*Rock n Roll National Half Marathon August 5th 2013 *
By Shona Keane
In the words of AC/DC, those about to rock, we salute you.
Well done to everyone who participated in the inaugural Rock n Roll half marathon around Dublin city centre on Bank Holiday Monday morning. The race doubled as the National Half Marathon, meaning the standard of runners was quite high, with a lot of clubs fielding teams of large numbers. The Rock n Roll race brand is well known in the US and brought with it a level of glitz and glam not often seen at Irish races. Athletics Ireland’s decision to follow the template of the Great Ireland Run/National 10k partnership would appear to have paid off, given there were record numbers in the national half. Mark Christie of Mullingar and Lizzie Lee of Leevale were the overall winners and national champions. Sportsworld had a good day at the races with some excellent performances and a few personal bests to report amongst our contingent.
The course was a challenging one, with a long drag up Chesterfield Avenue in the Phoenix Park faced by the runners within the first couple of miles. Chapelizod required our runners to embrace their inner Kate Bush as they went “running up that hill” before a twisting couple of kilometers around Dublin 2. The finishing straight along Earlsfort Terrace allowed our crew to give the crowd a sprint finish encore and make sure they got the perfect finish line photograph snapped by club chairman and VIP Paddy Lynch. I must mention that great team spirit was shown amongst the girls team out there and it was evident that the consistent training together over the last few months has paid off.
Well done to all our rock stars below. No confirmation yet received on whether we got any team bling but we’re proud of everyone who togged out for the club at that ungodly hour of a bank holiday Monday morning.
Half way there folks. Roll on October.
Ann Higgins
Carol Lynch
Catriona Higgins
Conor Butler
Conor Kenny
Damien Kelly
Ed McEntee
Eoin Fitzpatrick
Gavin Finlay
Helen White
James Brady
Joe Byrne
John Linnane
Karl Chatterton
Kevin Curran
Louise Kearney Flood
Mary Finn
Michael Cunningham
Naoise De Bhaldraithe
Orna Dilworth
Paul Duffy
Paul O’Connell
Phil Kilgannon
Ruth Kelly
Shane Toman
Shóna Keane
Sheena McDonnell
Stephen Willoughby
Tony Ryan
