Mayo AC had a record 37 runners at the start for the 35th Dublin City Marathon on Bank Holiday Monday.
All 37 runners were among the 12,456 finishers of the gruelling 26.2 mile challenge around the streets of the capital.
There was much celebration for the club as it took home a number of medals from the marathon.
The womens F50 team, made up of Mary Walsh, Mary Murphy and first time marathoner Monica Joyce, won gold, while Mary Murphy also won silver for her individual performance in the W60 category.
This is a second medal success for Ms Murphy, having taken home the bronze in the same category last year.
After the race, Ms Joyce said the support from the crowds was “amazing on the day”.
“The shouts of ‘c’mon Mayo’ and the atmosphere was brilliant,” she described. “It was great to be in the middle of it all and well worth the training.”
The wonderfully consistent Owen Mongan, fresh into the M60 category, won bronze, which was just reward for his commitment, resilience and experience in a long career with the club.
First club finisher, John Byrne, was just outside the medal times, coming fourth in the M35, and leading the M35 team, with David
Browne and Sean Murphy, to a very impressive ninth place finish out of 77 entries.
Paula Prendergast finished 11th in the Senior women category, and first timer Ruth Carney was 12th in F45 in a time of 3:37:01.
Conditions on the day were tough with strong wind, humidity and higher than average temperatures.
Personal bests
Despite this, many Mayo AC runners came home with personal best marathon finishing times.
David Browne had a tremendous run and knocked 17 minutes off his 2013 time with a 3:01:07 finish.
Tom Charles came home in 3:36:23, also setting a personal best.
Ann Marie Staunton improved on her best with a 3:43:47 finish.
In addition to Monica Joyce (4:23:08 ) and Ruth Carney, there was a whole group of first timers achieving marathon bests.
Caroline Hession from the Ballyhaunis Meet and Train group finished on 4:50:22, while Castlebar Fit4Lifers Barbara Ronayne (4:53:21 ); Patricia Kavanagh (4:51:09 ); Siobhan Ryan (4:51:07 ); Marie Collum (4:49:39 ); and Mary McDonald
(4:38:34 ) all performed very well. Husband and wife team Frank and Carmel Cloherty finished on 3:58:15 and 4:37:43 respectively.
Christy O'Malley achieved his dream too, finishing his 50th marathon and 1000th race with the help of clubmate John Timothy over the final miles.
