Noel McManus 5k, 10k & Half Marathon 2023 (7th Apr)

The Annual Noel McManus Run returned to the beautiful surroundings of Lough Rynn Castle in Mohill, Co. Leitrim on a lovely mild and sunny Friday morning 7th April. Race entrants had a choice of 5k, 10k and half marathon, and Mullingar had someone in each race, having some big performances and podium places for most.

A fine field of 256 runners started the 5k race and after a good run, Enda O’Carolan finished 2nd, winning his master category, in a time of 18 minutes 3 seconds. The 10k race was a smaller affair where 118 finished, and coming in third overall and delighted to be the 1st woman to finish was Jenny Algar in 40 minutes 34 seconds, followed in by Michelle Bohan (41:27) sixth overall and 2nd woman to finish, and John Meehan (43:39) 10th overall. Just 61 took on the Half Marathon, but that didn’t take from the competitiveness of the race and Kedagh Geoghegan was very happy to win in an excellent 1 hour 18 minutes 11 seconds. Mary Stuart (1:34:00) had to work but pulled clear in the closing stages to win her master category and Joan Hickson (1:50:10) completed the Mullingar group. Kedagh and Mary’s times were almost exactly the same time they ran the Mullingar Half only three weeks before, so they are clearly in terrific shape.