Congrats to all of our Meet & Trainers who ran the Women's Mini Marathon in scorching conditions on Monday.
Kathleen O'Callaghan of Sportsworld, who had some great battles with Ann Ormsby from Fingallians a few seasons ago, was first home for SW (I think...) in 40.39 and placed 33rd. Stephanie Bergin (SW) wasn't far behind in 37th place with a time of 41.36, Brona Snow (Fin) was 50th in 42.48, Louise Keogh (Blackrock) 64th in 43.30, Cindy Hickey (Fin) 67th in 43.43, Barbara Tobin (Fin) 47.18, Joan McTernan (Donore) 47.31, while Mary Butler (Blackrock) one of the elite to have run all 27 mini marathons to date, finished in 47.36. And that's just a few randomly spotted names.
Quite a few suffered in the heat - the Order of Malta said the worst affected were women running between 45 mins and the hour; they had been standing around in the heat at Fitzwilliam Street the longest in order to get a good start. One of the casualties came from the Blackrock group; she ended up in hospital on a drip and didn't get out until midnight. Fortunately she's fine.
If any of you have any comments on the day, please let me know and I will pass them on to the race organisers. One suggestion is to use the slip-way at the top of Nutley Lane for a water station; 7km into a race is too late for water when a heatwave hits.
Now for the rest of the summer - the Raheny 2-Mile Series and Midsummer 5k (Jun 21), the Tom Byrne 5k in Lucan on Sun Jun 24, the ESB Beach 5k on Sandymount Strand on Tues Jun 9; the Civil Service Off-Road 5ks (next one on Fri Jun 26). Plus of course the Family Fitness Festival at Farmleigh on July 5, which includes a 5k run fun and lots of activities including orienteering and little athletics. See you there!
