Ndungu triumphs again as Irish excel

Geoffrey Ndungu of Kenya retained his Dublin Marathon title yesterday, finishing in 2:11.09, well outside last year’s course record time of 2:08.33.

But the Kenyan runner was happy with his performance. “It was very cold early on and the pace was slow,” said Ndugu.

Ndugu turned on the pace in the final two miles and came home 18 seconds clear of another Kenyan, Robert Kipchumba, with Abdisa Bedada of Ethiopia taking third in 2:11.31.

And there was much to cheer for from an Irish perspective as national half marathon champion Paul Pollock of Annadale Striders ran the fastest marathon time by an Irish runner in Dublin in 13 years when placing ninth overall in 2:16.30. And not far behind was Sean Hehir of Rathfarnham WSAF who posted 2:17.19 a place ahead of his clubmate Barry Minnock, who clocked 2:18.45. Both Pollock and Hehir were making their marathon debuts.

Pollock raised considerable cheer when he boldly raced into the lead at eight miles as the runners exited the Phoenix Park.

The Annadale Striders runner, a doctor in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital, went clear of the chasing pack for a brief period, and he stuck to his task and held his pace when a couple of miles further on a group of ten African runners passed him and went clear, passing through halfway in 67:04.

At that point Pollock was running alone 20 seconds adrift. “I’d always planned to go for about five minute to 5:05 pace and when everyone was sitting in at about 5:10 per mile pace I decided to take it on and see how long I could hold out for, just to give it a blast,” said Pollock.

In the end, the Belfast man was rewarded with an impressive finishing time and a great marathon debut. “I found the last six miles a struggle,” said Pollock, “but for my first marathon I have to be happy enough.”

There was immense satisfaction for Sean Hehir, who won the silver medal in the national event that is incorporated in the Dublin event. Hehir, a native of Clare, teaches in the Oblate Primary School in Inchicore in Dublin.

“It was great that some of the teachers and students were out there on the course cheering me on,” said Hehir.

There was an encouraging performance too for Barry Minnock who took the bronze medal in the national championship.

“I ran a little faster earlier this year but this was a satisfying performance,” said Minnock , whose club, Rathfarnham/WSAF, won the national marathon team title.

Defending women’s champion Helalia of Namibia had to be content with sixth place yesterday. The women’s event was won by Magdlene Mukunza of Kenya in 2:30.47. Faith Chemaoi of Kenya placed second in 2:31.10 and Natalia Punchkova of Russia was third in 2:31.43.

There was reason for celebration for Maria McCambridge of Letterkenny AC, who raced to victory in the women’s national championship event in 2:35.28, a personal best by a single second. McCambridge, who suffered heartache when missing out on selection for the London Olympics despite achieving the marathon A qualifying standard, was delighted with her performance.

Barbara Sanchez of Raheny Shamrock A.C won the silver medal in 2:42.10 and Olympian Pauline Curley of Tullamore Harriers took the bronze in 2:45.49.

The wheelchair title went to Luke Junes from Wales, who finished in 2:03.29.