There were some magnificent scenes on the streets of the capital this morning, with 22,000 participants taking over the city for the 2025 Dublin Marathon. While there was no shortage of fantastic stories on the day, perhaps the greatest one of all belongs to a teenager from Limerick.
19-year old Ava Crean would claim the Irish women's national title on the day, finishing the race in a time of 2:34:12, with a sixth-placed overall finish.
While that is an incredible achievement in itself, it was it made all the more remarkable by her lack of experience in this event.
Ava Crean would knock a whopping nine minutes off her personal best in this race, although it must be said that her marathon experience had been fairly limited up to this point.
In fact, the Limerick woman would only run her first ever marathon earlier this year. It was her first ever competitive race in any distance, finishing in 2:49.
The Dublin Marathon is only her third ever race, with Crean now already having a national title to her name.
Ava Crean did not have a background in athletics, possessing a background in camogie and karate. She also took up basketball as a teenager and was called up to represent Ireland at U17 level.
Speaking after the race, she summed up just how much she enjoyed the occasion as a whole.
"
I'm 19 and I've been training for Dublin for about four months. I did my first marathon this April in Manchester and then I did Limerick a week after that...
[The support in] Templeogue was amazing. I was throwing up my hands and I was like 'I might regret that later', but I didn't. "
The teenager also gave a decisive answer when asked how she would celebrate what is an amazing achievement.
Pizza, burgers, and donuts!
Cathal Dennehy wrote in the Irish Independent earlier this week that Ava Crean is now being coached by Limerick native John Kinsella, with a view towards competing in some of the world's biggest marathons over the coming years.
Considering the start she has made in the sport, the sky is the limit.
Re: All Sports All The Time
Reply With Quote
(!)
And thanks for finding a highlights package. There was all sort of criticism of the English batting, but, it wasn't that terrible actually. And of course the rule is: never judge a pitch until both sides have batted on it. Fabulous high quality bowling on both sides here. It'll be interesting to see how England fare next time of asking. If they've somehow fathomed out how best to treat the conditions and rein themselves in a little they could make a big score although the gen seems to be that either side making about 250 is par.
Bookmarks