Catherina shaves time at the adidas Irish Runner Challenge!
Catherina McKiernan has successfully defended her adidas Irish Runner Challenge Title, knocking 26 seconds off her 2003 winning time, crossing the line in 26:34.
“It was great to shave some time off last year’s winning time. I found the course much easier today” said McKiernan on crossing the line.
With defending men’s champion Seamus Power withdrawing following his win in Friday’s 5K race in Killarney, it was a very open men’s field today.
National Marathon Champion Letterkenny’s Gary Crosson was the pre ace favourite, but he was beaten into second place by Limerick AC’s Tom Carey. Carey was first cross the line in a time of 24:22, 16 seconds out on Power’s 2003 finishing time.
Crosson was 2nd on 24:57 with National 10K champion Pat Byrne finishing 3rd on 25:04.
Sinead Cummins (29:26) and Jacquiline O’Leary (30:26) was 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Women’s Challenge.
There was a total field of 2,100 runners, joggers and walkers, an increase of over 500 entries on 2003.
The adidas Irish Runner Challenge is now the biggest road race in Ireland, after the Dublin Marathon and Mini Marathon,
“The race has just grown and grown in popularity since the inaugural race back in 2002” said organiser Frank Greeley editor of Irish Runner. “We knew we would come close to breaking the 2,000 mark today, but to actually achieve that is fantastic”.
Adidas Irish Runner Challenge
Results
Men’s
1st Tom Carey 24:22
2nd Gary Crosson 24:57
3rd Pat Byrne 25:04
Women’s
1st Catherina McKiernan 26:34
2nd Sinead Cummins 29:26
3rd Jean Carr 30:26