Boyne runners rise to challenge
WITH the Dublin Marathon fast approaching, five senior Boyne AC athletes took on the challenging Irish 3/4 Marathon, held in Longwood on Sunday.
Timed to coincide with the last long run of a marathon training plan, this 31.64km race is always a sellout - and highly competitive.
No strangers to the longer distances, Sarah-Jane Ruddy and Nicola Veale put their months of hard training to good use as they sailed around the country lanes in an impressive sub three-hour finish time.
In their first race at the distance, Mairead Hallinan and Eimear Rickard handled the pace nicely, and were happy with their 3hr 27min finish, as was clubmate Karen Fairclough who proved she is well and truly getting back to her fine form as she crossed the line with them.
Coming down the distances, but still working hard, Rebecca Carolan and Jillian Connor took on the challenging East of Ireland races in Lusk on Saturday last.
A chilly start to the half-marathon made way for glorious sunshine as Carolan ran an impressive 1hr 41min for the half-marathon to take the ladies title, while in the 10k race Connor showed some strong running form as she too finished first female in a super time of 54 minutes.
A little further afield - across the country in fact - four Boyne AC ladies took part in the ever-popular Galway Bay 10k run, where Judith McGuinness Faulkner ran a fantastic new PB time of 53:49, with Nicola Finnegan hot on her heels in 59:37.
Julie O’Shea and Edel Gartland just missed out on the sub one-hour mark, finishing in still impressive times of 1hr 1min and 1hr 2min respectively.