Tommy Hughes Smashes Irish Record in Rotterdam

08 April 2019

Tommy Hughes Smashes Irish Record in Rotterdam

Tommy Hughes (Termoneeny Running Club) broke the Irish M55+ record for the Marathon distance yesterday at the NN Marathon Rotterdam.

The 59 year old athlete finished in 67th place overall in a 17,000 strong field in a time of 2:30.15, some 7 minutes faster than the previous record of 2:37.42. This may also be a World Marathon record for the 59 year old, though this is still to be confirmed.

The former Olympian (1992) is now the second fastest Northern Irishman for the marathon distance, finishing just 53 seconds behind Greg Hanon’s 1979 record. Hughes has previously won the 1991 Dublin Marathon, as well as the Belfast Marathon in 1988 and 1998, while his international triumphs include a success in the Melbourne Marathon in 1988.

It was a successful day for Northern Irish athletes as Breege Connolly (City of Derry Spartans) and Anne-Marie McGlynn (Letterkenny AC) finished 13th and 15th respectively. Breege finished in a time of 2:37.50 which is 21 secs off her PB time and only 50 secs short of the World Championship qualification time for Doha. Meanwhile Anne-Marie finished in a time of 2:39.22, which currently makes her the 3rd fastest in Ireland.

 

Elsewhere this weekend…

Acorns AC’s Vincent McKenna took 3rd place in the Vienna Half Marathon in a new PB time of 1:09.36.

2019-vincentmckennaviennahalfmarathon.jpg
Meanwhile fellow marathon runner Laura Graham (Mourne Runners) won the weekend's Omagh Half Marathon in a time of 76.31. Karen Alexander (Sperrin Harriers) was pleased with her runner up spot in 81.26 which took over 3 mins off her previous PB time. She was followed by Catherine Whoriskey (City of Derry Spartans) in 83.22 and Gemma McDonald (Ballycastle Runners) in a time of 84.43 with Helen McCready (Rosses AC) completing the top 5 in 85.29.

Clonliffe Harriers’ Gary O’Hanlon finished 1st Male across the line in 67.40 which is his 3rd fastest time. NI & Ulster Senior Cross Country Champion Mark McKinstry (North Belfast Harriers) showed his versatility again with a runner up time of 68.40 which was a PB by 1 min 40 secs.

Next came Eoin Hughes (Acorns AC) in 70.46 followed by Pierce McCullough (Sperrin Harriers) in a time of 71.58. The 2017 winner Stephen Duncan (Omagh Harriers) was 5th in 72.52 followed by Willowfield Harrier's Neill Weir in a time of 73.23.

More details on the action from this weekend’s Irish Life Health National Age Group Championships will be available soon.