THE Carlingford Half Marathon and 10k is one of the most popular events in the local running calendar, with places sold out every year almost immediately after entries are opened.
With a scenic route around part of the Cooley Coast, two race distances and the opportunity to sample Carlingford’s post-race hospitality, it is not surprising that Murlough AC make the journey an annual day out.
This year, MAC joined over 1300 other competitors in either the half marathon or the 10k option. Both races start and finish at the yacht club in Carlingford, running up hill through the town along hilly back roads before returning to the town along the coast road.
With near perfect running conditions, it was not surprising that there were many Murlough AC runners delighted with their finishing times.
In the half marathon, Noel Cunningham, Jim Wright and Clare O’Rourke led the Murlough crew over the line, however, there were notifiable achievements by many of the others.
Rebecca Wyglendacz, Shauna Trainor and Noel McMullan, all ran PBs at this distance.
For Aidan O’Prey and Jen Nixon, this was their first time in Carlingford and both achieved PBs, with Jen taking ten minutes off her previous time.
A special mention for Lorna McCartan who started running last Spring and finished strongly in her first race at this distance. Another ‘newbie’ to the half marathon distance was Seamus Boyd, a veteran of much shorter 5k races over the years.
There were equally impressive performances in the 10k race. Catherine Dornan started and finished strongly to achieve a PB of 51 minutes – nine minutes faster than last year.
Catherine was the first MAC member over the 10k finish line. She was followed in by Annie McCartan, who ran a good strategic race and effortlessly overtook Emma Codd and Anne McCormick in the last mile.
Tokyo Marathon
While Murlough club mates were running at Carlingford, Charisse and Ciaran Poland were resting and celebrating after completing the Tokyo Marathon the day before.
For Charisse, this was her fifth ‘major marathon’ – two more than husband Ciaran. Ciaran was delighted with his PB, having crossed the finish line in under four hours, despite the unseasonal heat of 21°C
Both Charisse and Ciaran want to thank running buddies Carol and Paul for keeping them company in the long training runs in all weathers.
