Unlike other Dublin road races, there were no tears or signs of pain on display at the finish line of the VHI Women’s Mini Marathon on a sun-blessed Sunday afternoon. Well, almost no signs of pain.
There were smiles and laughs all around as some 25,000 women who took part started crossing the finish line on Baggot Street.
Paula Flanagan from Co Laois was hobbling and carrying a trainer in her hand.
“I ran the last 4km with just the one runner,” she said as she sat on the steps of a Georgian building on Fitzwilliam Square, inspecting her foot. “I’ve a fair few blisters now. My foot just went numb so I’d to take the runner off.”
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It did not make any difference to her performance. “I finished in 1:03 which is up eight minutes on last year,” Flanagan said.
Personal bests aside, when asked why she did not pull out instead of continuing with just one trainer, she shook her head. “Oh no, I could never have done that. I wouldn’t miss it, it’s just great and a special day for women,” Flanagan said.
That sentiment was echoed widely before, during and after the race won by Íde Nic Dhomhnaill in a time of 33:23.
Nic Dhomhnaill, from West Limerick AC, was more than a minute ahead of the second place finisher, Meghan Ryan, from Dundrum South Dublin AC who ran the 10km in 34:54. Maebh Richardson from Kilkenny City Harriers AC finished third with a time of 35:02.
Thousands of participants were representing charities, raising money for cancer research, heart health, homelessness and hospices. There were women running for the Simon Community, Vincent de Paul, Laura Lynn and Pieta House, with hundreds of personal causes and stories also represented.
Agnate Kavenaske, from Latvia via Tyrellstown, finished in 58 minutes and was delighted as she was hugged by her son Lucas.
“It is my second time and last year I did it in 59 minutes so I wanted to beat that,” Kavenaske said.
Running in the heat was “challenging but the support was amazing”. “And everyone is so lovely, that’s what makes it so special,” Kavenaske said.
When asked what her plans were for the rest of the day, she did not miss a beat: “I’m going to fire up the barbecue and have a couple of Aperol spritzes.”
Before the race started, Patricia Horgan from Collins Avenue was in fine spirits as she looked forward to her 42nd mini marathon.
She is one of a handful of women to have competed in every single one of the races since 1983.
“It is just therapy, my therapy anyway. It is a great stress reliever. You never feel worse after a run,” Horgan said.
“I had a pacemaker fitted 16 years ago, but I have kept going. Running has made me to be honest.”
Katja Mia, presenter of the Six O’Clock Show on Virgin Media, was running her second mini marathon.
Although she hoped to improve on her time of just more than an hour and 15 minutes, her main goal was to run the race without stopping to walk or have chats with fellow competitors.
“Last year was more a personal goal for me as I’d never competed in a 10k before,” Mia said. “I learned so much about how this event is about bringing women together and to be able to put my name on it and to support so many other women and help create that community this year is so important to me.”
She said her dad used to run half marathons in his 20s and 30s and “he dragged me out running back when I was a bit chubby as a kid. I hated it”.
However, in more recent times Mia “kind of trained” herself, starting out running for a couple of minutes and slowly building up.
“It’s been great for fitness but also to teach myself that if you put your mind to something you can get it done,” she said.
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