Last Monday, October 28, a record 14,500 people took to the streets of Dublin for the 34th Airtricity Dublin Marathon. Amongst them were 21 athletes from Enniskillen Running Club (ERC). This alone was a testament to the Club to have so many runners taking part in the same event over 26.2 miles and to perform to such a high standard. Months of training, and more, was invested by all the athletes and as Club Chairman, Stephen Clawson stated: “Each and every runner did themselves and Enniskillen Running Club extremely proud in Dublin.” Running his 20th marathon, Michael Walsh had the honour of being the first ERC finisher in a fantastic time of 2:57:46. Michael was rightly very pleased to run under the three hour mark again having somewhat experimented this time with a shorter five week programme fitted in around his very busy personal training commitments. Only three weeks since completing the Twin Cities Marathon in the USA along with his wife Siobhan, Eamon Monaghan was the second athlete home in a brilliant new personal best time of 3:07:09 - bettering his London result in May by nearly six minutes. For Ollie McShea it was certainly a day of mixed emotions. Ollie gave the dreaded ‘wall’ more than just a slight brush – he hit it head on. Nevertheless, what was inspiring was his sheer determination to battle on and get just reward for his great pace early on to still finish the race in a tremendous time of 3:07:31.

Cathal May took a massive 36 minutes off his previous PB with a time of 3:18:25 in only his second marathon. Only days later, Cathal has already signed up to take on the Paris Marathon next April. Brian Johnston also smashed his own PB, by over minutes minutes no less, set in Dublin last year; by running a time of 3:19:04 in this his third marathon. Malcolm Browne had a great run and bettered his Dublin time of 2012 by 16 minutes, running 3:22:01. Malcolm is a new recruit and is looking forward to commencing training with the Club following a very enjoyable first outing with ERC. Another athlete who we look forward to seeing involved in our Club sessions in the future is Rory O’Donnell who ran a great time of 3:25:28. Paul Somerville will certainly be looking forward to his next marathon after setting a superb maiden time of 3:25:33. This was a fantastic effort first time out at the distance. Neil Elliott ran a great time of 3:34:50 especially when considering this was his second marathon in a month. Adrian Burns well and truly broke the four hour benchmark in this his third marathon with a time of 3:39:03.

Marathon veteran and ERC Vice Chairman, Dessie Elton, ran an excellent time of 3:49:26 in his 12th marathon, but this was his first one in 30 years. Dessie is an experienced marathon runner and is the proud holder of a 2:49 personal best set back in 1982. ERC’s very own Bostonian, John McDonnell, ran a brilliant time of 3:49:57 in this his fourth marathon of 2013, taking seven minutes of his time in Cork this past June. Also making her marathon debut in Dublin was Lesley Young who ran an excellent time of 3:54:30. Linda Walsh was overjoyed after recording a brilliant new PB of 3:56:02 in her third attempt at the marathon distance. Ciaran McSherry completed his sixth marathon with a very steady run of 3:56:04 and has his thoughts already fixed on finding another marathon to overcome. James Johnston showed fantastic resilience and dug deep to cross the finish line in 3:56:18 having had his training severely hampered by the flu.

Pure grit and determination saw Albert Little finish in an excellent 3:56:26 considering the very few long runs he prepared for the event with in his training. Denise McElroy was super chuffed with a new PB of 3:56:28 having only debuted at this distance in Belfast in May and took nearly 20 minutes off her time in the process. Siobhan Monaghan, having only recently returned home from the Twin Cities Marathon with a new PB three weeks ago, ran another great time of 3:56:53. Rebecca McKenzie had yet another brilliant run in ERC colours with a time of 4:26:16. Pauline Love completed a memorable day in Dublin for ERC with a solid finishing time of 4:31:20.