Des Tremble and John Travers headed west over the weekend to compete in two very contrasting events. Des, an M40 athlete, came a magnificent second in the second running of the Marconi Half Marathon in County Galway, whilst John went head to head with Paul Robinson of St. Coca’s AC in the Ballymote Sub-Four Mile race in County Sligo.

In the Dublin Half Marathon at the Phoenix Park John Dunne M35 had another fantastic run when placing 3^rd overall and winning his age category in a new PB time of 1.11.43. Donore Harriers athletes had a total of four age category winners with Niall Lynch (M40), Terry Mee (M70) and Joseph Maguire (M75) joining John Dunne in the victory stakes. An array of personal bests proved that it was another excellent day in the park for the club.    

The Marconi Half-Marathon  starts on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean at Gurteen Beach and then heads through the village of Roundstone and along the Connemara Old Bog Road to finish at Clifden. Des (1.21.35) took 17 seconds of his previous best time for the distance to finish just 12 seconds behind the winner Oliver Mullins (1.21.23) of Craughwell AC. Considering that this was a tough undulating course alongside the Twelve Pins mountain range then it proves that Des is within reach of a sub 1.20.    

The inaugural Ballymote Sub-Four mile race  is the brainchild of local athlete and coach Dermot McDermott (Sligo AC), who coaches children in the local schools. Being the highlight of a fun day of local athletics the duel between Robinson and Travers proved to be an exciting event with both men recording remarkable times. The out and back race took place in the Corran Park area of the town and had a large crowd to cheer on the runners.  Travers held the early lead and it took a huge effort from Robinson, the No. 1 ranked Irishman for the distance in 2014, to reel him in. Robinson (3.53.4) only took to the front in the closing stages and had to look over his shoulder in the closing stages knowing that JT has great finishing speed. Travers, disappointed to lose after making it such a memorable contest, was content with a time of 3.55.2. This time is marginally quicker than the 3.55.44 that he ran this summer in the Morton Mile.

Results in brief:

Marconi Half Marathon 

2^nd Des Tremble M40 (1.21.37) PB

Ballymote Sub-Four Mile race 

2^nd John Travers (3.55.2) PB   

Dublin Half Marathon in the Phoenix Park 

3^rd John Dunne M35 (1.11.43) PB first in age category; 10^th Niall Lynch M40 (1.14.04) PB first in age category; 11^thAndy Kinane (1.14.09) PB; 18^th Garvan Smith M40 (1.16.28) PB; 20^th Patrick Moriarty M35 (1.16.46) PB; 28^thGraham Hopkins M40 (1.17.20); 53^rd Shane McAuley (1.19.22) PB; 55^th Eoin Durkan (1.19.39); 63^rd George Brady M35 (1.20.22); 230^th Patrick Byrne (1.26.24) PB; 232^nd Liam Hickey (1.26.27); 1044^th Terry Mee M70 (1.40.20) first in age category; 1332^nd  Frank McNally (1.43.07); 2509^th Joseph Maguire M75 (1.51.06) first in age category;

For the ladies we had 1219^th Elaine Verdon (1.42.50) and 12765^th Nicola Dowdall (1.43.26);

Congratulations also to Ruth Devery who ran in the Charleville half on Sunday (1.35.50)