THE 2018 Irish Examiner Cork City Marathon will go down as another marvellous success and there were so many great performances in Cork on Sunday.

The marathon and relay got underway at 8.30am, which was followed by a 10.15am start for the half. Conditions were warm which made it difficult for the athletes. The excitement and support on the streets of Cork was nothing short of amazing.

In terms of Cork success in the event, Claire Gibbons-McCarthy (Leevale AC) was the headline maker as she crossed the line in front to win the Women’s half-marathon, her winning time, 01:16:52.

“I’m delighted. I did this last year as my build up to the World Championships, so I said I would do the same this year for the Europeans. I love the feeling of coming down the finishing straight, it’s electric. I have a big race coming up and I was trying to keep something in the tank. 

"I’ll be defending my half marathon title in Swansea in three weeks, it will be a stepping stone to the European Championships. Someday I will do the marathon but for the moment I will stick with the half,” said Gibbons-McCarthy. Next home was Fiona Santry (East Cork A.C), in 01:23:27, with Sorcha Kearney (St Finbarrs A.C) third, in 01:25:31.

Youghal AC athlete Annmarie Holland had a brilliant run to finish third overall in the women’s marathon. 

Crossing the line in 3:03:47, a delighted Holland said: “Absolutely thrilled with that, my first one back in four years from injury. My first year making the podium. I got great support out there. I stuck to the plan and it worked.”

The race itself was won by Zola Flynn (Sligo AC) who won in a time of 2:58:55.

The men’s marathon was won by Gary O’Hanlon (Clonliffe Harriers) who broke the course record in great style. Last year’s National Marathon champion crossing the line in 02:21:10.

Alan O’Brien (Eagle AC) was the first Cork man home when finishing fourth overall. An outstanding performance. 

O’Brien said: “Very happy with that, more progress. There was a great group of us early. I ran with a polish lad, a fine runner and he was a great help. It’s great to see the profile of the race going up. Rest is next for me, spend some time with my wife and family. We will see what’s next after that."

Sergiu Ciobanu (Clonliffe Harriers), a regular winner on the national circuit, took the men’s half-marathon. The Irish international winning in 1:08:00.

Second was Cork man Killian O’Leary, a previous Cork City marathon winner, who is based in Dublin, he ran 01:09:20. Both Colin Merritt (St Finbarr’s) and Kevin O’Leary (East Cork) had great runs to finish fourth and fifth, posting times of 01:12:09 and 01:13:24.

RESULTS

1 G O’Hanlon (Clonliffe, M40) 2:21:09; 2 M Kirwan (Raheny) 2:25:17; 3 E Callaghan (unatt) 2:26:08; 4 A O’Brien (Eagle) 2:26:54; 5 P Kosek (unatt) 2:27:12; 6 M Morgan (St Finbarrs, M40) 2:31:21; 7 P Somba (Dunboyne) 2:33:35; 8 E Sugrue (unatt, M45) 2:36:05; 9 B Leahy (Raheny) 2:37:04; 10 C McGonagle (unatt, M40) 2:37:20.

M45: 2 D Ryan (Clonmel) 2:49:15; 3 D Kearney (unatt) 2:58:46.

M50: 1 C O’Connell (St Finbarrs) 2:39:24; 2 L Cotter (St Finbarrs) 2:56:47; 3 T Cambridge (Eagle) 2:56:49.

M55: 1 A Skupin 3:20:45; 2 D Bevan 3:31:26; 3 M Huybrechts 3:32:52.

M60: 1 E Doughty 3:22:50; 2 L Lynch 3:26:48; 3 PJ Holmes 4:07:38.

M65: 1 J Dobson 3:50:29; 2 F Linehan 4:31:14; 3 M Walsh 5:07:26 M70: 1 E O’Hannoin 3:32:48; 2 C O’Driscoll 4:29:44; 3 J Power 4:59:47.

M75: 1 H Carolan 6:23:44.

Women: 1 Z Flynn (Calry) 2:58:54; 2 R Davies (unatt) 3:02:23; 3 A-M Holland (Youghal, F40) 3:03:46; 4 L Jones (unatt, F35) 3:07:46; 5 R Stokes (unatt, F35) 3:12:33; 6 L Rooney (Watergrasshill, F40) 3:17:12; 7 D Duffy (Watergrasshill, F50) 3:20:46; 8 C O’Donoghue (Watergrasshill, F35) 3:22:41.

F40: 3 M Kelleher (unatt) 3:24:43.

F45: 1 M Fitzgerald (Carraig na bhFear) 3:23:15; 2 S McGrath (unatt) 3:28:04; 3 S Walsh (unatt) 3:43:54.

F50: 2 G O’Shea (UCC) 3:36:55; 3 K Harrington-Buckley (St Finbarrs) 3:44:33.

F55: 1 A Murphy 4:16:27; 2 L Ross 4:29:46; 3 J Browne 4:36:00.

F60: 1 W Chu Yuen 4:16:14; 2 B O’Hara 6:21:14.

F65: 1 A O’Keeffe 4:32:38; 2 F Boukercue 4:38:26.

F70: 1 A Tracey 6:14:56.

Half Marathon (Men) 1 S Ciobanu (Clonliffe) 67:59; 2 C O’Leary (Raheny) 69:19; 3 N Harrison (unatt) 71:39; 4 C Merritt (Carraig na bhFear, M45) 72:09; 5 K O’Leary (East Cork) 73:23; 6 J Meade (St Finbarrs) 74:02.

(Women) 1 C Gibbons-McCarthy (Leevale, F40) 76:51; 2 F Santry (East Cork) 83:27; 3 S Kearney (St Finbarrs, F40) 85:31; 4 T Murphy (unatt, F40) 88:28; 5 M Tancray (unatt) 92:07; 6 E Kobylko (unatt) 92:09.