Sport

Irish athletes come up just short at London Marathon

Armagh&nbsp;AC&rsquo;s Fionnuala Ross&nbsp;chopped a massive 12 minutes from her Paris Marathon time of last year with an excellent 2:49:57<br />Picture by PA
Armagh AC’s Fionnuala Ross chopped a massive 12 minutes from her Paris Marathon time of last year with an excellent 2:49:57
Picture by PA
Armagh AC’s Fionnuala Ross chopped a massive 12 minutes from her Paris Marathon time of last year with an excellent 2:49:57
Picture by PA

THERE was no joy for the Irish athletes looking for Olympic qualification times at Sunday’s Virgin Money London Marathon, although there were several personal best performances.

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge set a new course record of two hours, three minutes and four seconds after a dominant display and compatriot Jemima Sumgong recovered from a fall to win the women’s race in 2:22:58.

For Belfast runners Thomas Frazer and Stephen Scullion, and Dublin-based Clare man Sean Hehir, it was the final opportunity to fulfil their dreams of pulling on an Ireland vest in Rio this August.

All three started brightly in the fine conditions, with no hint of the snow forecast all week. They all entertained legitimate hopes of improving on Kevin Seaward’s leading Irish mark of 2:14:52 at the halfway point, with Scullion (66:27) leading from Hehir (66:35) and Frazer (66:54).

Things continued to go smoothly through 20K but the pace began to tell as Frazer and Scullion started to fall off their time schedules. 

Hehir remained strong until 30K but he too wilted to before crossing the finish line in 2:17:20 – well short of the time required by him to make a case for one of the three Rio spots.

Frazer trudged home next, roughly a minute-and-a-half outside his best with a time of 2:19:17 while Scullion had the consolation of a personal best with his 2:20:39 mark.

Rio aspirant Claire Gibbons McCarthy also came a cropper in the women’s race. The 39-year-old Cork athlete had hopes of dispossessing Breege Connolly of the third spot by running faster than the North Belfast Harrier’s 2:37:39 in London last year.

McCarthy had the mark within her sights for 30K before having to withdraw for unspecified reasons. 

However, there were excellent performances from Mourne Runners’ Laura Graham and Armagh AC’s Fionnuala Ross.

Graham took over eight minutes off her best with a 2:48:03 timing, while Ross chopped a massive 12 minutes from her Paris Marathon time of last year with an excellent 2:49:57.

It looks like there should be three Northern athletes selected for the marathon in Rio.

Kevin Seaward keeps his place at top of the men’s rankings while Paul Pollock, who opted out of London in case of injury, should be selected on the strength of his 14th in the World Half Marathon last month.

Breege Connolly has played the coolest game of all by sitting with her London time of 12 months ago. She should join Fionnuala McCormack and Lizzie Lee in Rio.

Northern Ireland athletes were in sparkling form at the London Mini Marathon races. These were contested over a flat three-mile course and incorporated the British Championships for the distance.

Strathearn Grammar’s Amelia Kane scored a shock victory in the U13 girls’ race to become the first local winner since Ciara Mageean, who is bound for the Olympics in the 1500m.

City of Lisburn’s James Edgar produced the goods once again with an excellent bronze medal in the U17 youths’ race while North Down’s Craig McMeechan also made the top 10. Jack Agnew won the U17 Wheelchair race while there was a bronze for Alex Greer in the U14 race.