Mayo AC were represented by four athletes in the Athletics Ireland National 10 mile championships held in the Phoenix Park on Saturday morning July 13. The 10 mile race was third in the 2019 Irish Runner Series, all of which are Athletics Ireland championships – and which included the 5k in May and five mile in June.
Three masters women champions - Colette Tuohy W50, Pauline Moran W60 and Mags Glavey W65 - were joined by new senior member Elisha De Mello.
Elisha is a member of Rugby and Northampton AC and is currently studying at Edinburgh University. Elisha has relations in the Foxford area and he was keen to join Mayo AC and compete in this 10 mile championships – his first race in Ireland.
He is having a great season, as shown by his recent personal bests over various distances on track and road. These include 53:07 in Motherwell 10 mile in March, and in the week preceding Dublin, he ran two races on the track - 5,000 metres in 15:09 in Rugby - and 3,000 metres in 8:44.84 in Birmingham. Add to that a 31:12 10k in 2016 and you have an idea of the standard this talented athlete has achieved so far.
So in the Phoenix Park he was going for his third personal best in 10 days. He found it difficult to get into race pace in the early miles, and had some stomach issues at halfway during the hilly Khyber Pass section. However, he stuck in bravely and came home in a brilliant sixth place overall in another new personal best of 52:05. Elisha says he enjoyed the day, especially meeting up with Mayo AC folks!
The race winner was David Flynn (Clonliffe Harriers AC ) in 49:55. The women’s race was won by Niamh Clifford (Star of the Laune AC ) in 59:58.
Colette Tuohy led the Mayo AC masters women home with a wonderful run finishing ninth overall and first W50 in 65:44. That was over three minutes faster than her time in the Castlebar 10 mile a few weeks ago.
Pauline Moran continued her fantastic year with a magnificent performance, finishing 17th overall and first W60 in a brilliant new sub 70 personal best – 69:14. That’s two minutes quicker than in the Castlebar 10 mile. She was just 15 seconds ahead of Patricia Brown (Newry City Runners ) – second W60 in 69:29.
Mags Glavey also ran a great race, finishing strongly in 80:18 and third W65, behind Eileen Kenny, who came home in 76:25. Mags ran 82:16 in Run West Ballyhaunis 10 last month.
Those results ensured two gold and a bronze for masters women. Their team also won the W50 team category gold with their combined time of 3:35.51. It was another successful day – well done to all four who represented the club and ran so brilliantly.
