Great weekend for national marathon records
Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish national records for the marathon have been set this weekend by Steph Twell, Natasha Cockram, Stephen Scullion and Ann-Marie McGlynn as all made history for their respective countries.
With so many great marathon performances over the weekend it is hard to know where to start but Olympic qualifications are always a great reason to celebrate!
At the Frankfurt Marathon, Steph Twell (handicap -2.8) ran an Olympic qualifying time of 2:26:40 that took her to 5th on the UK all time list whilst also bagging a Scottish national record ahead of former World Champion, Liz McColgan, whose record had stood since 1997.
Other results from Frankfurt include Jenny Spink (handicap -0.4) who ran the distance in an impressive 2:31:14 for a delightful 13th place whilst Naomi Mitchell (handicap 0.4) ran a big PB in 2:37:51.
Scotland also had Derek Hawkins (handicap -4.4) on a comeback performance with a 2:12:49 PB.
Aaron Scott (handicap -3.8) crossed the line in 2:17:05 with Paul Navesey (handicap -4.9) just 11 seconds back in 2:17:16 and Dominic Shaw (handicap -4.6) followed in 2:18:36.
Father and Son duo Tommy Hughes (handicap -1.8) and Eoin Hughes (handicap -3.3), from Northern Ireland, broke the father and son World Record with Eoin clocking 2:31:30 but beaten by a stunning 2:27:52 from his father who moves into the M60 in 2020.
Meanwhile, some of the best performances and national records in recent years were recorded at the Dublin Marathon with an overall winning time of 2:08:05 from Othmane El Goumri of Morocco.
In 2nd place was Belfast born Stephen Scullion (handicap -3.9) who smashed the 40-year-old Northern Ireland record, held by Greg Hannon, by 65 seconds with his new PB of 2:12:01. After a race long battle with Mick Clohisey who ran 2:13:19 and Hugh Armstrong (2:14:21) Stephen broke away in the last two miles to claim the Irish national title. Eoghan Totten (handicap -3.9) also impressed with 2:16:08.
The women's race saw Natasha Cockram (handicap -0.5) finishing in 2:30:49 for a hugh PB and a time that took Susan Tooby’s Welsh National marathon record.
Aoife Cooke (2:32:34) took the Irish national title 20 seconds ahead of Letterkenny's Ann-Marie McGlynn (handicap -0.3) who broke the Northern Irish record that had been held by Teresa Duffy for the last 18 years
Photo - Stephen Scullion crosses the Dublin Marathon finish line in 2nd place and a new Northern Ireland marathon record of 2:12:02