Spring Half Marathon

The first Generali Spring Half Marathon was organised by Bohermeen  AC over a  flattish two lap course last Sunday. The weather  conditions were a lot more benign than the forecasters predictions when over 700 runners went to the start line on the gentle incline of the New Line road rising up from Ardbraccan. Trim Athletic Club was very well represented in this race and both the mens and the womens teams finished in fifth place in the team categories which included many established  and  illustrious road running clubs.


 The race incorporated the county half marathon championship and the honour  of winning that title fell on our own Sean Murphy in a great time of 1h18m08s. He was second in the overall M40 category and took the county M40 also. In the county M40 Don Mahon was the second finisher in a time of 1h25m. There were two other Trim runners in age group placings with David Hawcroft first in the M65 (time 1.47) and Ann Tobin, third W50,1h48m. The four counting runners on the prizewinning  mens team  were Sean Murphy,  Dermot Leonard,1.24;Don Mahon, Andrew Linsley, 1.27. In the womens race the four top places were occupied by Claire smith, 1.43; newcomer Niamh Tuite,1.46; Ann Tobin, 1.48; and Majella Thompson making her race debut with a brilliant 1.52 effort. The team and individual results for the county championships will be confirmed later in the week.

Many of our members were taking part in their first ever half marathon and made very good progress over the past year. There were a number of runners from the club with previous long distance experience and they recorded a few personal best performances. The finishing  times were as follows Danny Byrne,1.27,John Doyle,1.28, Enda Markey,1.29,Quinton Bourke,1.30, Frank  Farrell, 1.35,Barry Harten 1.35,Robert Farrell,1.42,Kealan Gormley,1.43,Mark Melia,1.45,Breffni Gordon,1.48,Kevin Horan,1.48,Gearoid Rogers,1.50,Jacinta Hyland,1.52,Heather Carty,1.55,Brian Grant,1.56,Enda Gallagher,1.57,Anita Rogers,1.58,Trish Duffy,1.59,Jane Murphy 2.00,Stuart Daniel,2.02,Genevieve Molloy,2.03,Helen Power,2.05,Juliann Boland,2.05,Paula Hegarty,2.09,Sandra Cunningham,2.13,Niamh Farrelly,2.14.

 The efforts put in during the winter paid off on Sunday when these runners  ran down the finishing shute to the applause of family, friends, club colleagues, training partners and total strangers from every corner of Ireland. Special mention for the Gordon Family, Maureen Lowther, Anna Fay, Mary Carr, Mairead McMorrow and her daughters for their very vocal support at Lawless Cross and Boyerstown.