Thornton in top 15 in Great North Run

Date Published: {J}

GALWAY City Harrier’s leading man Gary Thornton had another fantastic run in finishing 14th in the Great North Run in Newcastle in the UK last weekend. Thornton went out hard, breaking 5k in 14:30 and was right among the leaders breaking 10k in a time of 29:55. It was tough going in the end but he held on bravely for an outstanding finish time 65:24.

The race was won by Ethiopian legend and world marathon record holder Haile Gebresalaisse in a time of 59:33. This is a second brilliant run from Thornton in as many weeks – he came fifth in the Great Yorkshire 10k in 29:30, only 40 seconds behind the winner Craig Mottram of Australia.

Thornton is expected to take part in the inaugural Grey Lake 10k in Loughrea on Sunday. This is the first time that the historic race has moved beyond its traditional 5 mile distance, and it is hotly anticipated in Irish running circles.

Many elite athletes will be on show including Freya Murray, the hugely impressive winner of the 2010 Great Ireland Run, who won the event last year. All of the top Galway clubs will have strong teams on show, and everyone involved in the running scene in Galway will be present.

In other senior athletics news, Athenry AC’s Claire McNamara won the Northern Ireland Pentathlon with a combined score of 3807, well clear of her nearest rival Claire Wilkinson of Ballymena.

Several Galway athletes put in exceptional performances at the Connacht Secondary Schools Combined Events which took place last Friday in Athlone IT.

There was double glory in the Minor age category where Craughwell AC’s Damien O’Boyle (representing Calasanctius Oranmore) took the Connacht title in the boys’ event and Sinead Treacy (St Raphael’s Loughrea) took the title in the girls’ event with 1471 points.

Maria McNamara (Pres Athenry) posted an exceptional 2524 points to take the Connacht title in the Junior Girls category. This age group provided rich rewards also for Sinead Gaffney (Pres Athenry) who racked up 2396 points to claim the silver medal and for Ella Bryan (St Raphael’s Loughrea) who scored 2089 points to take the bronze medal.

Craughwell’s Ciara Greene (Bower Athlone) took the bronze medal in the Minor Girls event with 1261 points, with Ellen Treacy (Loughrea VS) taking 4th place with 1213 points and Conor O’Donoghue (Pres Athenry) in 4th place in the Minor Boys’ category.

Katie O’Donoghue of Craughwell AC (Pres Athenry) finished close to the medals in the Intermediate Girls category with a score of 2093 points, with Karen Roche (St Raphael’s Loughrea) and Melissa Mullins (Gort CS) also battling bravely in the same event and Diarmuid Prendergast (Loughrea VS) in the Junior Boys category.

Shaun Gallagher (St Raphael’s Loughrea) competed strongly in the Intermediate Boys category where Niall Rooney (Athenry VS) had an impressive performance and will be close to or in the medals in the same age group but at the time of writing, that result has not been announced.