Paul O’Donnell and Ger Solan, two of our more experienced senior marathoners, took to New York at the weekend for the last of the marathon majors of 2015. It’s a popular and famed race and the world’s largest marathon with over 50,000 competitors. The course is deceptively hilly and covers all five boroughs of NYC.
Both of the guys ran tremendously well, with Paul just 42 seconds outside of his PB and Ger running a 2+ minute PB.
It was marathon No. 15 for Paul, who probably holds more marathon major medals than anyone within the Club. Paul’s had a stop start year, being affected with injuries in the early part of 2015, and then frustratingly again in the summer which put him out of running Berlin. Paul was in great shape over the summer and was lining up to take a chunk of his PB at that stage. To pull off a 3:28:36 after a period of injury is a credit to his resilience and a sign there’s a lot more to come in 2016.
Ger ran a super 3:01:07, having run a 3:03 in Rotterdam earlier in the year, knocking over 2 minutes out of his PB on a tougher course. He made huge strides in 2014 and 2015, and whilst he probably had his eye on the 3 mark on Sunday, it’s a time that’s inevitable at this stage if he chooses to go again in 2016.
Well done lads on your excellent runs, capping off a bumper autumn marathon season which saw 50+ Dunboyne AC athletes take on the distance.
