Fast times were the order of the day for Irish runners as Marius Kipserem claimed the top spot at yesterday’s 39th Rotterdam Marathon in a course record of 2:04:11.
The Kenyan slashed 16 seconds from the previous record set in 2009 by Duncan Kibet. He finished ahead of Turkey’s Kaan Kigen, who clocked 2:05:26, while another Kenyan Emmanuel Saina sealed the podium three in 2:05:42.
In the women’s category, Ethiopia’s Ashete Bekere won the race in 2:22:55 ahead of Kenya’s Stella Barsosio, who clocked 2:23:34 as the USA’s Alphine Tuliamuk came home third in 2:26:48.
Clonliffe Harrier Sergiu Ciobanu was first Irish man across the finish line in 2:19:53, followed shortly by Clonmel garda Dave Mansfield in 2:22:06. Cillian O’Leary (2:25:03) and Colin Griffin (2:26:48) also comfortably broke the 2:30 mark.
Maghera’s Tommy Hughes was just 15 seconds outside two and half hours (chip time) but the 59-year-old was delighted to take over seven minutes off the Irish over 55 record. The Barcelona Olympian has little to learn about pacing at this stage of his career and went through halfway in 74 minutes, meaning he lost little time in the second half of the race.
There were two outstanding performances from Ulster-based women. Rio Olympian Breege Connolly was 13th female finisher overall and second W40 with a 2:37:50 timing. Strabane’s Ann-Marie McGlynn was two places further back, and first W35 competitor, in 2:39:22 on her debut at the distance.
Earlier National 50K record holder Gary O’Hanlon cruised to an impressive victory in the Omagh Half Marathon with a 67:41 clocking. The Louth man was exactly a minute clear of runner-up Mark McKinstry who took two minutes off his previous best, stopping the clock at 68:41.
Acorns AC’s Eoin Hughes continued a rich vein of recent form by filling the final place on the podium in 70:47. Sperrin Harrier Pierce McCullagh had one of his best ever runs for fourth in 71:59, ahead of former winner Stephen Duncan (72:52) and Neill Weir (73:24).
Laura Graham scored her second win in the women’s race after an earlier victory in 2016. The Mourne Runners’ athlete was a class apart from the opposition on this occasion, winning by five minutes from Karen Alexander (81:30) with another former winner Catherine Whoriskey (83:26) in the bronze medal spot.
Gemma McDonald (84:43), Helen McCready (85:29) and Eiméar Nicholl (85:45) rounded off the top half dozen women. Almost 2300 runners completed the undulating half marathon course in cool conditions.
Local man Marty Cox was the winner of the ancillary 5K for the second successive year recording 15 minutes and 49 seconds. Tristan Kelly (17:25) and Oisín McGuigan (17:42) were second and third across line respectively. In many ways former London Marathon champion Catherina McKiernan was the star of the weekend giving talks on Friday night about marathon preparation before leading the women home in the 5K with an excellent 17:53 timing. The Cavan athlete then stayed on to present the various prize winners with their awards. Sorcha Mullan (19:07) and Cassie Lagan (19:18) claimed the minor women’s places behind McKiernan in the women’s 5K listings.
The University of Ulster’s athletes excelled at the Irish Universities Track & Field Championships in Athlone. UU’s women were second, an improvement of four places on 2018, while the men also moved up nine places to sixth. Their combined score placed the northern students a commendable fifth overall after being 15th last year.