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Bronze medal & 4th for NI athletes in Dublin
North Belfast's Gladys Ganiel and St Malachy's Joe McAlister took top positions in today's Dublin Marathon where a record 14,000 runners faced tough windy conditions.
The weather however did little to restrict the pace of Men's Elite winner Geoffrey Ndungu of Kenya who decimated the field when he sliced 23 secs off the course record to win in a world class time of 2hrs 8 mins 35 secs. Team-mate Gilbert Kiptoo took 2nd in 2.09.52.
Ganiel accepted from the start that the wind mitigated against achieving an Olympic "A" standard time of 2 hrs 37 mins. She went through halfway in 79 mins and then hung on grimly in a virtual solo run for the latter half of the race. She eventually finished about a minute slower than her PB in 2.42.43.
Gladys said she was generally happy with her performance. She was particularly pleased to make the rostrum as 3rd Irish finisher.
24 year old winner Linda Byrne excelled with an Olympic "A" standard of 2.36.21 with DSD team-mate Maria McCambridge a struggling 2nd in 2.40.24. Ganiel will race again in London next April in a final effort to qualify for the Olympics.
North Belfast's Breege Connolly set yet another PB when she sliced over 2 mins off her time to finish 16th in 2.50.35. North Down's Julie Balmer defied pre-race illness to also set new figures of 2.58.26 for 22nd place. Lisburn's Heather Ardis was 32nd in 3.16.47.
The Women's Elite race was won by Namibia's Helalia Johannes in a national record of 2.30.33. Kenya's Emily Rotich took second in 2.32.12.
In the Men's event Joe McAlister battled to take 4th place in 2.24.41 behind Alan O'Shea. The Irish title went to Tallagh's Sean Connolly whose time of 2.18.53 was some way adrift of the required Olympic time of 2.15.
38 year old Declan Reed of City of Derry had the race of his life to slice 5 mins off his best to finish 7th in 2.30.14. North Belfast veteran Eamon White also impressed with a marathon debut time of 2.37.39.
Other Northern performances included Newry City's Don Travers (2.45.44) and North's Jim Bensen (2.50.29)
