This report might come a week late but it’s certainly worth a mention as one could not let an occasion like Dublin City marathon pass without commenting in some way. For any runner to achieve what they set out to do is a mighty accomplishment, to even better it is even more remarkable. These remarkable running results don’t come by accident, it’s a hard slog and sheer commitment in all sorts of elements…. rain, wind, hail, sun whatever the weather brings in a day. Conditions however, on bank Holiday Monday were almost perfect and thankfully the rain didn’t come as promised. To the casual observer this year’s results might not appear too much to some people but this is serious stuff indeed. This year saw many local runners participate in the big race and one could aptly use the analogy of a fine wine improving with age. Gearoid & Mary Rohan proved that age doesn’t matter a damn when running your 4th & 2nd (respective) marathons as Gearoid ran the entire race shoulder to shoulder with national silver medalist Jane Anne Meehan and romped home in an exceptional time of 2:54 proving that his Manchester marathon run was no flash in the pan. Life begins at 40…… but so too do fallen arches, faulty eyesight, and the tendency to tell the same story over and over again. But good stories like these incredible race times can be listened to with the greatest of ease over and over again. Mary Rohan crushed her PB by a whopping 20mins to come home in an exceptional time of 3:37. For a late entry signing for the run (the day prior to the closing date) Mary admitted afterwards that she ‘enjoyed every step’ of the run even though not many of us could empathise with that! And what’s more, both Mary & Gearoid sat in the car immediately after the run and drove home. It was like a day’s work completed and back to normal duties! There are real stories associated with running marathons and none more so than Pat McDonagh, Newcastle & Mike Mitchell, Gurteen. Postman Pat created a new PB for himself crushing 5 mins off his time to cross the line joyously in 3:18. He partied that night alongside all other teammates from Athenry AC til 2am and was up to resume his postman duties at 5am. If that’s not called ‘tough Pat’ I don’t know what is? Also Mike Mitchell has a lovely story … for a lad that failed to run the entire Kilconieron 5 mile run last February and yet 8 months later found himself running a marathon alongside his sister Clare in a very formidable time of 4:27. They paced themselves to perfection and looked in control all the time as they crossed the line together. Kieran Guiry, Clough also set himself a new PB by 2mins glad to cross the finish line in 3:11:45. Remarkable stuff Kieran. Angela McManamon, Tiaquin also ran a whopping race, setting a new PB by 28mins in the process as she crossed the line in 3:30. But the last word must go to Jane Anne Meehan, training companion of Gearoid Rohan (she’s got a good teacher!!) who claimed a National Silver medal and a course record for her efforts. Look out for the name, with her calibre there’ll be plenty of headlines ahead. Congrats to all participants and finishers. Keep on running……..