Pegasus In Dublin

End of October,rain chucking it down and strong winds howling through the streets of Dublin, a great time to be indoors warm and dry. Well try telling that to the 10,000 loonies who ventured onto the cities streets to compete in the 26th Dublin Marathon.
With entrants coming from all over the world there is a great atmosphere at this friendly marathon and even the wet weather couldn't dampen spirits.

At 9.00am sharp the competitors set off on an anti clockwise tour of the city following an undulating route that would test the competitors endurance and stamina.

In the mens event elite runners from Africa and eastern Europe dominated the leading pack with Neo Molema from South Africa making several attempts to break away but it was Dmytro Osadchy of the Ukraine who made a surprise push for the lead with six miles to go and he continued to pull away from rest of the leading runners to come home in a great time of 2.13.14 , with Neo Molema 2nd and Oleg Belhovets of Russia taking 3rd.

In the womens race Zinaida Semenova of Russia was a comfortable winner in 2.32.51 with Larissa Zousko claiming 2nd place.

Five Pegasus AC athletes were competing in this years event with Chris Denton the first of these to finnish in 2.58.15. He was followed by Harry Reilly in a time of 3.18.45, knocking a whopping 20 minutes of his previous best time. Next was Michael Henry completing his 15th Marathon in a great time of 3.24.16, Michael paced Harry around much of the course and was pleased to see his young apprentice get a P.B and to finish under 3.30 himself.

The next man home continues to improve and shows that hard training pays dividends, Paul Grey also set a personnel best to complete the course in 3.38.10 taking 10 minutes off the time he set in London earlier in the year.

The clubs marathon debutant was Alison Campbell, having trained hard over the previous months Alison was nonetheless nervous when lining up at the starting line but she comfortably completed the course in 4.58.25 and will no doubt be looking forward to her next marathon.

Pegasus AC competes all all distances from track and field to road running, from cross country to fell running, why not come along to a training night and see for yourself, every standard of runner is represented and everyone will be made to feel welcome. go to www.pegasusac.org.uk or phone the club secretary on 70355545.