Maria McCambridge qualifies for London Olympics...

Just two weeks after winning the Ballycotton 10 mile road race at the start of March, Maria McCambridge from Letterkenny AC has now qualified for the 2012 London Olympics. On Sunday the 18th of March, Maria ran 2:36:37 in the Rome Marathon, breaking the 2:37 'A' standard qualifying time by 23 seconds.

Running 18:23 for the first 5k and 36:43 for the first 10k, Maria was in 100th place overall and the 19th woman at that stage. She went through the halfway point in 1:17:34 which was on target for running 2:35:08. In the latter stages, she slowed slightly but less so than her fellow competitors. At the finish line, she finished as the 9th woman and in 43rd place overall.

Video clips of run HERE

Three Irish women have now qualified for the Marathon in the 2012 Olympics. Linda Byrne ran 2:36:21 in Dublin last October. Ava Hutchinson ran 2:35:33 in Houston, Texas in January and now Maria McCambridge running 2:36:37 in Rome last Sunday.

The important point here though is that Ireland can only send three women athletes to the Marathon in the Olympics. There are still Marathons like Barcelona at the end of March and Rotterdam in early April and someone else may yet post a qualifying time from those. In light of that, the 16 second difference between Byrne and McCambridge may yet be all important but it may come down to current  form and consistency if someone has to be dropped.