Irish athlete Caitriona Jennings wins the 50km European Championships - Oct 2022

Caitriona Jennings of Letterkenny AC is one of the top ultra distance runners in Ireland and last weekend (8th Oct 2022), she took Gold in the inaugural IAU 50km European Championships in Spain.

1. CAITRIONA JENNINGS - IRL 03:19:42
2. ALISON LAVENDER - GBR 03:21:26
3. DOMINIKA STELMACH - POL 03:21:50

Full results HERE

Caitriona went through the marathon mark in 2h 50m 10s and crossed the 50km finish line in 3h 19m 42s.

That time works out as an average of an impressive 6:22/mile or 4:00/km for 50kms.

Results & Photos of the National 50k Championships - Sat 12th Feb 2022

The annual Donadea 50km was held last Saturday, the 12th of February and as always, it doubled up as the Irish National 50k Championships.

National 50k champions Sean Hehir & Sorcha Loughnane

There were a total of 261 finishers in the race which is impressive considering the distance is about 30 miles.

These were the top 3 men & women...

1. 7 Sean Hehir M Metro St Brigids 2:56:04  
2. 4 Gary Ohanlon M45 Clonliffe Harriers 3:00:55  
3. 225 Raivis Zakis M40 West Waterford A.C. 3:11:11  
5. 312 Sorcha Loughnane F45 Donore Harriers 3:20:33  
16. 304 Deirdre Martin F Carrick on shannon AC 3:40:59  
19. 2 Laura Driscoll F45  3:44:54

 Full results... https://www.popupraces.ie/race/donadea50k-2022/

The most impressive performance was probably that of Sorcha Loughnane who was less than a minute outside the 50k national record which was set by Olympian Catriona Jennings. Sorcha also went through the marathon mark in a time of 2h 46m which was 6 minutes faster than her previous marathon best time.

These are just some of the finishers from Cork and Munster who were listed in the results...

3. 225 Raivis Zakis M40 West Waterford A.C. 10 3:11:11
41. 14 Aidan Hogan M40 Rising Sun 4:00:11  
53. 252 Fozzy Forristal M45 Kerry Crusaders 4:07:30  
54. 57 Niall Bennis M Dooneen AC 4:08:08  
66. 239 Eddie Butt M40 Cork Triathlon Club 4:19:02  
67. 5 Mike Kissane M40 Kerry Crusaders 4:19:18  
68. 62 Alan O Connor M45 Cork Triathlon Club 4:19:56  
81. 92 Liam Lynch M60 Donoughmore AC 4:26:27  
150. 133 Alan Doyle M50 West Waterford A.C. 4:48:26  
190. 165 Kevin Broughton M45 Bilbo_ AC 5:13:59  

Raivis Zakis of West Waterford AC who finished in 3rd place in the 50k also ran the Dungarvan 10 mile the previous Sunday where he posted a time of 56m 51s.

Liam Lynch of Donoughmore AC... 2nd M60

Photos...
1) Sweaty Snaps has several hundred photos HERE

Irish women's team win the Anglo Celtic 100km plate for the first time

For the first time in it's 26 year history, Ireland's women's team won the 100km Anglo Celtic Plate.

Women’s Teams
1. Ireland 
2. Scotland 
3. Northern Ireland

Olympian Caitriona Jennings of Letterkenny AC led the Ireland Women’s Team won the event with a record breaking time of 7:43:01 beating the previous Irish record of 7:52:45 set by Helena Crossan in 2007.

Team Ireland Women.
Caitriona Jennings – Letterkenny AC
Sorcha Loughnanne – Donore Harriers
Patricia McLoughlin – Le Cheile AC
Lorraine McMahon – Wexford Marathon Club
Sinead Kane – Le Cheile AC

In the men's race, Ireland finished in second place.

Men’s Teams
1. Scotland 
2. Ireland
3. Northern Ireland

National Championships: The Donadea 50k & 100k also doubled up as the Irish National 50k & 100km championships...

100K National Championship Results

Women

Caitriona Jennings - 7:43.01 (Letterkenny AC)

Karla Borland - 8:30.41 (Team NI)

Deirdre Martin - 8:44.15 (Carrick Aces)

 

Men

Gareth King - 7:12.30 (Team NI)

Stephen Connon - 7:45.03 (Bros Pearse

Dave O’Keeffe - 7:48.39 (Togher AC)

National Bronze medal for Dave O'Keefe from Cork in the 100k Photo: Stephen O'Sullivan

 

50K National Championship Results

Men

Sean Hehir - 2:54:07 (Metro St Brigid’s AC)

Johnny O’Sullivan - 3:31.59 (Galtee Runners AC)

Liam Ryan - 3:34.46 (Carrick Aces)

 

Women

Deirdre Lynn - 3:56.33 (Marathon Club of Ireland)

Catherine O’Sullivan - 4:15.37 (Galtee Runners AC)

Laura Byrnes - 4:35.21 (Clane AC)

National Silver medals for Catherine O'Sullivan & Johnny O'Sullivan in the 50k

Links...

1) Results of the Donadea 50k & 100k

Rob Heffernan finally gets his Olympic Bronze medal

At a special awards ceremony in Cork City Hall on Thursday evening, Rob Heffernan was finally presented with his Olympic Bronze medal for the 50k walk at the 2012 London Games.

Rob Heffernan finishes 6th in Olympic 50k final

Rob Heffernan finished 6th in the final of the 50km race walk in Rio on Friday the 19th of August. At the half way mark, Rob looked as if he might be in the mix for a medal but muscle cramp in the second half forced him out of the back of the leading group.

At first, it looked as if he finished 6th but a Japanese athlete who was in 3rd place was subsequently disqualified after he had been found to obstruct a Canadian competitor. After another appeal, the Japanese athlete was reinstated so Rob was 6th.

The second Irish athlete was Brendan Boyce who finished in 19th position with a time of 3h 53m 59s. This top 20 finish is an improvement on his performance at the London Olympics where he finished in 27th place in a time of 3h 55m 01s.

The third Irish athlete Alex Wright had to pull out after 30km, perhaps a sign that he hadn't fully recovered from the 20k race last weekend.

"I tried to win the Olympic Games and I finished sixth" - another heroic performance from @RM_Heffernan #rterio2016 https://t.co/mhMKuyFJPw

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 19, 2016

Gary O'Hanlon sets new Irish 50km record

At the Irish 50km Championships in Donadea Co.Kildare last weekend, Gary O'Hanlon from Louth won the race in a time of 2h 56m 51s. Just one week after winning the Clonakilty Marathon in 2h 48m, Gary's 50k time was also a new Irish 50km record. That works out as 3m 31s per km or 5m 42s per mile for 31 miles.
 

Donadea 50k...
1 Gary M40 IRE 2:56:51
2 Doyle Mark MS IRE 3:12:09
3 Peter M IRE 3:16:59
30 Kenny Suzanne Trail heads F35 IRE 3:59:49
50 Clarke Karen F42 IRE 4:14:54
60 Flanagan Tracy F40 IRE 4:22:47

The full results can be seen HERE

Photos...
1) Peter Mooney has a gallery HERE
2) Gareth MacCauley has a gallery HERE