Fionnuala Britton finishes 2nd in Great Ireland Run...Lizzie Lee takes silver in National Championships

The Great Ireland Run was held in the Phoenix Park, Dublin today the 11th of April 2015 and attracted a huge field of about 6000 runners. This also doubled up as the National 10k championships.

In the womens race, the winner was Gemma Steel of Britain, the current European Cross Country Champion. Fionnuala Britton of Ireland finished in second place, the first time since 2009 that an Irish woman has been on the podium. Fionnuala's time of 33:07 was a significant improvement on the 33:54 that she recorded last year.

Lizzie Lee from Cork finished in an impressive time of 34:18 for 5th place overall.

In he National 10k championships, Fionnuala Britton took Gold as she was the first Irish athlete home. Lizzie Lee won a national Silver medal as the 2nd Irish woman. Lizzie's time of 34:18 would also have got her Silver in last years results.

Another impressive performance to note was that of Catherina McKiernan....still winning national medals at the age of 45.

Top 3 Irish women...L-R...Lizzie Lee 2nd, Fionnuala Britton 1st and Catherina McKiernan 3rd. Photo Grearoid O'Laoi

1 FIONNUALA BRITTON    Kilcoole A.C.    00:33:07    Gun Time
2 LIZZY LEE    Leevale Athletic Club    00:34:18    Gun Time
3 CATHERINA MCKIERNAN    Annalee A.C.    00:35:15    Gun Time
4 KERRY O'FLAHERTY    Newcastle & District AC    00:35:27    Gun Time
5 SARAH MULLIGAN    DSD AC    00:35:39    Gun Time
6 AVA HUTCHINSON    DSD AC    00:35:43    Chip Time
7 SIOBHAN O'DOHERTY    Borrisokane A.C.    00:36:03    Chip Time
8 MICHELLE MCGEE    DSD AC    00:37:13    Chip Time
9 REGINA CASES    Galway City Harriers AC    00:38:13    Chip Time
10 EMMA DONLON    Metro St. Brigids Athletic Club    00:38:48    Chip Time
11 CARMEL CROWLEY    Bandon AC    00:39:11    Chip Time
12 ANNE CURLEY    Donore Harriers Athletic Club    00:39:17    Chip Time
13 AINE O'REILLY    Mullingar Harriers    00:39:36    Chip Time
14 COLETTE TUOHY    Mayo AC    00:39:44    Chip Time
15 AUBREE PIEPMEIER    Galway City Harriers AC    00:39:48    Chip Time
16 DERVAL DEVANEY    Rathfarnham WSAF Athletic Club    00:40:01    Chip Time

Siobhan O'Doherty of Borrisokane AC in Tipperary was 7th while Carmel Crowley of Bandon AC finished 11th.

In the mens race, the top places were dominated by African athletes. Sergiu Ciobanu of Clonliffe Harriers and who lives in Clonmel finished 10th overall.

In the National 10k championships, Sergiu was 2nd. Colm Sheehan of Leevale AC in Cork finished 5th.

Results......The full results can be found up on the Great Ireland Run website.

Photos.......
1) Clonmel AC have a small gallery HERE
2) Gearóid Ó Laoi has a small gallery HERE

RTE....The race was shown on RTE television. You can see it on the RTE Player Service for about 3 weeks.

As pointed out in an earlier post, very few club runners from Cork and Munster traveled to Dublin for this event even though it was a national championships. Of the three road championships...10k, half-marathon and marathon....it is the easiest one to get to as you can, as far as I know travel up on the day to take part whereas with the others, you have to go to an expo the previous day to collect your race number.

Some people have suggested that the national championships should move around the country but in reality, all that would happen is that the numbers would drop like a stone with hundreds instead of thousands taking part. It would also result in a substantial loss of income to Athletics Ireland for no obvious benefit.

I'm not sure what can be done to make it more attractive to club athletes from outside the Dublin catchment area. A lot will look at the distance and decide that it's too far to travel for a 10k race, especially when there is a glut of other races on locally.