Wallace wins the European Masters Marathon
Alexander Wallace (St Cocas) World Masters Marathon Champion Photo: St Cocas
A late date for the World Championships this year has meant the normal barrage of road racing events has been punctuated by track and field. Mark English of course had a brilliant World Continental Gold Tour win in Beijing on Sunday, one week ahead of the World Championships in Tokyo. With ardent athletics supporters across the nation, Irish athletics fans will be keeping unconventional hours from this Saturday as they align their watches with Tokyo time. This capturing midnight screen time of the Tokyo action. At the last iteration of the World Championships (held in Budapest) Kildare had its own specific interest. John Fitzsimons had qualified for the 800m. Unfortunately, this time around the county does not have any athlete on the team and support will be channeled towards the Irish team in general.
Track and Field athletes are not the only ones competing on the major stage. The World Masters Marathon Championships took place last Saturday in Finland, with St Coca’s Alexander Wallace taking a convincing overall victory. Meanwhile at home, a plethora of road races kept Kildare runners busy as they have seven weeks to go for the Dublin City Marathon. Newbridge AC became the third Kildare Club to host a road race in the space of a month, following on from successful event hosted by St Coca’s and Celbridge. Josh O’Sullivan (Donore Harriers) took the overall 5km title from Kevin Byrne (Newbridge AC).
Alexander Wallace (St Coca’s) defies age. Still able to compete with the best in Irish road races, last Saturday he tested his preserve on the international scene. At the World Masters Marathon in Finland, the St Coca’s athlete won the overall competition. Crossing the line in 2:25.29, his second fastest marathon time ever. Despite his 45 years, he finished ahead of men, ten years his junior, something that has become somewhat a habit for Wallace over the past number of years.
The race was led out by Fransisco Urbano (Spain) with Wallace, Jesper Faurshou (Switzerland) and Jose Garcia (Spain) close behind. A gap of over half a minute was created between these four athletes and the chasing field at the 5km mark. Over the next 5km, Urbano pushed the pace resulting in Faurshou dropping back by 15 seconds. Wallace was still holding his own, tucked in behind the two Spaniards. There was still over 75% of the race to run and no point in taking unnecessary risks. At 16km it was Wallace, Urbano and Garcia that took the lead, racing stride by stride, forming a wall – almost half a minute ahead of the rest of the field. All three men looked comfortable. It was impossible to pick a winner at this stage of the race.
Nothing much changed over the next 5km, with the same three men commanding the front of the race. Wallace looked slightly more relaxed that the two Spaniards, who flanked the St Coca’s man to the left and right. At the halfway point changes were happening. Wallace has now emerged as the leader, gaining a 40 second advantage over Urbano, with Garcia a further 3 seconds back. Wallace’s dominant trajectory continued through to the 40km mark, where Faurshou, the Swiss had once again regained his momentum and passed the two Spaniards. Wallace at this point was three minutes ahead and well out of danger. With just 2km to go, his lead increased further. The St Coca’s man crossed the line in 2:25.27, over three and half minutes ahead of Jesper Faurshou (Switzerland) to claim the World Masters Marathon title.
Two years ago Wallace finished the Berlin Marathon in a personal best of 2:24.12 a time which remains his personal best. His time of 2:25.27 from Finland is all the more remarkable considering the comparative conditions between Finland and Berlin. For now, Wallace is in peak fitness, and it remains to be seen what distance he will put to the test over the coming few months.
Newbridge AC hosted their inaugural 5km road race last Saturday. The fast and flat loop started and finished at the Holy Family with 171 runners taking part. The overall winner was Josh O’Sullivan Hourihan (Donore Harriers) in a time of 15:05, thirty eight seconds ahead of local runner Kevin Byrne. There was an impressive run from u16 athlete Alexander Guther to finish 5th in 16:29. Guther has made great improvements over the past year, qualifying individually in both Cross-Country and Track for the National Championships. It is clear that he is ready to make a further impact during the approaching cross-country season.
The first female home was a Kildare athlete Alex Murphy. Murphy now studying in UCD has made the switch from her home club of Suncroft to UCD AC over the past few months. She completed the 5km in 17:25 thirty-seven seconds ahead of Louise Gaffney (Rathfarnham/WSAF AC).
Robyn Browne (Newbridge) finished 4th and like Guther, this young athlete has made a big impact on athletics in the past year and seems likely to increase that impact in the season ahead. Michelle Cox (Newbridge) followed close behind. The Mixed Team was won by Newbridge AC with the team of Michelle Cox, Robyn Browne, Kevin Byrne and Thomas Kelly.
Held in conjunction with the 5km event was a 1km dash for the younger club members. Over 70 younger athletes took part, all showing great potential for a bright athletics future.
This Friday Clane AC will host their 5km event, where many more from Kildare are expected to take part.
Kildare athletes were in action at the Lucan Harriers 5-mile road race on Sunday last. Over 700 runners took part in this popular event. Marc Augustin (St Coca’s) was the first Kildare athlete home. Finishing in 9th place, and the third over 40 across the line, Augustin completed the 5-mile route in 26:43. Ian McMahon (Celbridge) finished 50th and the second Kildare man across the line. The men’s race was won by Colm Rooney (Clonliffe) with Dublin City Harriers Faye Dervan winning the ladies event.
