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September in the rain marked the second running of the Charlestown 10k on Saturday evening. The recent good weather turned colder, wetter, and breezier, but the rain held off during the race and conditions were good for running. Christina Duffy and her team, assisted by John Roddy, put on another enjoyable and impressively organised event. They provided an excellent well marked and marshalled course all the way from the starting line at Lowpark to refreshment tables in the CBD sports complex, for which the race acted as a fund raiser. John Byrne, John Mannion, and Paul Conlon led David Tiernan out of town, as the field headed for Cloonaweema. Jonathon Deane, Thomas Kelly, Brendan Gill, and Anto Devaney kept them in view until they crossed over to the old Dublin road at halfway near Gowel. By then Byrne had a few metres on Mannion, with Tiernan and Conlon together over a minute behind. Ann Lennon had John Nolan for company as she had in Balla 10k and Claremorris four mile the previous week. John Byrne stretched his lead gradually from 6k and crossed the line in 32.32, a new course record, to record his first league race win since 2011. “I thought I’d never see that time again”, he said afterwards. This marks a brilliant return to form for Byrne, who has been at the forefront of Mayo athletics for over 15 years. Mannion finished second in 34.10 with Tiernan third in 34:51, a new PB and beating his 2012 winning time by over a minute. Ann Lennon 37:47 – a brilliant performance by the National W45 half marathon champion, and Colette Tuohy in 39:20 finished first and second in the women’s category. Standards were high, with more than double the number finishing in under 40 minutes compared to 2012. There were a number of PBs joyfully celebrated at the finish line. The road League continues in east Mayo in less than three weeks with the Ballyhaunis 8k on September 28, followed a week later by the final race, Breaffy 10k on October 6.

Kenya's David Rudisha, the current Olympic 800m champion and world record holder, and Brother Colm O'Connell, coach to 25 world champions and five Olympic champions, will participate in various activities in the city from September 11 to 16.

Current Olympic 800m champion and world record holder, David Rudisha, and Brother Colm O'Connell, who is coach to 25 world champions and five Olympic champions, will participate in various activities in the city from September 11 to 16.

All Special Olympics athletes and volunteers are invited to a reunion to mark 10 years since Ireland hosted the Special Olympics World Games in June 2003.

More than 150 vision impaired athletes from across the island will gather in Dublin next month to celebrate MayFest 2013. The MayFest, organised by Irish Blind Sports, will be a carnival weekend of come and try, competition and demonstration sports, ideally suitable for people with vision impairment.

Mayo AC had 21 runners competing in the National 10k Championships held in the Phoenix Park on Sunday, April 14 in their efforts to pick up gold, silver, and bronze medals. They faced tough conditions as a gusty wind swept over the country and swirling showers added to the task. The race was incorporated in the Spar Great Ireland Run with 6,200 finishers. On a blustery day that made a tough course even tougher, Dublin based Geesala native Seamus Gaughan ran a great race and had a ding dong battle all the way with track record holder Joe Gough (West Waterford). Gaughan won by two seconds in 39:09, retaining the M60 title he won last year. There were other excellent performances in the conditions, book-ended from senior woman Ann Marie Staunton in her first championship race to Tom Waldron who also won gold in his M70 category.

Following their cross-country success last week in Derry, Mayo AC's versatile masters women, plus a couple of men, competed at the new track in Athlone AIT in the Woodie’s DIY Indoor Masters track and field championships on Saturday last. For two of the women, it was their debut in this annual indoors event. Newport based Pauline Moran has been winning all over the place since joining the club and it was another gold medal display – after her Derrygold last week. She ran in three races, winning silver in the 800 metres and gold in both the 1500 and 3,000. Another debutante was Swinford based Margaret Glavey, who also ran three races in the W60 category and won all three – golds in 800, 1500, and 3,000. Glavey has also been in fine form and medallist at a number of distances on the road in recent years. Ann Murray has been a regular medal winner at these championships and she won gold in the 400 and silver in the 800 metres in the w45 category. Jim Gaughan returned to training in the New Year and competed in the M60 1500 metres where he won silver behind Martin McEvilly (GCH). Also taking place last weekend were the Kilbride 10k in Roscommon and the Enniscorthy 10k in Wexford. In Roscommon, Gerry Galvin was the first Mayo AC runner home finishing in ninth place in a time of 39.27, with Patrick Walsh taking first place in the M40 section in a time of 39.51. Ann Lennon came home in second place overall in the women’s race in a time of 41.04. In Enniscorthy, TJ McHugh in a time of 34.32 was the first Mayo AC runner over the line and finished in 19th place while Catherine Conway finished the women’s race in third place in a time of 36.14.

By Sinead Farrell

Ireland’s most successful race walker Olive Loughnane has announced that she is to retire from athletics. The Loughrea woman competed at the highest level, and won a silver medal at the 2009 World Championships.

The new €10m indoor athletics arena is for everyone to use, according to AIT president Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin.