Curley’s fine form continues with Limerick win

PAULINE CURLEY, after dominating the road racing in Leinster throughout the summer months, turned to Munster yesterday to add the Irish Examiner Limerick Women’s mini-marathon to her collection of titles.

The Tullamore housewife, winner of this year’s Adidas series which incorporated a 5-mile, 10-mile and half-marathon, led from the gun to take the title for the first time but insisted afterwards it was not easy.

“The wind made it difficult and the course was not easy at all,” she said. “Being out in front I got no cover from the wind and it seemed as if it was in my face all the way.”

However, she showed no signs of difficulty until between the third and fourth miles when she lost some of her form but recovered quickly.

“Apart from the wind and the course I have had quite a bit of racing in recent weeks and I am in the middle of a block of training for the cross-country season so I felt a bit tired,” she said. “I knew Niamh O’Sullivan and Claire Gibbons were chasing me. When you are out in front like that all the time you can only anticipate what is happening behind you but I knew they were closing and I knew Niamh would not give in easily.”

Niamh O’Sullivan, a former Munster cross-country champion, ran alongside Pauline Curley in the world cross-country championships two years ago in Brussels. She had her sights of the leader from a long way back and left Claire Gibbons in the last 300m to close the gap to 10 seconds in a desperate bit to reclaim the title she won two years ago.

Anne McPhail (Bilboa) overtook Orla Drumm (UCC) in the closing stages to finish fourth and that was the only change as, behind them, 2,780 participants raised thousands of euro for a variety of charities.

“But what amazed me was the number who actually ran the race,” Ronnie Long, a former President of BLE, the then athletics governing body, said. “To my reckoning more than 1,000 women ran the course and amongst them were a number who could make a mark on athletics. I know they would certainly enjoy it, particularly cross-country.”

“When I was doing my warm down I went back out the road and there certainly was a lot of women who ran or jogged the course,” Pauline Curley said. “But the big thing was the whole atmosphere. It was a great race to win and also a great race to take part in.”