Some people go off on cruises on their honeymoon, others go on safaris, but not Polish runner Pawel Kosek and his new bride, Vera, who decided to come and run in the Cork city marathon, where Pawel made it back-to-back wins after similar success in 2023.
“I am very happy,” said Pawel (32) in English before turning to his friend, Monika Geirat, to act as an interpreter as he explained in Polish that he was particularly happy with his winning time of 2:23:54, which shaved almost four minutes off his winning time in 2023.
“Yes, it is like our honeymoon,” he smiled as Vera, who is from Odessa in Ukraine, revealed that they had married in Poland on May 25th and just over a week later she was running her first 10km in Cork and was very happy with her performance.
It is Vera’s first visit to Cork but Pawel is something of a veteran of running on Leeside, competing in the Cork marathon for the first time in 2018 when he finished fifth before coming home fourth in 2019, second in 2022 and taking the blue riband for the first time in 2023.
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“It was really difficult for me this year – there were five of them and they were very strong – it was okay until I reached the 39km, but it was tough from there on because I had the Irishman [David Mansfield] on my back and he was really strong too,” said Pawel.
“I have raced here before, I like the course. There is a great organisation here, the way it is set up is just perfect and the crowds are very supportive so I would be very happy to come back here again next year and try and defend my title.”
Clonmel AC runner David Mansfield finished second with a time of 2.24.33, mirroring his runner-up finish from 2017, while Clonliffe Harriers athlete Tudor Moldovan repeated his third placed finish from last year to also earn a place on the podium.
Mansfield, who was accompanied by his wife Ailish and sons, Harry (7) and Ollie (5), was happy with his performance after coming back from a hip injury, and they were the first to congratulate him after he crossed the finish line on Patrick Street.
“I was hoping to go one better than I did in 2017 but it was not to be – the conditions were very tough – it just felt very hot from the start; it was very hard to get any respite, the only respite was going through the Jack Lynch Tunnel and that’s very early in the race.
“I just felt I had to try and open up the race a little bit and put in a bit of an effort but it just wasn’t to be, the guy that won [Pawel Kosek] just seemed to have that extra gear when it came to the last few miles, so he’s a worthy winner.”
Moldovan was also happy with his third-place finished, particularly given the conditions which saw the runners take off from Patrick Street in 13 degrees at 8.15am only for temperatures to rise as the race progressed through the suburbs and back to the finish on the same street.
Moldovan, a Romanian, who has been living in Dublin for about 10 years, cut more than four minutes off his time from last year, finishing in 2:25:21 and he was beaming as he picked up his 10-month-old son, Avery, in his arms to join him on the podium for the official photographs.
“The conditions were cruel, but it was a very good field – a very strong field, there were six guys together at the 30km mark and the pace was very good. Everyone was very brave, every single mile, somebody was picking up the pace – it was like a war, it was absolutely lovely.”
In the women’s race, Aoife Cooke was greeted with a tumultuous reception on the streets of her native city after finishing in first place.
The Eagle AC athlete went from acting as a pacer in last year’s marathon to winning it today with a time of 2:56:33. Although this was well behind her personal best of 2:28:36, which qualified her for the Tokyo Olympics, it was more than four minutes faster than her nearest rival on Leeside.
“I paced the race last year and the atmosphere was amazing – it was kind of a last-minute decision to do it this year because I am coming back from a calf strain so I hadn’t done a lot of preparation in terms of long run,” said Cooke, who is from Tower near Blarney.
“It was tough – it was very warm and I found the last two or three miles where it got hilly around Farranlea Road and Model Farm Road, I found that tough in the heat but after that, it was okay and the atmosphere approaching the finish line on Patrick Street was just incredible.”
Second home was Ukrainian Yulia Tarasova with a time of 3:00:57, but she was far from despondent on her second place as she reflected on her own journey since she and her sons Dmitry (10) and Jaroslav (6) were forced to flee their home in Ukraine due to Russian attacks.
“I am from Odessa and we had to leave two years ago because of the Russian drone attacks – my husband Oleksander has stayed behind so I try speak to him every few days but sometimes there is no mobile connection because of the Russian attacks.
“My day starts in the morning checking the news to see what has happened over night – I am very worried about my husband, and I really hope the war will end soon because it is so difficult for all us Ukrainians so far from home.”
With the Ukrainian blue and yellow flag face painted on her cheeks, Tarasova said it took her some time to get back into running when she came to Ireland. Although her first race was tough, she found solace in doing marathons such as those in Tralee and Limerick, which she has won.
“I had won marathons in Ukraine and in Bratislava, but it was difficult for me when I first tried to race here because my physical form had dropped a lot since moving here, but reading the news of what was happening back home made me stressed so I needed to run.
“For me, training is not easy but running is good for my mental health – we are living in Tralee over a year now and I work part-time in a hotel in Tralee and I train with Clonliffe Harriers in Dublin but I like living in Tralee because we are close to nature there.
“My two boys really like living in Ireland – it is good here and I am really grateful for everything here. Irish people are so good to us, they have been so kind and supportive to us since we arrived and they are friendly and of course, we feel safety here too.”
Joining Cooke and Tarasova on the podium in Cork was Spaniard Andrea Aza Villamor, who lives in Ballincollig and works as an electrical engineer. The woman from Asturias was competing in her second Cork marathon.
“I don’t run with any club,” she said “but this was my second time competing in the Cork city marathon – last year I finished in the 20s and this year it was very tough because it was really, really hot and it particularly tough around 21/22km, so to come third this year is great.”
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