LETTERKENNY AC’s Ann-Marie McGlynn was delighted with her superb effort in Saturday’s World Athletics Half Marathon Championships.
McGlynn’s 71:40 was not only a new personal best, but her time in Gdynia was also a new Donegal record for the distance, beating her own previous best of 71:59.
“I’m definitely happy,” McGlynn said.
“I was hoping to run around 71:30. I’m ten seconds off it and I’ll take it. It was a quote technical course.”
In an historic race in which the top six women all finished inside 66 minutes for the first time ever, McGlynn laid down a serious message of her own intentions.
Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir overcame Melat Yisak Kejeta (Germany) and Yalemzerf Yehualaw (Ethiopia) in a sprint finish with the winning time of 65:16 a new women’s world record. Kejeta’s 65:18 is a new women’s European record.
McGlynn said “There were bits of hard running in it, good running and a lot of sharp corners and bends. Every lap, you learned how to run it. I just kept my head down and kept chipping away.
“It was cold at the start and with the whole Covid thing you have to take the kit off half-an-hour before which isn’t ideal. It was good because it’s great practice for going away again, but it didn’t help on the course waiting to start.
“It was breezy down by the coast too, but we all had to run through it.”
McGlynn has firm intentions of Olympic qualification with the Tokyo Games postponed until next year due to Covid-19.
The qualifying time for the marathon is 2:29:30 with her best a time of 2:32:54.
Next up for McGlynn, she hopes, will be a race in Valenica seven weeks from now.
She said: “I just need to stay health, get another negative test when I go home and get back to training.”
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