Longford Marathon
The 21st staging of the Longford Marathon took place on Sunday as the early morning rain threatened to put a dampener on proceedings. Fortunately, conditions dried up although the wind added an extra challenge at times.
John Scott led home the local representation in the marathon with a time of 2:50 and fifth place overall. Anne Brady set a personal best of 3:26 for first Longford lady across the finish line and a sixth-place finish. John Farrell also completed the 26.2-mile distance with a well-paced run. Jacqui Mahon, Carmel Corr, Thelma Garvey and Tara Gately combined forces in the marathon relay team event for a top-10 finish.
Barry Sheil and Enda Farrell recorded top-10 placings in the half marathon with Enda setting a new personal best. There were strong performances also, including some personal bests, from Stephen McDermott, Charlie Barone, Barry Hall, Nathan Fitzmaurice, Zoran Salopek, Seamus Murtagh, Colm Dooner, Collette Brennan and Philip Bannister. Ross Gannon, Enda Coffey and Juraj Karcak ran as pacers and did a great job.
16-year-old Dylan Ledwith took the honours in the 5k with a strong run in 17.54. Fourth place female was Julie Taitt with Julie having also competed on Saturday at the Community Games finals. Other 5k finishers from the club were Adrian Wrobel, Sarah Taitt and Marian Dennigan. Well done to all.
Our thanks to all involved in staging a great event with the hard-working committee rewarded with sold-out entries in all distances. Many thanks also to all the volunteers including club members Sean, Edel, Mick and Donal. The Longford Marathon goes from strength to strength.
Community Games
County Longford’s proud tradition in Community Games continued on Saturday last at the National Finals in Carlow. Many brilliant performances on the day and congratulations to all the girls and boys for doing so well and for having qualified for All-Irelands.
The day’s highlights, from a Longford perspective, came minutes apart when Vilte Krasikova and Joe Rooney both won gold in the Under-10 100m. Having each placed first in their heats and semi-finals, the speedy duo lined up for their evening finals. Vilte, of Longford South, showed her class once again to sprint clear of the field to take the win in the girl’s race. Moments later it was Joe’s turn and the Mostrim speedster crossed the line first after a closely contested boys’ final.
Emma Brennan rounded off an excellent track season when winning silver in the U16 1500m and there were further medal successes for Drumlish-Ballinamuck with fourth place finishes for Emily Kane in the U10 Hurdles and Dean Mulleady in the U10 200m. Adding to their array of summer medal successes were Andrew Nolan of Lanesboro who won silver in the U14 Shot Put and Andrew Fitzpatrick of Clonguish in placing fourth in the U12 200m.
Well done to all medalists. There were a number of finalists and many other excellent results recorded by Co. Longford athletes during a long day of competition.
