Finn Valley AC’s Diarmait Keogh won the Donegal Half Marathon title this morning in Letterkenny in a time of 1:11:49, with his club mate Oisin Toye second in 1:13:17 and Letterkenny AC’s Donal Farren third in 1:13:34.
The senior women’s title went to Finn Valley’s Nuala Bose in 1:22:24, from Bernie Boyle of Rosses AC in 1:26:16 Android Android Monica Homes of Optum in 1:28:51.
Over 1,000 people took part in the annual event which is run in association with Kernans and which was first held in 2014.
Speaking after his win, Diarmait Keogh said he was delighted with his performance which saw him better his personal best by 30 seconds for the 13.1-mile distance.
“I didn’t expect to win at all. I came here expecting to finish behind Oisin Toye. We were all in a group and started off fairly slow around 3:30 (per K) pace. Myself, Donal and Oisin went together. About 10 mile in I opened a gap. I couldn’t really believe I was in the lead to be honest. I just kept going and the gap got bigger and bigger, and I came home with the win,” he commented.
“That’s the end of the road season for me. I’ll be focusing on cross-country now and hopefully I can bring home a novice title,” Diarmait added.
Giving her reaction to winning the women’s race, Nuala Bose, said: “I wasn’t really sure what to expect today, but I’m happy with the way things unfolded.”
Two weeks ago, she also took victory in the Danny McDaid 15K.
“The New Mills back road was really hilly, so I’m delighted to out back-to-back wins together. Having done the 15K over the same road, I just pushed for the last 6K and I’m buzzing now,” Nuala added.
Donegal Half Marathon race director, Brendan McDaid said he was happy to report that the event went off hitch-free.
“For the second year in a row we had over 1,000 taking part in the Donegal Half Marathon and thankfully things ran smoothly. There’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes in the lead up to the race by a lot of people to make sure everything is in place on the day,” he commented.
“Looking after such a large number of people is a big undertaking and on behalf of the organising committee, I thank all the volunteers who played their part to make sure today was another successful and enjoyable event.
“Conditions were perfect at the start and for the first hour or so of the race. The rain started just as the first runners started to cross the line, but I don’t think it dampened the spirits of the runners too much,” Brendan added.
