Irish results from the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan

The Fukuoka Marathon in Japan was held on Sunday the 1st of December and there were two Irish athletes taking part.

Alistair Cragg finally managed to finish a marathon when he ran 2:23, a disappointing time for someone of his talent. As you can see from chart above, at 30 kms he was still on target for a 2:11 Marathon but stomach issues forced him to slow right down over the later stages.

This performance will yet again raise questions about his performance over the marathon distance. Prior to the race, he was yet again talking about breaking the Irish national record of 2:09:15 set by John Treacy. In a recent interview with Feidhlim Kelly, he said..."if I can prove I am one of Ireland's and Europe's greater marathoners I'd love to have the opportunity to race the DCM (Dublin City Marathon), possibly Europeans, and hopefully Rio 2016!".

When Alistair Cragg ran the Fukuoka Marathon in 2011, he failed to finish after going through the half way mark with the leaders in a very fast 1:03:29. This year, he was only 30 seconds behind the leaders and went through half way in 1:04:25. Surely it would have made a lot more sense to run a bit more conservatively and do the first half in 1:06 to 1:07 with an aim to running a 2:12 to 2:14 marathon? He would then have qualified for the European championships and it would have done his reputation a lot of good.

The other Irish interest was Mark Kenneally who represented Ireland in the marathon at the London Olympics. Unfortunately injury issues caught up with him in the last 10 kms and he had to pull out.

Another result of interest was that of citizen runner Yuki Kawauchi who finished 3rd. He became the first Japanese man ever to break 2:10 three times in the same year and the sixth to break 2:10 five times in his career.

Second Episode of London calling now on RTE Player

The  TV series London Calling continued last Tuesday evening on RTE television with a behind the scenes look at Irish Marathon runner Mark Kenneally. The programme looks at his battle to achieve the Olympic 'A' standard of 2:15.

The second episode is available now on the RTE Player Service until the 17th of July. The piece on Mark starts around 10:00.

First episode of London Calling now on RTE Player...

The new TV series London Calling started last night on RTE television.

Description......"As Robert Heffernan, 20km and 50km racewalker heads off for warm weather training, his wife, 400m sprinter Marian Heffernan has to juggle childcare with preparing for the European Indoor Championships in Paris giving an insight on how a couple, who happen to be elite athletes, balance their relationship and family life, while trying to qualify for the biggest sporting event on the planet. With a successful career in middle distance and cross country races behind him, 29 year old Mark Kenneally attempts to make his mark on the international stage in a distance he has never run before having also just started his own business and got engaged to his long time girlfriend Edel."

The first episode is available now on the RTE Player Service until the 26th of June.

Success of Ireland's Marathon Mission...

There can be no doubting the success of the Ireland's Marathon Mission. Set up just two years ago at the start of 2010, it has transformed the elite Irish Marathon running scene. Four years ago in 2008, Martin Fagan was the only Irish athlete to reach the 'A' standard of 2:15 for the Beijing Olympics when he ran 2:14:06 in the Dubai Marathon. No woman reached the 'A' standard then.

Fast forward to 2012 and Mark Kenneally has already qualified for the London Olympics with a time of 2:13:55 which he set in the Amsterdam Marathon last October. It remains to be seen if any more men will join him but several others have come closer to the 'A' standard than in previous years.

For the Irish women, the Marathon Mission has had a huge impact with four now having run faster than the 'A' standard of 2:37 with more possibly to come.

The Irish Indepent have an interesting article about the Marathon Mission HERE. It details how it was set up and how it operates.

Irish runner Mark Kenneally runs 2:13 in Amsterdam Marathon to qualify for 2012 Olympics

Mark Kenneally of Clonliffe Harriers AC ran 2:13:55 to finish 18th in the Amsterdam Marathon last Sunday (16th Nov 2011). As a result, he has qualified for the 2012 Olympic games in London as it was faster than the 'A' qualification standard of 2:15.

From Athletics Ireland.........
The Kildare man said: “I am delighted to have achieved the time, I knew I was in shape but it is another thing to actually produce the result” . The Mark Carroll coached athlete had some difficulties on the course with drink stations due to the organisers decision to have over 90 bottles on one small table at each station. This resulted in Kenneally having no drinks past the first 5km mark which lead to cramping and a few stops to stretch these out in the latter stages and he commented: “I feel like I had more in me I was up with the 2:12 finishers until the cramps set in”.

Kenneally improved on the 2:17.22 time he set at the Vienna Marathon back in April when he last attempted to achieve the standard.
Here are the stats with overall 5k splits...
Bib number 28
Name Mark Kenneally
Country IRL
Distance Marathon
Category Msen
Overall place 18th out of 9638
Category place 18
Speed 18,910 Km/Hour
Gross time 2:13:55
Net time 2:13:53
Net split times (difference)
5 Km 16:06 (16:06)
10 Km 31:31 (15:25)
15 Km 47:18 (15:47)
20 Km 1:03:07 (15:49)
Half marathon 1:06:33
25 Km 1:18:50 (15:43)
30 Km 1:34:37 (15:47)
35 Km 1:50:29 (15:52)
40 Km 2:06:35 (16:06)

Other Irish Marathon runners....Martin Fagan came very close in Chicago last week (he was on 2:11 pace when dropping out with a mile a go) and will try again in the new year
Seán Connolly is targeting sub-2:15 in Dublin at the end of the month
In December, Alistair Cragg runs the Fukuoka marathon in Japan.