ARMY HALF MARATHON GALWAY

On Wednesday the 21st April six Garda athletes made the long trek to Leenane, Connemara to participate as guests of the defence forces in their annual national half-marathon championships. The army made our members feel very welcome in a well organised event and on beautifully scenic course. All participants where bused out to Inagh Valley and ran the 13.1miles back to the finish in Leenane. The course was generally flat with a couple of climbs and a rolling downhill section along Killary Harbour into Leenane. On a sunny, dry day with little wind the winning time was posted by Paul Buckley in 69mins. The following are the Garda athletes results:
 
Ronan Hartnett     79mins      9th place
Damian Gannon    92mins      31st place
Brian Farrell         94mins      34th place
John Griffin          101mins     74th place
Darren McCarthy  101mins     75th place
Vincent Kelly       109mins     121st place
 
Refreshments and prize giving took place after the race at the Leenane Hotel on what was a very enjoyable day. Well done to all Garda athletes who travelled the long journey and completed the course.  Hopefully next year we can send in excess of 20 athletes.  (Thanks to Ronan for the above report).