Local talent mixes with best at City Marathon

IT wasn’t all Kenyans to the fore in the 24th edition of the Dublin City Marathon yesterday.

They did win the top events for men and women in some style and with typical authority. But followers of home-grown talent also had their day in the sun. How they cheered when Dubliner Annette Kealy swung round the corner into Merrion Square to claim the national title in her first marathon run.

Sensing greatness, the Raheny athlete had broken clear nearing home and arrived in two hours and 43 minutes exactly, seventh across the line.

Tipped as the man to do Ireland proud, Gary Crosson from Letterkenny, took the men's national title in a time of 2.20.27.

At the cutting edge, there was no denying the power of the Kenyans. In a tactical race, Onesmus Kalonzo made his move over the last two miles and won in a time of 2.17.04.

Ruth Kutol of Kenya set a new course record for women with 2.27.22 and on the flat course lots of other competitors recorded personal best times some by many minutes.

Fastest of all was wheelchair athlete Kenny Herriott in a time of 1.42.

John Farrelly, 39, originally from Navan, Co Meath, and running for the Rathfarnham club, looked as fresh as if he'd nipped down to the corner shop.

Timed at 2.42.30 and among the top 50 finishers, he was delighted to knock six minutes off his previous best, run in 1999. "You wouldn't do it every year," he ventured. "I'll be 40 next year and I'm going well for that age. Conditions were excellent."

Alan Fahy nursed a blister on his left foot after finishing his seventh marathon. "I think after this it might be my last," said the man from Dunshauglin, Co Meath, surrounded by his parents Peter and Anna and his four siblings.

"It was very tough. I found it tougher running downhill; a lot of people got cramp on the backs of the legs around 19 miles."

Just under 8,000 participants were sent on their way by Lord Mayor Royston Brady at 9am, as the nip of early morning gave way to a sunny, glorious day. Night beckoned by the time the last of the stragglers returned from their 26.2 mile adventure.

With the clock back the extra hour and an eight hour time limit set, by 5pm it was over - officially at least.