Lee and Clohisey triumph in the capital

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Lee and Clohisey triumph in the capital

Lizzie Lee (Leevale) and Mick Clohisey (Raheny Shamrock) struck national glory with excellent runs of 2:35:05 and 2:15:58 respectively at the 39th SSE Airtricity Dublin marathon today (October 28).

For both it was their first national marathon titles with Lee finishing third overall in the women’s race with Ethiopia’s Mesera Dubiso winning in 2:33:49 followed by her country woman Motu Gedefa in second in 2:34:22.

Clohisey was sixth overall and clocked the fastest time by an Irishman for 27 years – Tommy Hughes ran 2:14:46 in 1991.

Ethiopia was on top of the podium in the men’s race also with Asefa Bekele winning in 2:13:24 followed by the Kenyan pair of David Manja in second in 2:13:33 and Joel Kiptoo third in 2:13:42.

Lee triumphs on the Liffey

Lizzie Lee was an ecstatic and emotional winner of the national title as she embraced her coach Donie Walsh at the finish.

This capped a great year in the capital for Lee who won the women’s mini marathon for the first this year and add her first national marathon title to boot.

“It’s so good to win in Dublin,” said Lee gleefully. “It’s a brilliant course with brilliant support all the way around. I really wanted to win the national title.”  

 Caitriona Jennings (Letterkenny) ran strongly for second in 2:41:17 with Jill Hodgins (Leevale) third in 2:47:53.

It was double delight for Lee with Leevale unofficially winning the women’s team title also with Nollaigh O’Neill 34 in the overall women’s standings in 3:02:10.

Clohisey clinches first marathon title

Mick Clohisey clinched his first marathon title finishing 6th overall following in the footsteps of his coach Dick Hooper – a three time winner of the Dublin marathon and multiple national marathon champion.

The Raheny Shamrock runner was a reluctant leader at the start of proceedings. “I didn’t know what to do at the start,” said Clohisey who was the fastest Irish man in a national championship since Tommy Hughes ran 2:14:46 in 1991.

“I looked around and tried to keep a reasonable pace waiting for the others to come up to me,” continued the Raheny Shamrock athlete who holds a personal best of 2:14:55.

The pace increased and Clohisey fell off the leading pack of eight with some stomach issues as the African took their expected positions at the head of proceedings.

Meanwhile, a strong battle was taking place in the national marathon championships with 44-year-old Gary O’Hanlon in pursuit along with his Clonliffe teammate Sergiu Ciobanu. They eventually finished second and third in 2:17:11 and 2:17:28 respectively in what was the strongest national championship for many a year. Raheny’s Mark Kirwan was less than ten seconds behind in fourth in 2:17:37.

Clonliffe Harriers unofficially won the men’s title with David Flynn fifth overall in 2:19:49 as their third counter.

Results

Women

Overall

Mesera Dubiso (Ethiopa) 2:33:49, 2. Motu Gedefa (Ethiopia) 2:34:22, 3. Lizzie Lee (Leevale) 2:35:05

National Championships

Lizzie Lee (Leevale) 2:35:05, 2. Caitriona Jennings (Letterkenny) 2:41:17, Jill Hodgins (Leevale) 2:47:53

Men

Overall

Asefa Bekele (Ethiopia) 2:13:24, 2. David Manja (Kenya) 2:13:33, 3. Joel Kiptoo (Kenya) 2:13:42

National Championships

Mick Clohisey (Raheny Shamrock) 2:15:58, 2. Gary O’Hanlon (Clonliffe Harriers) 2:17:11, 3. Sergiu Ciobanu (Clonliffe Harriers) 2:17:28

Wheelchair

Johnboy Smith 1:36:12, 2. Patrick Monahan (Le Cheile) 1:38:29, 3. Ebbe Blichfeldt 1:50:58

 

We will be adding to the results and amending any errors or omissions during the week. If you have any queries please contact competiton@athleticsireland.ie and we will be happy to deal with your query. Age group individual and team results (provisional) will be posted 29/10/2018. Finally, results are listed showing Gun Time, which may differ slightly from the chip time you see on the Marathon results page. This is a requirement of Championship events.

Congratulations to all runners!

Team Results

Individual Results

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