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Conditions were far from ideal for the Olympic men's marathon with the temperature up around 30 deg C and 85% humidity. There were 76 finishers with about 30 posting DNF's after dropping out.
The best of the Irish was Kevin Seaward who finished in 58th place in a time of 2h 21m 45s. Despite the the difficult conditions, he even picked up 30 places in the second half!
Paul Pollock was the second Irish man home in 71st place with a time of 2:27:48.
Unfortunately the third Irish competitor Stephen Scullion had to withdraw, leaving the race just after the 15km mark
Paul Pollock ran an incredible time of 2h 10m 25s in the Valencia Marathon on Sunday making him the second fastest Irishman ever. Only John Treacy has run faster with a PB of 2:09:15 back in 1988.
Top 10 Irish times...
1 2:09:15 NR John Treacy 3 Boston MA 18 Apr 1988
2 2:10:25 Paul Pollock 18 Valencia 01 Dec 2019
3 2:10:54 Mark Carroll 6 New York NY 3 Nov 2002
4 2:11:27 Andy Ronan 3 Boston MA 15 Apr 1991
5 2:11:30 John Woods 1 Wexford 24 Apr 1988
6 2:12:01 Stephen Scullion 2 Dublin 27 Oct 2019
7 2:12:19 Dick Hooper 2 Wexford 24 Apr 1988
8 2:12:20 Jerry Kiernan 9 Olympics Los Angeles CA 12 Aug 1984
9 2:12:21 Louis Kenny 1 Huntsville TX 13 Dec 1980
10 2:13:06 Danny McDaid 1 Limerick 11 Apr 1976
This was a huge improvement for Paul Pollock as he took more than five minutes off his previous best time for the distance of 2:15:30 in Japan in 2017.
In the Men's Olympic Marathon on Sunday, Paul Pollock was the first Irish man home in 32nd position in a time of 2:16:24. Kevin Seaward was 64th with 2:20:06 while Mick Clohisey who was suffering from a virus finished 3rd in 2:26:34.
These were the qualifying times posted before the Olympics...Seaward (2:14:52), Clohisey (2:15:10), Pollock (2:15:38).
There was some controversy prior in the selection process in that Sergiu Ciobanu had posted a faster time of 2:15:14 which would have been 3rd fastest. Paul Pollock was picked instead based his recent half-marathon times and the Rio result seems to justify his selection for the team.
At the front of the field, the title was won by Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya.
Gamen Rupp of the USA took the Bronze to add to the 10,000m Silver medal which he won at the 2012 London Games. It perhaps dispels the notion that an athlete has to be from East Africa to win a medal in distance running.
Back in 1984, John Treacy won a Silver medal in the Olympic Marathon with a time of 2:09:56 in what was a very hot day in Los Angeles. As you can see above, that was faster than Rupp's time yesterday.
The IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships were held this year in Cardiff, Wales on Saturday the 26th of March 2016. While the elites were at the front end of the field, it was also a mass participation event with just over 12,000 taking part.
In the elite women's section, the only Irish woman taking part was Lizzie Lee from Cork. In wet and windy conditions, Lizzie posted a time of 75:36.
Women...
52nd Lizzie Lee (Leevale) 75:36
In the elite men's section, there was a full Irish team which finished 8th out of 14 teams.
Men
14th Paul Pollock (Annadale Striders) 62:46
41st Thomas Frazer (Crusaders) 65:20
42nd Kevin Seaward (St Malachy's) 65:23
50th Sergiu Ciobanu (Clonliffe Harriers) 66:30
Many of those taking part will also have their eyes firmly set on qualifying for the Olympics in Rio. Ireland can only send a team of 3 but more than that have already gone inside the qualifying time of 2h 19m.
Kevin Seaward IRL2:14:52 Berlin (GER) 27.09.2015 Mick Clohisey IRL2:15:11 Sevilla (ESP) 21.02.2016 Sergiu Ciobanu IRL2:15:14 Berlin (GER) 27.09.2015 Paul Pollock IRL2:15:38 Berlin (GER) 27.09.2015 Gary Thornton IRL2:17:19 Berlin (GER) 27.09.2015 Thomas Frazer IRL2:17:45 Rotterdam (NED) 12.04.2015 Sean Hehir IRL2:17:48 Berlin (GER) 27.09.2015
Looking at the times above, do the selectors send the three with the fastest marathon times? In that case, Paul Pollock would miss out but based on his performance in Cardiff, he is in great shape and faster than the other Irish runners by some margin. Whatever they decide, someone is going to be disappointed.
A number of runners from clubs in Cork also ran. The fastest of these was Tim O'Donoghue of East Cork AC who was just a bit slower than some of the elite Irish runners. Tim is in flying form at the moment having finished 2nd in the Dungarvan 10 mile in January and 4th in the Ballycotton 10 mile at the start of March.
Tim O'Donoghue
These are some Cork club runners that broke 90 minutes in Cardiff....
Pos Name Cat Cat Pos Club GunTime Chip ChipTime
7 Tim O' Donoghue MS 7 East Cork AC 01:06:58 01:06:56
90 Conor McCauley MS 83 Leevale AC 01:14:54 01:14:47
140 Alan O'Brien MS 81 Eagle AC 01:14:44 01:14:42
144 Tony Kelleher M45 5 Togher AC 01:17:07 01:17:00
207 Eric Browne MS 176 Togher AC 01:19:10 01:19:02
246 John O'Callaghan M45 6 Eagle AC 01:20:14 01:20:05
301 Ronan Boland M50 5 Eagle AC 01:21:34 01:21:25
302 David Butler MS 238 St Finbarr's AC 01:21:35 01:21:28
364 David O'Keeffe MS 279 Togher AC 01:22:51 01:22:39
702 Killian O'Connor MS 412 Eagle AC 01:26:48 01:26:38
The results for the elite runners can be found HERE
The results for the non-elite runners can be seen HERE
Photos...(Updated Sun 27th @21:38) 1) Gearóid Ó Laoi has some nice photos HERE
A number of Cork and Irish athletes were in action in track races abroad last weekend.
L-R...Paul Pollock, Mark Hanrahan and Ciarán Ó Lionáird
At the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University in California, there were two 10,000m races. In the first one, Paul Pollock from Northern Ireland finished in 18th place out of a field of 26 in a time of 28:32. This is inside the qualifying standard of 28:55 required for the European Athletics Championships in Zurich this summer.
Event 23 Men 10000 Meter Run Section 1 1 Juan Luis Barrios Nike 27:34.40 2 Cam Levins Nike 27:36.00 3 Bashir Abdi Top Sport Vl 27:36.40 18 Paul Pollock Melbourne Tr 28:32.18
In the second 10000m race, Mark Hanrahan of Leevale AC ran a new personal best time of 29:33. Shane Quinn of Ferrybank AC in Waterford was just behind him in 29:36.
Event 24 Men 10000 Meter Run Section 2 1 Koen Naert Top Sport Vl 28:34.49 2 Stepan Kiselev Posso Sports 28:44.57 3 Ty McCormack Unattached 28:45.23 18 Mark Hanrahan Melbourne Tr 29:33.80 19 Shane Quinn Providence 29:36.24
At the Jamaica International Invitational IWC, Ciarán Ó Lionáird finished in second place in the 1500m race in a time of 3:41.74. At that pace, he would have run the mile in 3:58. This was about a second outside the European qualifying standard of 3:40.5 and shows the steady progress he s making since surgery to his achilles last year. Details 1 Will LEER USAUSA 3:41.31 Details 2 Ciaran O'LIONAIRD IRLIRL 3:41.74 Details 3 Chris O'HARE GBRGBR 3:42.55
Also over the weekend, race walker Laura Reynolds was 37th in a 20km race in China in a time of 1:32.25. This was also inside the qualifying standard of 1:33.00 for the European Championships in Zurich.
