In absolutely perfect running conditions, Kevin Mooney dug deep and delivered on his fantastic form of recent months by knocking over a whopping 4 minutes from the Club Marathon record. This corny headline had to be used at least once and this provided the perfect opportunity!!  

Kevin powering through at Mile 22

After an exceptional half-marathon in Charleville, few doubted that Kevin would break the magical 2.35 barrier, but the marathon can be a cruel beast and many fantastic athletes have stumbled at the distance over the years: “there are no guarantees here”.  For many, the big question was if his legs would recover from his Galway bay marathon win (2:40) of less than a month ago – not something you often see on marathon training plans!  So basically – he still had to pull it out on the day – and pull it out he did!

Kevin started with intent, clocking out the 3:20 to 3:30 kilometers to pass through 10k in a little over 35 minutes.  He continued to push the pace, incredibly passing through half way in a remarkable 1:14.55 – a sub-2:30 pace, and ahead of many athletes that actually ended up breaking the 2:30 mark.  

Through the latter stages of the second half, he started to feel the pinch – particularly over the last 10k where the uphill sections of the course took their toll.  From mile 20 to 22 his pace dipped by almost 20 seconds a kilometer.  Some abuse from fans like Barry, Gerry and myself (though more likely some downhill sections) may have helped him rally a litte from mile 22 to 24 but the last two miles were again tough – leading to a second half almost 3 minutes slower than the first.  Splits like this just indicate massive potential for improvement! 

At the end his time is an unofficial 2.32.59 – a BRILLIANT personal best and a fabulous new club record which I wouldn’t bet on staying this side of 2:30 for very long!  Well done to Kevin – splits are below if you click “read more”.

Crew from Craughwell all Smiles at the start!

PB’s too for Piotr and Others!

Kevin wasn’t the only Craughwell AC Athlete in marathon action today – Piotr Prokop SHATTERED the magical 3-hour barrier in Frankfurt with a great 2:58 – well done Piotr,  it’s not every day you will get a 13 minute PB – enjoy it!

Back in Dublin – only some Craughwell athletes were listed as such in the results search engine, so will add others as we get them but among the other great performances were:

• Aisling Roche – 5:03
• Dean Roche – 4:27
• Elisha Daniels – 4:06
• Colm McAllen – 4:54
• John Melia – 3:22
• Mick Gallagher – 4:11
• Reena Deely – 4:19
• Aideen Gillespie – 4:19
• Brian Gorman 3:42
• Katie Gorman 3:43
• Brian Matthews 3:42
• Cathriona Leen 3:54
• Sharon Gilligan 4:00
• Fiona Gleeson Keane 4:56
• Lorraine Craven 4:18
• Declan Craven 5:47
• Dave Callanan 4:14
• Treasa Callanan 3:55
• Kay Touhy 3:54
• Tony Nevin 3:58
• Marita Carolan 5:24

Well done all, fantastic achievements and please let me know if I missed anyone else!

Kevin’s DCM 2018 Splits: