roads 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.

The post Half Marathons in Belfast and Charleville Take Centre Stage Across Ireland appeared first on Fast Running.