Hugh Armstrong wins St Coca's '10 from 10'
Kildare athletes who took part in the National League. Photos: Perri Williams.
While waves of success were emanating from Birmingham, where the Irish team were competing in the European Championships, it was that time of year again for St Coca’s '10 from 10' - the ten-mile race, ten weeks out from the Dublin marathon.
Well supported and a major running milestone along the Dublin marathon preparation programme, runners have been flocking to Kilcock for the past few years, testing their fitness as they countdown to the Dublin City Marathon.
This year’s winner was Irish International Hugh Armstrong (Ballina, Co Mayo). Armstrong has a marathon personal best of 2.12.26 which he ran in Seville early in 2020. The signs are that he is hitting that peak again – especially with a superb 2.13.55 in Dusseldorf in April.
Last Sunday Armstrong demonstrated yet another return to fitness with a 50.01 ten mile winning time, a new personal best. In second place with a time of 51.31 was the eternally youthful Alexander Wallace (St Cocas) who at over 40 is still clocking times as fast as any senior athlete.
Brothers Pearse AC produced a third place finisher in the form of Eddie O’Connor in 51:39 and clubmate Colm Turner fourth in 53:26. Drogheda and District AC’s Brian Martin was fifth in 53:28, while Celbridge AC’s Colm Roche finished sixth in 53:53.
Alexey Marchenko of Rathfarnham WSAF AC was seventh in 54:09 before Dublin Track Club’s Alice Wright became the first woman home, recording 55:07. Letterkenny AC’s Jamie Westerman was ninth in 55:16, while St Coca’s Marc Augustin completed the top ten in 55:33.
For the host club, Wallace and Augustin were among the leading performers with their team St Coca’s finishing in fourth place. It was Dunboyne AC who secured the men’s team title. Their winning quartet of Alex Burke, Keane McNamee, Peter Roche and Rory McDonnell produced a superb performance, finishing 17th, 18th, 27th and 40th respectively.
With Eddie O’Connor on third and Colm Turner in fourth, Brothers Pearse finished second team, just five points behind Dunboyne. Celbridge led home by Colm Roche in sixth finished third just 13 points behind Brothers Pearce, making it a very close team competition between the top three teams.
In the women’s race, Dublin Track Club’s Alice Wright was a clear winner, crossing the line in 55:07, finishing a superb eight in the overall race. Wright had a substantial lead over the chasing field almost four minutes ahead of the second female Megan Ryan (Dundrum South Dublin).
Ryan clocked 58:52, with clubmate Ruby Wall only 17 seconds further back in 59:09. Kildare native Alex Murphy (now competing with Dundrum South Dublin) finished fourth in 1:00:28.
Despite having three athletes in the top four the Dublin club did not have a fourth member to make a team, thus ceding the team title to Drogheda and District.
Led home by Anna Isgro (eighth female), the team consisted of Isgro, Nuala Rielly, Olivia Rielly and Linda Cruise. The host club St Coca’s finished second, the scoring quartet being: Anita Rimmer, Sinead Burke, Jackie Ryan and Emma Lark. Donadea Running Club from Kildare were third.
For many of the competitors, the emphasis was not simply on winning but on gauging progress, establishing a sustainable race pace and building confidence with the marathon only ten weeks away. With 500 runners taking part, the majority were those in preparation for the Dublin marathon.
Despite not having any Kildare athletes on the 49 strong team selected for last weeks European championships, it would be a amiss not to mention the week long event considering the huge performance by Team Ireland.
What can we say of the Irish team’s performance? It has been the best ever. A fantastic gold from Mark English marks his sixth European medal, 12 years on from his first. More importantly it ends years of waiting and wanting that gold. A gold he always knew was within his reach.
His semi-final win in a new European Championship record of 1:43.49 - broke the 48-year-old European Record, previously set by Olaf Bayer (East Germany) in 1978. English did not disappoint in the final. A well judged race where he laid on the speed over the final 100m was unmatched by any other athlete. He had the gold.
Rashidat Adeleke too had her break-through moment. Since her 4th place at the Paris Olympics after a glittering year, things had not gone well for the Dublin athlete. Below par performances, withdrawals from Diamond Leagues – all led to lack of confidence. More importantly she did not have any qualification mark for the European Championships in the 400m, a race she got silver in two years ago in Rome. That changed with the national championships where she dropped down to 200m, became national champion and achieved the A qualifying standard for the Europeans.
Adeleke ran the perfect race, perhaps running out of track towards the end as she comfortably passed her old training partner from Texas Dina Asher-Smith before closing in on Amy Hunt. Just a few more meters, the gold might have been her’s. Gratitude. That Is how Adeleke expressed her feelings in the aftermath of the race. Gratitude for being at the championships, for earning a medal and for the support from the Irish in the stands. Her sliver 200m medal will possibly rank her most valuable medal to date, as it marks a turning point in what has been difficult two years.
Then came the gold medal from Kate O’Connor. Most expected a medal. Some hoped for gold. None more so than O’Connor herself. But there was the Olympic bronze medalists to get passed first. Season’s best, personal bests – O’Connor worked through them all and came out with a gold medal after her 800m performance.
With emotions visibly written on her face, she received her gold medal and like English in the days before, witnessed the Irish crowd greet her with pride and excitement. Like English, there were selfies and more selfies, autographs, handshakes and more. Ireland had their second gold medal. Not long after Andrew Coscoran surprised many with his third place finish in the 1500m final and his first ever major championship medal. It was a night of wild excitement.
A lot has been said about the Irish supporters throughout the week. Within the stadium Geoff Wightman, the commentator, was beginning to feel Irish himself. The green, white and gold was displayed at every available space. It was like home from home, so many of the familiar athletics faces were present.
The Gleeson’s from Celbridge, Archbold, Brennans and Bolands from Newbridge. The Kelly’s from St Coca’s and countless more families and friends from across Kildare clubs came to Birmingham to cheer on the Irish team. It certainly will be an inspiration for our up and coming athletes.
