Jennings takes mini marathon after close finish

ATHLETICS:CAITRIONA JENNINGS extended a fine family sporting tradition by winning her first Women's Mini Marathon in Dublin yesterday, and with that immediately set her sights on the race for London Olympic qualification.

The 30-year-old Jennings – the younger sister of successful international rower Sinead Jennings – won out in a close finish at St Stephen’s Green, clocking 35 minutes and 28 seconds for the 10km race.

This left her just three seconds clear of Siobhain O’Doherty from Tipperary, with the young Aoife Talty, a daughter of former Galway midfielder Brian Talty, claiming a well deserved third in 35:54 after making much of the pace over the opening kilometres – while the rest of the 40,000-plus runners were still spread out around the course.

Jennings had every reason to be happy with her performance and time, some six seconds quicker than when she was fifth two years ago; she was sixth last year. “I suppose it was time for me to win it,” said the Dublin-based accountant, and native of Letterkenny.

Jennings has been part of the Dublin Marathon Mission training team since last year, but was nursing a serious Achilles tendon injury earlier in the year, and only returned to full training in recent weeks.

“I was not sure if I had sufficient training behind me with the injury but I felt comfortable and just followed the others and waited before making my final push. This is a very popular race for all women runners and I’m thrilled to have won it. The wind was against us out to the halfway point but it was a help on the way back.

“The aim now is to run the Dublin City marathon later this year but I know I will have to increase the training if I’m going to be a factor there. To get the qualifying time for the World Championships or the Olympics is definitely a goal for me and just hope I can stay injury free and up the training to get the time.”

As for the true marathon distance it seems once again the best in Ireland is from Moldova. Sergiu Ciobanu – the 27 year-old from the small Moldovan town of Marculesti yet more familiar now with the roads around Cahir in Tipperary – defended the Cork City Marathon title just like he did at the national marathon in Dublin last October.

Indeed Ciobanu not only won Cork for the second time but has now triumphed in the Connemara, Roscommon, and Longford marathons over the last year, and is already well fancied to claim a third successive national title at the 2011 Dublin Marathon in five months’ time.

Running with his adoptive club Clonliffe Harriers, Ciobanu dominated the 26.2-mile distance to finish in a course record of 2:25.34, exactly 20 seconds faster than he ran last year. Conditions were near-perfect and Ciobanu had almost five and a half minutes to spare on the second-place finisher Alan Foolkes from Leevale, who ran 2:31:03.

This was short of his lifetime best of 2:19.33 run in Dublin last October, but extremely satisfying nonetheless as Ciobanu had been suffering from the flu during his final preparations for the race.

“I took it easy over the last two weeks,” said Ciobanu, who came to Ireland in 2006 seeking work. “I knew if I could be well rested I would run a great race today. I am pleased to break the course record. Conditions were better than last year. I really enjoyed the last few miles because they are flat miles and I checked my time and I knew I could go for a course record. The last two miles I ran as fast as I could.”

He works in AIBP meat factory in Cahir, usually boning or trimming meat for up to eight hours a day – although in the past his employers have allowed him time off to train.

The first woman home in Cork was Angela McCann of Clonmel AC who finished in a personal best time of 2:53:31, making up for her second-place finish last year, and beating last year’s winning time of 2:54:41 set by Lucy Brennan.

“It wasn’t windy or raining thankfully” she said, “and it wasn’t too hot either so it was perfect. About mile 20 I started to struggle. There was a bit of a hill. Once I got to mile 22 it was plain sailing all the way home.”

Mary Scully of Mullingar was second 2:57:15.

The event was broken into the full, half and relay distances – with TJ McHugh of Mayo AC winning the half-marathon distance in 1:12:51, and Lizzie Lee of Leevale winning the women’s division in 1:19:45.

Sonia O’Sullivan was among the 8,500 runners, although not in the competitive sense. A calf injury forced her to walk most of the 26.2 miles, although her only intention was to raise funds for the Children’s Leukaemia Association. “The atmosphere on the course was extraordinary, and Cork is still one of my favourite places in the world to run,” said O’Sullivan, who this weekend was nominated by Athletics Ireland for election to the Council of the IAAF, the world governing body for athletics.

CORK CITY MARATHON: Men – 1. Sergiu Ciobana, Clonliffe Harriers, 2:25:34; 2. Alan Foolkes, Leevale AC, 2:31:03; 3. Colin Merrit, Carrig na bhFear, 2:31:59; 4. Wieslaw Sosnowski, Eagle AC, 2:32:47; 5. Lorcan Cronin, Clonliffe Harriers AC, 2:33:36. Women – 1. Angela McCann, Clonmel AC, 2:53:31; 2. Mary Scully, Mullingar, 2:57:15; 3. Anne Curley, Donore Harriers, 2:57:38; 4. Mary O’Leary, FC Perlach, 2:59:16; 5. Ann Marie Holland, Eagle AC, 3:02:40. Men’s Half Marathon – 1. TJ McHugh, Mayo AC, 1:12:51. Women’s Half Marathon - 1. Lizzie Lee, Leevale AC, 1:19:45