Things clearly didn`t go right for Clonliffe athletes Alistair Cragg and Mark Kenneally in the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan this morning. Alistair who has been showing great form as he prepared for today had a stomach problem which destroyed his race, having gone through half in the late 64`s he hit big problems over the second half slowing to final 5k split of some 22 minutes with his final 2.2km taking almost 10 minutes. Alistair posted on his twitter feed : “My stomach didn’t cooperate, couldn’t take on fluids, just lost a lot. Really sorry to let down anyone who followed. Bed!” Alistair struggled home in 2.23.05
Things went equally bad for Mark, half way in around 66 minutes and pulling up at 35k. A seriously disappointed Mark posting: “Gutted obviously, my 2nd ever dnf but I couldn’t actually run.to be fair getting to the start line in one piece was hard work and I have To thank @EmmaGallivan78 for keeping me training. Unfortunately the marathon finds out any weaknesses and got me today”.
Hopefully both can put this set back behind them quickly as today is not an accurate reflection of the athletes these guys are. Nil desperandum.