Cooke and Kosek claim victories at Cork City Marathon

“I found the last two miles before that really tough but when you get on to Patrick Street, the crowd carries you in – you can’t help but feel ecstatic,” said Leeside native, Aoife Cooke. 

Aoife Cooke, Eagle AC who won the women's category at the Cork City Marathon. Pic: Darragh Kane

Aoife Cooke and Pawel Kosek claimed victories at the Cork City Marathon on Sunday morning, with Cooke taking the women’s title in 2:56:33 and Kosek the men’s in 2:23:54.

The women’s race saw Cooke, a Cork native who grew up in Ballincollig and Youghal, run a patient race. The 37-year-old passed 10km in third in 41:40, 35 seconds adrift of race leader Sarah Diamond. But the Tokyo Olympian steadily cranked up the pace from there, hitting halfway in 1:27:24, 58 seconds clear of Yuliya Tarasova. Cooke’s lead only grew over the latter half, with Cooke hitting 30km in splendid isolation with an advantage of 2:24 and reaching the finish over four minutes clear of Tarasova, who took second in 3:00:57, while Andrea Aza Villamor rounded out the podium in 3:05:15.