Marathon Mission - Spreading its Wings

Hard Worker

In an effort to drive on with the progressive rise in elite Marathon standards in Ireland, Marathon Mission are opening their doors wider to those athletes interested and ambitious to get to elite levels.

A series of 1 Day Training Advice Initiatives are planned for the provinces as follows :-

August 18th Ulster - Belfast – Mary Peters Track

August 25th Munster - Cork – CIT

September 2nd Connacht - Athenry – After Nat Half Marathon*

September 8th Leinster - Dublin – Donore Harriers

Who is Invited ?
- Male athletes who have run sub 34.00 (10K), sub 56 (10 miles), Sub 75.00 ( Half Marathon) or sub 2.35 (Marathon)
- Female athletes who have run sub 39.00 (10K) Sub 63.00 (10 miles), Sub 85.00 ( Half marathon) or Sub 2.55 ( Marathon).
- Coaches interested in developing and assisting Marathon runners.

Format
- Meet 11am for Initial Briefing.( 15 mins)
- Marathon based Training Session on Road ( approx 2 hours)
- 1.15pm Lunch
- 2.00pm – Marathon Mission Briefing
- 3.00pm Approx – Dispersal

In Attendance
- Officers from Marathon Mission
- Existing Marathon Mission Qualified Athletes
- Coaching and event specific expertise

The story so far
This London Olympiad sees 4 Irish Marathoners qualified to take their places on the greatest stage of all. Mark Kenneally, Linda Byrne, Ava Hutchinson and Caitriona Jennings are testimony to the rising standards in Irish Marathon running. All four are there by virtue of achieving the A standard. Another one who got the A standard, Maria McCambridge and 6 B standard bearers Sean Connolly, Gary Thornton, Barry Minnock, Gladys Ganiel, Breege Connolly and Barbara Sanchez can be mighty proud of how close they came

It is more than co-incidence that when Marathon Mission was founded in 2009 it was off a background of 1 A qualifier ( Martin Fagan ) and 1 B ( Pauline Curley) for Beijing 2008 and a complete famine of no Marathoners in the Olympiads between 1996 and 2004.

Marathon Missions aims are simple. To Nurture an environment for Irish Marathoners that will lead them to compete with distinction in major championships and be competitive in the Dublin Marathon in the years ahead. To improve the competitive depth in quality of times being run by Irish Marathoners.

Who To contact ?
Anyone seeking more information should contact :-
Dick Hooper 087-2271940
Jim Aughney 087-7600485
Jim Davis 087-9537637
Teresa McDaid 087-1203284
Eugene Coppinger 087-2327412 or talk to
Breege Connolly ( Ulster)
Donie Walsh (Munster)
Paul McNamara (Connacht)

tunguska

Will this be a regular thing Hard worker, as in meeting every week to train?

woodchopper

Surely this is only targeted at promising young endurance athletes like the Mulhares brothers, Brendan O Neil, David Rooney etc. Whats the point in talking to 32-33 minute 10k guys. No disrepect to the over 30's but how could they raise the standards. The marathon is a young mans game now, that should be the priority. Sure by the standards set out every tom dick and harry could be part of this back up squad

Krusty_Clown

woodchopper wrote: »

Surely this is only targeted at promising young endurance athletes like the Mulhares brothers, Brendan O Neil, David Rooney etc. Whats the point in talking to 32-33 minute 10k guys. No disrepect to the over 30's but how could they raise the standards. The marathon is a young mans game now, that should be the priority. Sure by the standards set out every tom dick and harry could be part of this back up squad

You can still provide advice to those showing promise without committing them to the full set-up of the marathon mission. These are 1-day training advice initiatives, not an opportunity to join the Irish marathon elite squad. One of the main aims is "To improve the competitive depth in quality of times being run by Irish Marathoners".

TRR

woodchopper wrote: »

Surely this is only targeted at promising young endurance athletes like the Mulhares brothers, Brendan O Neil, David Rooney etc. Whats the point in talking to 32-33 minute 10k guys. No disrepect to the over 30's but how could they raise the standards. The marathon is a young mans game now, that should be the priority. Sure by the standards set out every tom dick and harry could be part of this back up squad

Was thinking the same myself (although not in such harsh terms :rolleyes:).

However on reflection the idea behind the marathon mission is to raise standards of irish marathon running in general. Aside from the top lads nationally such as those you mentioned, If it resulted in 10 lads knocking a chunk off their PBS to bring them into sub 2.30 territory then it is to be welcomed. Will help increase dept of field in DCM too. 30+ is probably too old for most to qualify for a major champs, unless maybe the euros but this initiative won't break the bank and it's great to see a coordinated effort from DCM organisers and AAI. Fair play

Hard Worker

Just a note to correct the Marathon Mission statement.

Gary Thornton was originally a member of Marathon Mission but withdrew as he had obtained a generous sponsor, North Pole Marathon.
His quest to qualify for the Olympics etc was heavily financed by the North Pole Marathon, with no input from Marathon Mission.

locteau

apology posted in wrong post.

thirstywork2

woodchopper wrote: »

Surely this is only targeted at promising young endurance athletes like the Mulhares brothers, Brendan O Neil, David Rooney etc. Whats the point in talking to 32-33 minute 10k guys. No disrepect to the over 30's but how could they raise the standards. The marathon is a young mans game now, that should be the priority. Sure by the standards set out every tom dick and harry could be part of this back up squad

Wasn't too long ago Barry Minnock was a 34minute 10k guy and this year ran the B standard.
Is about raising the standards !!!

woodchopper

thirstywork2 wrote: »

Wasn't too long ago Barry Minnock was a 34minute 10k guy and this year ran the B standard.
Is about raising the standards !!!

You could well have a point.

ecoli

Mod:Woodchopper banned for one week for trolling

locteau

I can't go to the Munster one on the 25th but thinking to go in the one in Dublin.

The funny bit is that I have one athlete in Munster and Leinster and live in Galway...... the world is not right !

tunguska

ecoli wrote: »

Mod:Woodchopper banned for one week for trolling

About bloody time, fair play man.

brutes1

This is a good idea, well done marathon mission, plenty of guys well capable of getting into the 2.20s even into mid 30s + age wise. Minnock just a case in point,Bidwell from GCH, etc tunguska and trr potentials?? ! , would love to get there myself something like this would push you on and give some structure and extra motivation .
And if it gives the younger lads a bit of a push further up the line to beat their older counter parts then that boosts the whole programme. Competition always pushes you on

locteau

Went today and missed most of it due the national half marathon. But they kindly fill me in.

claralara

I only heard about this yesterday - it's a pity as I would have tried to run a couple of minutes faster last weekend or found a 10k to have a shot at 39 minutes... :-/ will these seminars be run again? Would hope to hit a couple of these standards soon enough..

locteau

I suppose if you follow AAI website or boards.ie:)

You can also ask them to be on there mailing list. They have one for athletes and coaches, so I suppose you could ask them.

Sebastien