Advertisement
Pollock: took five minutes off his marathon PB (file photo). Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Paul Pollock runs second-fastest marathon time in Irish history

2:10:25 in Valencia comfortably meets Olympic qualification time.

PAUL POLLOCK RAN the second-fastest marathon time in Irish athletics history on Sunday morning as he booked his ticket to Tokyo 2020.

The 34-year-old finished 18th at the Valencia Marathon in 2:10:25, taking more than five minutes off his personal best and comfortably meeting the Olympic qualification standard.

Pollock’s time is second only to John Treacy’s national record of 2:09:15, set 31 years ago at the 1988 Boston Marathon.

“On 9th September, I was lying in [an] MRI scanner with broken metatarsal,” Pollock tweeted afterwards. “Today I went No. 2 on Irish all time list.”

Pollock becomes the first Irish marathon runner to meet the IAAF standard of 2:11:30 for Tokyo qualification.

Ethiopia’s Kinde Atanaw won the men’s race, setting a new course record in 2:03:51, while second-placed Kaan Kigen Özbilen set a new European record for Turkey in 2:04:16.

Women’s winner Roza Dereje also set a new course record in 2:18:30.

The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!

Author
Niall Kelly
View comments
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel