Kevin Donovan and 860 others in Patsy Kelly 5k run
A Cork man who is aiming to run in each of Ireland’s 32 counties to raise funds and awareness for deafness services in his native Cork was one of the more than 860 runners who took part in the hugely successful Patsy Kelly 5K at the weekend, and achieved a personal best.
Kevin Donovan told the Argus in January that he wanted to take part in the Patsy Kelly 5K and on Saturday, he fulfilled his ambition. He heaped praised on the event organisers too. Kevin said: ‘ This was a race that I was looking forward to running as we use to live in Dundalk for a year so it was familiar ground. It was great to catch up with a few friends while in the area as well.
‘It was sunny, cool evening for the race. It was a case of picking the right spot to start in as I wanted to be comfortable in a decent pace, especially in a field of over 800 runners.
‘I probably set off a bit fast, more down to passing people rather dragged into other people pace. I got a constant going after the first kilometre and just let it settled down, bearing in mind I had another race the next day. ‘It was nice and flat, no rises to worry about so just tipped along a good pace. I got around in 24 minutes which was a personal best (PB) by 20 seconds, which surprised me a lot. ‘It was a very well drilled organised race by North East Runners Patsy Kelly 5k, a course that would be ideal to push hard for a PB. ‘ The challenge is going very well at the moment, with 14 races completed now, which is better than what I expected. On the fundraising side, there has been over €1700 raised so far. The event was won by William McKee of Mourne Runners, with Breege Connolly the first female home. For all results, check out Patsy Kelly 5k on Facebook.