Dublin Half Marathon 2015

Report by Catherine Gilmore

The Dublin Half Marathon (the fourth instalment of the 2015 Dublin Marathon Race Series) race took place on Saturday 19th September 2015. We were graced with perfect running weather conditions at the Phoenix Park.   Also there was huge buzz about the park and certainly the numbers of entrants seemed to be up on the previous races.

As usual on the start line, in the second wave of course, I asked myself the normal questions “what am I doing here on this beautiful Saturday morning” and especially this day having only returned from holidays on the previous Wednesday.  But as usual being surrounded by fellow club members I received the following calming notes of wisdom “It is only a normal training run”.  “Don’t take off too fast”.

After the above comments I was ready and I switched on my watch for the race, which progressed nicely down Kyber Road, Wellington Road and across to North Road onto Farmleigh and then onto Ordnance Survey Road which took us back onto mile nine on Chesterfield Road where it was great to see to the Sportsworld Supporters out in full swing (thank you Aileen & Nick, Aggie Buckley and Yvonne Callis).

The race then took us out of the park onto Conyngham Road with a long stretch of road running and then entering the park again at Chapelizod Gate and to approach the final stretch along the tough Upper Glen Road to the finish on Furze Road.

It is always great to see the number of Sportsworld Runners at the finish area with the usual notes of encouragement and congratulations regardless of finishing time.

It was apparent that everyone enjoyed the day with people generally exceeding their expectations and returning with a good time.

The chip time for a selection of Sportsworld’s runners is as follows (Apologies if I haven’t included you):

Kevin Curran 01:19:17
Justin McKeever 01:20:52
Diarmuid Ó Súilleabháin 01:26:01
Noel Tobin 01:31:42
Emmet Wardell 01:34:08
Orla O’Flynn 01:36:05
Mark Heffernan 01:36:20
Aidan Curran 1:36:47
Stephen Willoughby 01:38:14
Naoise Waldron 01:43:06
Enda McMorrow 01:48:40
Derrick Long 01:49:37
Claire Rowley 01:50:12
Lucia Prihodova 01:51:41
Grainne Dilleen 01:53:39
Carol Lynch 01:54:14
Chris Quaid 01:55:10
Madeleine Byrne 01:55:52
Emma Barry 01:56:22
Maria Finnegan 01:58:25
Catherine Gilmore 01:58:46
Martin Keenan 02.00.11
Katie Nugent 02:01:48
Audrai O’Driscoll 02:01:00
Carmel Dolan 02:10:00
Laura Reynolds 02:17:36

Well done to all who took part and supported on the day.

Finally unfortunately it was very sad to hear of the untimely death of one of the participants on the day. May he Rest in Peace.