Fionnuala Britton runs 4th fastest time Irish time ever for her first marathon

The European Championship marathon was held today in Zurich on what was a very tough looped course with a testing hill on each lap. The Irish team was comprised of 3 women.....Fionnuala Britton, Sarah Mulligan and Barbara Sanchez.

This was a debut marathon for Fionnuala Britton and she finished in 10th place overall in an impressive time of 2h 31m 46s. That's an excellent time for a tough course and shows that her future really lies now in the longer distance. That time puts her in 4th place on the Irish all time list...

1 2:22:23 Catriona McKiernan 1 Amsterdam 1 Nov 1998
2 2:28:07 Carey May 1 Osaka 27 Jan 1985
3 2:29:01 Sonia O'Sullivan 8 London 17 Apr 2005
4 2:31:46 Fionnuala Britton 10 Zurich 16 Aug 2014
5 2:32:56 Regina Joyce-Bonney 7 Scottsdale AZ     4 Dec 1982
6 2:33:28 Nicola Duncan 1 London 13 Apr 2014
7 2:33:59 Marie Davenport 16 New York NY 6 Nov 2005
8 2:34:49 Monica Joyce 2 Sacramento CA 2 Dec 1984

Post race interview...


Sarah Mulligan finished in 36th place in a time of 2h 42m 43s and Barbara Sanchez finished in 41st in 2h 43m 59s.

The Irish team finished 7th overall.

These are the 5k splits for each of the Irish athletes. You can see where they were strong and where they struggled...
Fionnuala Britton 5k 17:21...10k 17:19...15k 17:28...20k 18:00...25k 18:06...30k 18:26...35k 18:20...40k 18:47
Sarah Mulligan 5k 17:54...10k 18:29...15k 18:26...20k 18:18...25k 18:23...30k 19:18...35k 19:54...40k 22:21
Barbara Sanchez 5k 18:29...10k 18:18...15k 18:33...20k 19:20...25k 19:29...30k 19:59...35k 20:02...40k 20:51

One of the more unusual aspects of the marathon championship was the Estonian team which consisted of the Luik triplets.

Liina Luik 2:41:48, Leila Luik 2:45:59 and Lily Luik 2:48:49.

Photo Credit : James Veale of West Waterford AC