Bray People

Marathon event a huge success

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The East of Ireland (EOI) Marathon series recently paid its first visit to Avondale House and Forest Park, a course which received rave reviews from the athletes.

EOI, in associatio­n with Dublin Bay Running Club, holds monthly races from five miles to the full marathon distance.

Over 135 runners participat­ed and distances were five, ten, 15 and 20 miles and, of course, the marathon. EOI was invited by the Wicklow Hospice running group to use Avondale for one of their events. Sinéad, Bill, Vincent and Ciarán, who are the organisers of running events such as the Wicklow Hospice Four-Day Festival of Running and the Fionnuala MacCormack Kilomarath­on and 10K, liaised closely with EOI’s Gary Reinhardt, Frank MacDermot and Ger Copeland to make sure that everything was in order on the day.

Ably assisted by PJ, John and Vincent Jnr, the course was well marked and stewarded. This was a slightly amended course and the consensus was that it was an easier route to negotiate with fewer opportunit­ies to take a wrong turn.

On the day, there were many personal goals achieved and Ger Copeland set a new marathon record for Avondale when he completed the five laps (plus the 1.2 mile loop) in a time of 2:53:29 followed by Justin Doyle and Paul Murphy.

The first lady home in the marathon was Anita Barry in a time of 4:11 followed by Liz Morrin and Pauline Titier.

Ray Cassin and James McLeod both completed their 100th marathon and were presented with a souvenir of their achievemen­t by EOI.

Also taking part was Marc Conlon, a regular participan­t in Wicklow Hospice events. Marc had set himself a target of running 30 marathons in 30 days to raise funds for the Peter McVerry Trust, and completed his 15th marathon in as many days.

 ??  ?? Members of Le Cheile Athletic Club at the EOI Marathon Series event at Avondale recently.
Members of Le Cheile Athletic Club at the EOI Marathon Series event at Avondale recently.

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