800 Club Athletes Ready for Rock n Roll Half Marathon

For the second year running the National Half Marathon Championships will be held in conjunction with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon on Bank Holiday Monday, 4th of August. There are a record number of entries for the National Half Marathon as over 800 club athletes will join a further 7,500 athletes around the streets of the capital.

To add to the uniqueness of the event there will be live band performances at every mile along the route in addition to cheerleaders encouraging the runners, hemmed water stations and a finish line concert in the Phoenix Park.

Mens Race

The battle for the national half marathon men’s title is set to be a three way battle between Sergiu Ciobanu (Clonliffe Harriers AC), Mick Clohissey (Raheny Shamrock AC) and Gary O’Hanlon (Clonliffe Harriers AC). 

Clohissey has been in great form lately claiming the national 10k title on the track on Saturday, 19th of July. On that occasion Clohissey got the better of Ciobanu who will be out for revenge on August 4th around the streets of the capital. Ciobanu represented Moldova at the 2013 World Championships in the marathon. O’Hanlon is also in the line-up and is the current 50km national champion.

Mulligan Favourite

Defending women’s champion Lizzie Lee (Leevale AC) is not competing in the 2014 event guaranteeing a new champion come Bank Holiday Monday. Sarah Mulligan (Dundrum South Dublin AC) is the likely favourite as she looks to build her strength ahead of the cross country season. Mulligan represented Ireland at the 2013 European Cross Country Championships. 

Team Competition

As always there will be an exciting battle in the team categories with national titles up for grabs in the senior and master categories. Clonliffe Harriers AC and Leevale AC are the respective senior men’s and women’s defending champions.