Pauline's a history maker
Pauline Curley won the National Women's Marathon Championship when she was the first Irish woman to cross the line in the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon on Monday.
Curley, representing Tullamore Harriers, made history in the process, becoming the oldest ever Irish national champion at the age of 46.
The former Olympian spoke after the race of her joy at claiming the title;
“I’m speechless after that, I’m totally overwhelmed. It was emotional crossing the finish line. I had surgery done on my knee a few months ago, and I’m only back running 4 weeks so being able to claim the Irish National Championship today is really just fantastic. A huge thank you to my surgeon and my physio who both worked wonders to get me back to take part in the race. Nothing can take away the Olympics in 2008, but that equaled it today!”
Curley who crossed the line in a time of 2:49:29 was followed by Jean-Anne Healy-Meehan from Athenry A.C (2:54:48) and Laura Graham of Mourne A.C (2:56:21). Sean Hehir of Rathfarnham won the Irish National Championship in a time of 2:19:47. Both Pauline and Sean will receive free electricity for a year from race sponsors SSE Airtricity.
Meanwhile, Alemue Gemechu from Ethiopa was first across the line in the men's race with a time of 2:14:02. Gemechu manged to shake off the challenge of fellow Ethiopians Asfa Bekele and Kenyans Francis Ngare, Freddy Sittuk and last year’s winner, Eliud Too. The five international runners formed the leading pack until the 25th mile, when Gemechu broke away and claimed the win.
In the women’s race, Ukrainian Natalyia Lehonkova claimed top spot, with a time of 2:31:09. She was followed across the line by Grace Momanyi of Kenya and Tesfanesh Denbi of Ethopia.
Race Director Jim Aughney was very pleased with how today’s race went; 'The weather wasn’t what we’d hoped for, but it didn’t dampen spirits and the support around the course today was really something special. Something that our finishers always mention is the support that they receive out there and how it really helps them dig deep and push themselves on. I’m also delighted for our two Irish National Champions, for Sean who was our overall winner in 2013, and Pauline who shows that age is no barrier to running this race, I’d like to congratulate them both, along with all the other participants out there”.