Updated with some more images and a YouTube posting from the event.

The 7th annual Longford marathon (incorporating a full, half and a relay) took place on Sunday 24th August last. GCH was well represented on the day with a number of our athletes participating in the half-marathon this year. Don and Nicola Deacy were making their debuts at this distance, and sensibly planned the full weekend in Longford around the event to have a right go at it. Pat O'Dwyer, Brenda Gannon and Séamus Coyne travelled up on the day to make the 11:00am start and to tackle “the friendly marathon in the heart of Ireland…”.

Longford is traditionally regarded as the most straightforward of the major town/city-based marathons in Ireland rated after Cork, Dublin and Belfast in terms of severity and a good place to go to achieve a personal-best. This year however, there was a sting in the tail for the half-marathon participants, as the traditional "out and back" route was replaced by a new closed loop circuit which introduced some hills into the equation and certainly increased the level of difficulty encountered.

On a day of very mixed weather, runners endured an absolute “haymaker” of a shower just after the start, but after getting a thorough soaking on the way out of town, things dried up considerably after that, and the heat of the midday sun even proved to be a bit of a problem at times. In many ways, this race is the best of both worlds, as it starts and finishes in the town-centre, but there is a long spell of running along quiet country roads in the intervening miles. While the field in the half-marathon was upwards of 500, and we actually started alongside the marathoners, runners tend to spread out along the route after both groups diverge soon after the start, making for a very pleasant running experience. The usual friendliness of a community-based race was certainly evident and while there were some small cribs about the lack of changing facilities (and showers!) at race head-quarters in St. Mel's College, it was easy to see that everybody enjoyed their day out in the midlands. Our neighbouring clubs of Athenry AC, Craughwell AC and Loughrea AC were also well represented on the day adding to a strong overall Galway presence.

See http://www.longfordmarathon.com for more details including official results and photographs which are due to be posted over the coming days.

Collection of static images set to music and posted to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_98fh8Sijuo