Sometimes winning back a national title can taste just as sweet as winning a first. It looked that way for Séan Tobin, and not long after for Shona Heaslip, as they both claimed the Irish 10km road titles in Dunboyne on Sunday afternoon.
For Tobin, the 29-year-old from Clonmel, it comes nine years after he first won the 1,500m title on the track, his victory here in 29 minutes and 17 seconds a nice confidence boost before he takes on next month’s London Marathon. The Paris Olympics are still calling on that front.
Heaslip first burst onto the senior scene when winning the National cross-country title as a 22-year-old, back in 2016, the former underage Irish dancing champion fast returning to her best after several seasons cut short by injury. From the An Ríocht AC in Tralee, she won in a new course record of 32:49.
After last year’s Phoenix Park fiasco, where runners were misdirected over the course and ended up finishing some 1.5km short, host club Dunboyne AC in Meath made sure of a perfectly measured and stewarded race, which drew 1,261 finishers in all.
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Tobin already has the distinction of running the fastest marathon in the Antarctic, clocking 2:53:33 in 2022, but will be looking to go significantly faster in London, the Olympic qualifying time being 2:08:10.
“I’ve had a big month of mileage, been putting in a lot of work as I’m getting ready for London,” said Tobin, who finished four seconds clear of Pierre Murchan from Dublin City Harriers, having hit the front after 1km.
“I had planned to run the Barcelona half as my last race before London, but I got quite ill in January, it took me six or seven weeks to get right. Things started to click again in the last week or two. It’s great to break things up a bit, I finished this week with close to 120 miles in the legs so it’s a nice way to finish off the week. For London, I just want to run well and not worry about the outcome, hopefully have a positive start to what will be a long marathon career”.
Emmet Jennings from Dundrum South-Dublin won bronze, and with Mitchell Byrne leading the way in sixth, Rathfarnham WSAF AC won the men’s team title ahead of Clonliffe Harriers and City of Derry.
Heaslip didn’t hang around at the front of the women’s race either, taking up the pace like Tobin did, finishing 21 seconds clear of Ann Marie McGlynn (Letterkenny AC), with reigning National cross-country champion Fiona Everard from Bandon AC third in 33:22.
“I’ve been fortunate that since I’ve come back from my injury, things have been going really well on the road,” said Heaslip, her time also inside the B-standard for the European Championships in Rome in June. “The plan going forward is hopefully the European half marathon in June if selected. Then hopefully I’ll be moving up to the marathon later this year with the debut being, fingers crossed, Valencia”.
Danielle Donegan, in seventh, led Tullamore Harriers to the women’s team title, ahead of Dublin City Harriers and Metro-St Brigid’s, Donegan next joining Everard in next Saturday’s World Cross-Country Championships in Belgrade.
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