(Report by Mairead Lonergan, Ruairi Egan and Karen Bevan)
Dublin City Marathon 2019 took place on last Sunday, 27th October in what were near perfect running conditions. 33 members took to the start line in what would end up being one of the most successful and memorable days to date in Eagle AC’s history. From Individual Senior winning performances, to individual M40 and M55 medals, to team Golds, to team Bronzes to many many PB’s, there was plenty to celebrate and discuss come lunch time in Doheny and Nesbitts!
Finbarr Lehane, Darren Casey, Karen Bevan, Jonathan Kenneally , Ruairi Egan and Sandra Manning
Aoife Cooke produced a stunning display when running a time of 2.32.34 to win the Athletics Ireland National Marathon Championship and, as a result the Senior Female Gold medal. This performance came as no surprise to those who have witnessed the amount of training Aoife has put in to prepare for the race over the past number of months along with club mates and training partners Damian Kenneally and Mark Smith. We were absolutely delighted to see all of her dedication and training pay off on the day!
Aoife Cooke – National Marathon Champion!!!
Speaking of Mark Smith, he ran a new PB of 2.27.42, just 4 weeks after running a 2.28 in Berlin!! Mark finished in 29th position overall and his time earned him an M40 Gold National medal! Sean O Keeffe ran another great sub 2.45 marathon with his time of 2.44.20. Martin Leahy had a hugely impressive race when finishing 2.51.28. This time ensured that Martin claimed the National M55 Silver medal! Six other club members ran sub 3 on the day – Damian Kenneally, Mike Forde, Donal Dowling, Brian McGuire , Tom Fox and Dermot Slyne. Tom and Brian’s PB’s along with Martin’s ensured that the Eagle M50 team won National Gold! Their total time of 8.47.02 gave a 23 minute cushion over runners up Raheny – Shamrock AC. Brilliant performances by Martin , Brian and Tom!
Vincent O’Sullivan completed his first marathon in a great time of 3.07.29. (Rumour has it that he is already planning his next one!!) David O Keeffe ( 3.07.58) and Darren Casey (3.11.01) both had very steady runs also. Sandra Manning was the second Eagle lady to cross the line in a brilliant PB time of 3.08.13. Third lady to finish was Catherine Murphy (another PB!!) in 3.14.06. Aoife, Sandra and Catherine’s times ensured another team medal for Eagle AC, this time in the Senior Female category. The girls claimed National Bronze when finishing 3rd Female Senior team. Karen Bevan finished just behind Catherine in 3.15.41, a brilliant time just 2 weeks after her 3.12 in Chicago!!
Sandra Manning looking like she could run another 26 miles!!
Karen’s training partners Ruairi Egan and Finbarr Lehane also claimed huge PBs on the day when their months of training paid off in spades with times of 3.16.34 and 3.17.05. James Quinlan ran ( we think!) his 11th marathon of the year, finishing comfortably under 3.30! John Sheehan and Gary Gibbons too finished comfortably under 3.30. Glenn Kenneally finished just over the 3.30 mark in 3.32.49. Helen Cronin, Mairead Lonergan, Eddie Trindle and Ken Nyhan ran and worked together for long periods of the race ensuring lots of shouts of ‘Go Eagle’ from the crowds which were much appreciated. They all too achieved PBs on the day with by far the most impressive one going to Ken – Ken took 25 minutes off his previous best time!! Amazing improvement and running by him! Siobhan Holland was the next Eagle to cross the line, just behind Ken with a 3.45.30.
Gary Gibbons on his way to sub 3.30 pb!
Karen Kelleher had a great run on Sunday and broke the 4 hour mark for the first time. Karen’s training partner Olive also finished well under the 4 hour mark. Charlie Byrd ran a 4.02.11.Catherine McCarthy, despite injuries in the run up to the event ran a very steady sub 4.30 marathon. John Swanton also claimed a sub 4.30 time. Very steady and impressive runs too by Catherine O’Leary and Don Keogh, both finishing sub 4.45.
John Swanton
As well as being represented in the race itself, Eagle AC were also very well represented in the support stakes! It was great to see familiar faces on the route, providing runners with much needed encouragement and shouts! Ian Roche , Dolores Gibbons, Michelle Traynor, Daniel Luxton and Fergus Nugent were all spotted along the way. Special mention to Fergus who had been planning to run the race himself this year but unfortunately had to pull out due to injury. We hope that he has a speedy recovery and is back running before too long. Derek Costello was at his usual spot, outside the Clayton Hotel at mile 25 providing some much needed shouts of encouragement!! He also, of course captured plenty of photos!! Due to injury Derek was unable to run this year but we are all hoping he will back running the streets of the Capital in 2020! We’re sure there were a few other members in the crowds on the day also – their support was definitely very much appreciated!
Well done to all our members who participated in DCM this year. It really was a great day for the club. It was brilliant to see all of the hard work and dedication that members have put in over the past year paying off! On that point, a special mention needs to be given to those in the club who have provided support, training plans and advice throughout club training for Dublin this year. So a massive thank you to Damian Kenneally, Elaine Guinane, Darren Casey, Ruairi O Callaghan, Neil Kingston & Mark Smith. These guys have been the backbone to the Dublin training plans and it is no coincidence that with such a talented bunch of runners providing direction, the club did so well on the day.
All that’s left to say?? Roll on DCM 2020!!
Post race analysis in Doheny and Nesbitts!
Eagle AC Dublin City Marathon Results 2019
No Name Gender Gen Pos Category Cat Pos Club Chip Time Pos
63 Mark Smith Male 29 M40 2 EAGLE A.C. 02:27:42 29
120 Aoife Cooke Female 8 FS 8 EAGLE A.C. 02:32:34 55
3940 Sean O’Keeffe Male 135 M40 35 EAGLE A.C. 02:44:20 152
20705 Martin Leahy Male 248 M55 2 EAGLE A.C. 02:51:28 274
3687 Damian Kenneally Male 269 M35 80 EAGLE A.C. 02:52:20 293
20733 Mike Forde Male 410 M40 117 EAGLE A.C. 02:56:23 447
2988 Donal Dowling Male 431 M40 126 EAGLE A.C. 02:56:51 477
5370 Brian McGuire Male 483 M50 17 EAGLE A.C. 02:57:32 534
4192 Tom Fox Male 486 M50 18 EAGLE A.C. 02:57:33 538
20553 Dermot Slyne Male 588 M40 169 EAGLE A.C. 02:58:58 653
8056 Vincent O’ SullivanMale 898 M40 271 EAGLE A.C. 03:07:29 983
993 Sandra Manning Female 76 F35 15 EAGLE A..C. 03:08:13 1031
724 David O KeeffeMale 945 M40 281 EAGLE A.C. 03:07:58 1018
2277 Darren Casey Male 1137 M40 340 EAGLE A.C. 03:11:01 1209
7782 Catherine Murphy Female 118 F40 35 03:14:06 1399
2533 Karen Bevan Female 135 F40 42 EAGLE A.C. 03:15:41 1497
2043 Ruairi Egan Male 1451 M50 101 EAGLE A.C. 03:16:34 1562
2985 Finbarr Lehane Male 1482 M45 282 EAGLE A.C 03:17:05 1597
4195 James Quinlan Male 2201 M40 631 03:26:25 2430
2761 John Sheehan Male 2378 M50 183 EAGLE A.C. 03:28:10 2665
915 Gary Gibbons Male 2720 M45 532 EAGLE A.C. 03:29:08 2840
2922 Glenn Kenneally Male 2853 M40 811 EAGLE A.C. 03:32:49 324
3490 Helen Cronin F35 03:35:44
10185 Mairead Lonergan Female 449 FS 105 EAGLE A.C. 03:36:21 3606
7847 Eddie Trindle Male 3112 M40 876 EAGLE A.C. 03:36:26 3610
14973 Ken Nyhan Male 3802 M40 1052 03:43:51 4527
886 Siobhan Holland Female 709 F40 210 EAGLE A.C. 03:45:30 4741
12961 Karen Kelleher Female 1313 F40 406 EAGLE A.C. 03:56:41 6685
9849 Olive Dooley Female 1333 F40 413 EAGLE A.C. 03:57:21 6829
4970 Charlie Byrd Male 6071 M50 610 04:02:11 7733
15367 Catherine McCarthy Female 3357 F45 745 EAGLE A.C. 04:28:24 11362
8645 John Swanton Male 8683 M35 1708 EAGLE A.C. 04:29:53 11540
11199 Catherine O’Leary Female 3815 FS 626 EAGLE A.C. 04:39:30 12608
13012 Don Keogh MS 1499 01:05:35 04:44:20
(Photos thanks to Derek Costello )
Eagle Athletic Club 
You must be logged in to post a comment.