STRONG winds and cold temperatures took none of the gloss off Sunday’s SPAR Omagh Half Marathon which this year carried NI & Ulster championships status for the distance.
Strive Running Club’s Gary Hegarty put behind him a year blighted by injury to claim back-to-back victories in the men’s race while Ann-Marie McGlynn was a class apart in the women’s contest.
It was a hard-earned win for Hegarty, who fought out a tense battle with North Belfast Harrier Conan McCaughey throughout the 13.1 mile distance.
It was only in the closing kilometres that the Coleraine butcher asserted his superiority to claim the title by 11 seconds in 68:18.
Armagh AC’s Michael Fox was third man across the line in 69:10 and was aided and abetted by Fearghal Delaney (74:11), Brendan Heaney (74:33) and Marty McKenna (74:46) in bringing the team title back to the Cathedral City for probably the first time.
St Peter’s, Lurgan took the silver medals, with host club Omagh Harriers filling the minor spot on the team podium.
Ultra-distance exponent Gareth King (70:29) also overcame injury woes to claim fifth, while former winner of the event Sergiu Ciobanu (70:55) was seventh, just one place ahead of Declan Reed (71:41), who was first M50.
Olympian Tommy Hughes was the leading M60 in a more than credible 78:02 timing.
Like a good wine, Ann-Marie McGlynn seems to get better with age. The 44-year-old Letterkenny AC runner made mincemeat of the women’s field to come home over five minutes clear in 75:26.
Annadale Strider Dearbhla Cox filled the runner-up spot in 81:05, while third place went to the rapidly improving Jennifer Martin in 84:30.
Clones AC’s Irene Clements recorded a remarkable net time of 91:18 in claiming the women’s O60 prize.
Martin, a Cork native who is now domiciled in Magherafelt, was joined by Judith McMaster (94:36), Anne Marie Pickering (95:14) and Assumpta O’Neill (96:19) in Tafelta’s winning team. Coalisland’s Keep ‘Er Lit club claimed silver medals ahead of Galbally Runners.
Paul Hannan (86:09) and Karol Doherty (88:10) were the first two finishers in the wheelchair section, while Harry McKenzie (15:56) and Eimear McCarroll (17:42) were the respective gender winners of the 5K race.
The continuing popularity of the event was reflected in over 3500 finishing the course in the main race, while another 700 took part in the ancillary 5K.
Earlier, the weather conditions had also impacted the Irish Universities’ Track & Field Championships at the Mary Peters Track on Friday and Saturday.
Nicola Tuthill (UCD AC) extended her own Irish U23 hammer record with a new personal best throw of 68.65m. The throw added 80 centimetres to her previous mark set at the European Team Championships in Chorzow, Poland in June of last year.
While southern university athletes dominated, there were victories for Ulster performers including Adam Courtney (400m hurdles), Callum Morgan (1500m) and Hannah Gilliland (5000m).
On the international stage, and in a rehearsal for the Olympics, Mestawut Fikir excelled on her debut at the distance by winning Sunday’s Paris Marathon in 2:20:45.
Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot, the 2016 Olympic 5000m champion and four-time world champion on the track, was third in 2:21:46 in what was the 40-year-old’s first marathon in five years.
Mulugeta Uma made it an Ethiopian double by taking the men’s title in 2:05:33 at the World Athletics Elite Label road race.
