He’s gone an done it again! Jamie Fallon was second home out of over 1300 runners in the  National 10k Championships in Phoenix Park on Saturday morning.  Jamie ran a fantastic new personal best of 30:57 on the hilly course, just 8s behind the winner, Olympian Mick Clohissey.  Mick went out hard – covering the first 3km in 8:50 before settling down and grinding out the miles. Just like in the fields of Athenry 10k in 2021, Jamie went with Mick stride for stride until the drag on the 8th km when Mick put a surge on that Jamie couldn’t quite match. It is the THIRD fantastic National Silver Medal for Jamie in the last 6 months and he adds it to his National Novices and National Intermediate Silvers. It is the first national medal for Jamie at open Senior level. Jamie’s time also smashes the club record of 31:08 by the great Gerry Ryan which has stood since 2011.

I (Mark Davis) was next home for Craughwell in 34:12 for 28th place overall and just 3s off a category medal.  To be honest I’m a bit crocked for a good while now so entered on a whim and had no idea how I’d go! I settled in with Greg Lundon from South Galway AC who I knew was in great form and a smart pacer and I was hoping I could stick with him for a while. Though I had to work quite hard at times to stay in touch it mostly felt surprisingly okay. I made a mistake at 8km when I kind of felt good and made a move to push on from the group only to find at the foot of the hill that I had nothing left in the tank and got worried about finishing the thing at all. I just about held things together to the end but right at the death lost the couple of places that cost me an M45 medal. Ah well, still delighted with the run! Also delighted to see Greg break 34 minutes to seal a superb and well deserved M45 Silver!