Dingle Half Marathon 2023 (2nd Sept)

An easy Half Marathon in Dingle, and then some!

The spectacularly scenic Dingle Peninsula played host on Saturday morning 2nd September to both a half marathon and a full marathon. Four of our club athletes made the long trip on Friday to Dingle and were among a very big entry of 1,462 runners in the Dingle Half Marathon. The Slea Head coastline route out of Dingle was closed to traffic for the day, and glorious morning sunshine greeted the runners as they traversed the peninsula around the roads to and from the west Kerry town. The breathtaking scenery and rugged coastline were at their most appealing as the athletes set out in perfect weather conditions with clear blue skies, a very light wind and temperatures quickly rising towards the 20degC mark just before the 9am start time.

First home was John Meade (St. Finbarr’s AC) in 1:13:17 with Olympian Aoife Cooke (Eagle AC) winning the ladies race in 1:24:51. All four Mullingar Harriers athletes were treating the half marathon as their weekly “long slow run” in preparation for the Dublin City Marathon at the end of October. First home was Mary Stuart in 1:35:44, with Criona Reid continuing her very good form of recent months with a time of 1:42:07. John McNamara (1:52:46) and Joan Hickson, running in her own backyard (she is a native of nearby Lispole) with 1:55:55 were equally satisfied with their races. Indeed all four were seen to head off for an extra 9k run along by Slea Head after the race to clock up some extra mileage in preparation for their marathon challenge in 8 weeks.