Lizzie Lee from Cork wins National Half-Marathon...Mon 5th Aug 2013

Fiona Roche, Lizzie Lee & Gladys Ganiel

The National Half Marathon was held on Monday, the 5th of August in conjunction with the Rock 'n' Roll Dublin Half-Marathon. In the womens race, Lizzie Lee from Cork took the title in a time of 1h 14m 48s, about three minutes faster than her previous best time. In a post race interview, Lizzie said...“Winning the Woodie’s DIY National Title was a big target for me and this is my first national road gold medal“.

Gladys Ganiel of North Belfast Harriers finished second in a new personal best time of 1h 15m 09s.

In the mens race, Mark Christie of Mullingar Harriers was the winner in a time of 1:06.09, his first race over the half-marathon distance. Mark, who is coached by Jerry Kiernan said in a post race interview...."I missed out on an Olympic A qualifying standard for London by eight seconds and I felt a bit disillusioned after that. I only ran periodically for several months and it was only in recent months when I joined Jerry Kiernan’s training group that I got my enthusiasm back for training and racing. I know that I need to increase my training mileage if I am to continue to race at this distance and beyond. I became a full –time athlete when I was training for the London Olympics, but I am back now in full-time employment and happy with the way things are going for me. I was nice to win the Rock n Roll event and winning the Woodie’s DIY National Championship was an extra bonus for me.”

Top 10 men and women...
1    Mark Christie M 25    1:06:09
2    Sean Gearoid Hehir M 25    1:06:41
3    Gary O'Hanlon M 35    1:07:33
4    Eoin Flynn M 30    1:07:49
5    Robbie Matthews M 30    1:08:07
6    Michael McDiarmada M 25    1:08:22
7    Philip Harty M 30    1:08:24
8    Simon Ryan M 25    1:09:28
9    Brian Murphy M 30    1:10:35
10    Tudor Mircea M 18    1:10:43
Top 3 teams...Clonliffe Harriers AC, Rathfarmham AC, Raheny Shamrock AC
40    Lizzie Lee F 30 1:14:48
43    Gladys Ganiel    F 35    1:15:09
59    Fiona Roche    F 30    1:16:42
60    Claire McCarthy    F 35    1:17:01
80    Kate Cronin    F 25    1:18:43
100    Niamh Devlin    F 25    1:20:01
110    Elish Kelly    F 30    1:20:20
120    Fiona Stack    F 25    1:21:19
129    Angela McCann    F 40    1:21:49
142    Ann Lennon    F 45    1:22:29
Top 3 teams...Leevale AC, Raheny Shamrock AC, Mayo AC

Individual results can be seen on the Irish Independent website.  The full results of the Half-Marathon championships should be available from Athletics Ireland soon.

Photos...
1) JimmyMacsPics has a gallery HERE

Did you go to this event? Thoughts? Comments?