The highlight of the weekend might well be a woman beating all the men to the finish line, but full weekend round-up from Lindie Naughton below. 

Mary Mulhare of Portlaoise AC added her name to the select list of women who have won a race outright with victory at the Sean Lowry Memorial 5km in Ballinree, Co Offaly on Sunday (March 1).

Mulhare finished in 17 mins 35 secs, with Michael Murray, the first man, second in 18:04, and Kevin Looby of Clara AC just a second behind for third. Second woman and first W50 was Niki Dunne of Birr AC in 18.49.

In Co Kildare, Sean Doran won the Naas 10-Mile in 52 mins 8 secs. Second and first M40 in 55:29 was Brian Leahy of Raheny Shamrock, with Andrew Brett of Sportsworld AC third in 56.23.

First woman in 63:25 was Edel Gaffney. Sinead Tighe of Brothers Pearse AC was second and first W40 in 69.39 and Siobhan Hanratty of Dunleer AC third and second W40 in 70:24.

Dr. O’Shea in good health

Also on Sunday, the winners of the CIT BHAA 5km in Cork were Alan O’Shea and Grainne O’Donnell.

O’Shea, a doctor at the Mercy Hospital finished in 15 mins 11 secs; over a minute clear of Shane Collins of Apple, with Eoghan McElhinney of Glenside third. O’Donnell of Kumon Douglas, who was first woman in 18 mins 50 secs, was chased hard by Jennifer Goggin Walsh of Novartis who finished second in 18:53 with Sharon Rynne of Kepak third.

UCC, led by Alfie Hale in sixth place, was first of the grade A men’s teams. CPO won grade B and Solarwinds grade C. Novartis was first of the grade A women’s team, with HSE winning B and CPO C. Next BHAA race is the AIB cross-country at NUI Maynooth on Saturday March 7 (11am).

Plenty of road running

In Longford, Patrick Sharkey of host club Longford AC won the Longford 10km also on Sunday in a time of 33 mins 23 secs. Sinead Whitelaw of Mullingar Harriers was first woman in 38:12. Winners of the 5km race were Andrew Nevin of Mullingar Harriers in 16:55 and Teresa O’Connor in 21:08.

Sean Doran of Clonliffe Harriers add another victory to his collection with a comfortable win at the Duleek and District Tribe 5km on Saturday (February 29) in a time of 15 mins 56 secs – a rare sporting event which took place despite Storm Jorge. Second in 17:03 was Paul Smyth of Drogheda and District AC who was also first M40. Tadhg Everitt Thompson of Drogheda and District was third and first junior in 17:25. With three in the top five, Drogheda and District was first team; Star of the Sea AC was second and Drogheda Tri Club third.

First woman was Laura Buckley of Dunboyne AC in 18:10. Laura Tuite of Clonliffe Harriers was second in 18:59 and Sabrina Keogh of Dunboyne AC third in 19:11. Dunboyne was the winning team ahead of Clonliffe Harriers and Drogheda and District.

The Dublin Track Club had a cracking weekend at the National Indoor Champs Photo: Andrew Coscoran

Staying indoors from Storm Jorge

Andrew Coscoran of Star of the Sea AC set a new championships best time of 3 mins 41.36 secs when winning the men’s 1500m at the National Indoor Championships held in Abbotstown over the weekend (February 29-March 1).

Coscoran’s training partner, Brian Fay of Raheny Shamrock AC, was second in 3:43.13 – also inside the old record of 3:44.12 set by James Nolan of UCD AC in 2006. Eoin Pierce of Clonliffe Harriers was third in 3:45.35, while junior athlete Cian McPhillips of Longford AC clocked 3:49.63 for fourth place.

In a tactical women’s 1500m, Louise Shanahan of Leevale AC outsprinted Ciara Everard of UCD AC for victory in 4:40.45. Everard finished just behind her in 4:40.78; Amy O’Donoghue of Emerald AC was third in 4:42.44.

Defending champion John Travers of Donore Harriers won a thrilling men’s 3000m, regaining the lead from Darragh McElhinney of UCD on the final lap and pulling away for victory in 8 mins 00.96 secs. Hiko Tonosa of Dundrum South Dublin AC was second in 8:03.55 and McElhinney third in 8:06.13.

Ciara Wilson of DMP had a runaway victory in the women’s 3,000m, crossing the line in 9:35.67. Niamh Allen of Crusaders AC and Niamh Kearney from Sli Cualann AC were second and third in 9:47.78 and 9:48.30 respectively.

Mark English of UCD was a comfortable winner of the men’s 800m biding his time before sprinting past front runner Zak Curran of DSD AC in the final lap to win in 1:49.09 . Curran was second in 1:50.19. Conor Duncan of Ratoath AC was third in 1:50.73.

Winning the women’s 800m in 2:06.25 was Nadia Power of Dublin City Harriers AC. Iseult O’Donnell of Raheny Shamrock Ac was second in 2:07.07 and Clare Mooney of UCD AC third in 2:08.06.

In the USA, Jack O’Leary of Mullingar Harriers and Iona ran 13:44.12 for 5000m in a Boston University meet on Friday (February 28).

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