Pegasus athletes compete well in weekend of championships!

Last weekend saw 3 Pegasus members at THREE different events across Ireland with Chris Denton (along with an unexpected entry), Linda Gillen and Jason Wilson upholding club honour!

Chris was competing in the ever growing Connemara International Marathon based around Galway on Sunday morning.  This meeting attracted over 3,600 athletes from 37 counties this year to outline the emergence of this distinctive marathon run through much of the wonderful Galway countryside.  Chris was able to run 3 hours and 3 minutes in this particularly tough race to get good times, so was much chuffed considering he over paced the first few miles.  To my knowledge, a Mr Harold Reilly (aiming for a sub 3 hour marathon) was seen in the half marathon walk…?!

Linda was in Omagh on Saturday for the NI / Ulster Half Marathon Championships with over 600 other competitors out in force in the lovely weekend weather.  A personal best of 1:44:37 was a great result over this fairly hilly course on the warmest day of the year so far.  Linda flied to the finish just outside the top 30 female runners and in the top half of the overall field.  A great day’s work!  First female finisher was Rosemary Ryan of Limerick club Bilboa AC in a blistering 1:15:36.

Jason was in quite different surroundings to the other 3… the mountains of Donard and Commedagh his preferred option for the 1st Round of the British Fell Running Championship starting from Donard Park in Newcastle.  The 3300 feet of climbing was the package deal with the 6.9 miles of running which was the toughest mountain race young Jason has attempted yet.  After a fast start, he managed to haul his lactic acid burned legs up and down the 2 mountains in 1:25:17 to finish 131st from 240 finishing competitors (3rd Under 23).  The field included TWO former World Champions to add one last point!