Dublin Marathon 2023 (29th Oct)

Great showing by Mullingar athletes in Dublin Marathon

Twenty five members of Mullingar Harriers completed the 42nd running of the Dublin Marathon on Sunday 29th October. Held in ideal weather conditions with a light wind and temperature of 12degC, a field of just over 16,500 took to the start line in different waves. The event incorporated the National Marathon and the Athletics Leinster Marathon, and with individual and team medals to be won in both competition was keen across all age categories. Five finished in under 3 hours (one in a PB), another seven under 3 hours 30 minutes (all in PBs), another four under 3 hours 40 minutes (all in PBs too), two under 3 hours 50 minutes (one in a PB), five just under 4 hours (two of them in PBs), and finally two more making their debuts over the distance so their times can count as PBs too. Including the debut runners, that’s a total of 16 PBs from 25 members, a brilliant day’s work and testament to the hard work put in by all of them over many months.

First to finish from Mullingar was Ray Hynes in an excellent 2 hours 26 minutes 42 seconds, the fastest time for a marathon by a member of Mullingar Harriers for many years. Following him in was Johnny Morrissey (2:42:27, a PB), Ken Whitelaw (2:50:45), Eddie Newman (2:52:29) and Kieran Nolan (2:53:05) completing the quintet of sub-three hour men. Our first woman finisher was Niamh McEntegart in a fine 3 hours 11 minutes 49 seconds, a PB by over 30 minutes, then Mary Stuart (3:12:03, an improvement on her PB by 6 minutes), Tommy Byrne (3:13:04, an improvement of 20 minutes), then Jacintha Reilly (3:16:21), Paul Byrne (3:26:20), Dara O’Shea (3:29:01) and Criona Reid (3:29:25) all in PB times. Also running PBs were Aisling Corcoran (3:30:24), Darren Carroll (3:30:30), Aeilish McGovern (3:32:49) and John Meehan (3:39:50). Also delighted to cover the distance in excellent times were Joan Hickson (3:44:40, PB), Maria Doherty (3:45:54), Gemma Kelly (3:55:45), Jane Creevy (3:56:41), John Keane (3:58:14), Marie Louise Johnston (3:58:26), Cormac Murray (3:58:40), and two making their marathon debuts Ray Smyth (4:29:32) and Martin Mullen (4:36:55) completing the Mullingar group.

Winning the National title in their master categories, and of course the Leinster title too, was Ray Hynes, Eddie Newman and Mary Stuart. With great team running by Johnny Morrissey and Ken Whitelaw, Ray led the Mullingar master men o/35 team to 4th place in the National event, missing 3rd place and the bronze medals by less than 4 minutes, but they placed 3rd Club in the Leinster event to win the Leinster bronze team medals. Congratulations again to our marathon runners on their excellent performances, but especially to our medal winners Mary Stuart, Eddie Newman, Ray Hynes, Johnny Morrissey and Ken Whitelaw.