A busy weekend for Clonliffe athletes home and away. At the Rotterdam Marathon today things clearly did not go to plan for Ailish Malone who pulled out of the race well into the second half. Better news for Maurice McCrohan who ran a great race to record a time of 3:03, a great run also from Kieran Murphy 3:05. There were a number of Clonliffe athletes taking part in today`s Great Ireland Run, which incorporated the National 10k. Stephen Scullion, who has transfered to Clonliffe although cannot compete for Clonliffe until May 1st, won the National title placing 7th overall in 30.15. Sergiu Ciobanu was 2nd (30.59) in the national after suffering a fall at 9k and 13th overall, Michael MacDiarmada also had a good run placing 22nd overall in 32.12. Other Clonliffe included: Chris Muldoon 34.40, Ciaran McCarthy 35.46, Tom Sherlock 36.25, Philip O`Doherty 36.46, Colm Hickey 37.15, Joe Phipps 37.51, Mark Gilvarry 39.54, Emma Cooper 40.51, Pat Byrne 41.33, Declan Murray 42.15, Colm MacDomhnaill 42.18, Colm Breen 42.41, Richard Mannion 43.20, Bernie Byrne 43.34, Noel Daly 49.15 (for inclusion here text name and time to 0879599888)
Also on the roads on Sunday Anthony Malone clock a time of 59.53 for a 10 miler in County Clare.
In the U.S. David Flynn warmed up for next weekend`s big meet in Oregon, where he goes in the 3,000sc, by running 1500m in the John McDonnell Invitational hosted by Arkansas last night recording a time of 3.57.85 in a classy field. Flynner went out hard, 58 seconds for lap 1, two minutes for 800 and then suffered!
This morning (Sunday 14th) in Boston Alistair Cragg was 8th in the BAA 5k Road Race in a time of around 14.07 in a race won by Dejen Gebremeskel (ETH) in 13.37. From the gun, Cragg surged to the front making himself the pace-maker for a contented group of a dozen or more front-runners. Chilly, breezy conditions may not have been perfect for the enthusiastic crowds that lined the winding course, but they were ideal for a hoard of super-fast racers cruising through a first mile with 4:25 on the clock. Cragg was the aggressor, but Salel, Braun, Gebremeskel, Sambu and Rutto all hovered within a hair’s breadth, with a knot of five others hanging close just half a stride back. Cragg paid the price and was over hauled in the latter stages and was pretty disappointed with his 8th place finish.