Peter Lynch moves to fifth on Irish all-time list

Peter Lynch produced an incredible performance at the Houston Half Marathon at the weekend. The Kilkenny City Harriers (KCH) athlete recorded a new personal best of 61:15 for the half marathon, a time which sees him move to fifth on the Irish all-time list for the same event.

On the same side of the world his clubmate Shay McEvoy became the third Harrier to break the four minute mile when he clocked 3:58:48 at the Arkansas Invitational in Fayetteville.

There was another personal best performance Stateside too. Maebh Richardson took 22 seconds off her personal best over 3,000m indoors to open up her indoor season with a time of 9:22 in Seattle.

At home the county intermediate men’s team finished third in the Leinster cross-country with Dean Rowe leading the team’s charge. KCH secured two cross-country relay medals in the Leinster Juvenile Cross-Country relays.

Season Openers

Cathal O’Reilly kickstarted his indoor season with a win at the National League guest 1,500m. O’Reilly clocked 3:53.64 as he produced a killer kick over the final 300m to snatch a four second victory from Benjamin Caulier (Lucan).

O’Reilly hung in with the main pack, content to test his speed over the final part of the race. With no other opposition to bring him to a faster time, it was the only strategy. As he did at the Cork City Sports last summer, he wound up with a fast final 200m to record a relatively unchallenged victory.

Pia Langton competed in her first 1,500m and secured a respectable 4:30 as a result. Langton was a finalist over 800m at the European under-18 Championships in Slovakia last summer. She was testing the waters with this race, using this relatively low key and early season event as the mechanism. Both athletes will now go back to a block of hard training ahead of their February indoor season.

Leinster bronze

The Leinster Intermediate, Masters and Juvenile Relays Cross-Country championships were held in Kilcormack, Co Offaly at the weekend. In the juvenile relays KCH had five teams in action with two of the teams bringing home Leinster medals. The boys’ under-12 team of Daniel Quinn, Aaron Tyrell, Conor Lawrence Delaney and Daniel McIntyre put in a great team effort with Daniel McIntyre finishing strongly to take the bronze medals.

The boys’ under-14 team went one better to grab silver, thanks to a storming final leg by Daniel Greene. He was joined on the podium by team-mates Eoin Hoyne, Charlie Donohue and Brandon Maher.

Just three clubs from the county took part in the intermediate and masters races. In the women’s intermediate race Katie O’Brien (Gowran) was the sole representative from the county. On the back of her silver medal in the county senior cross-country a month ago, O’Brien finished ninth overall, having steadily progressed to that position throughout the race.

The county finished third in the intermediate men’s race thanks to athletes from KCH and Gowran making up the team. First home for Kilkenny was Dean Rowe (KCH) finishing strongly in eighth place, with clubmate Padraig Ruane not far behind. The bronze medals came Kilkenny’s way due to the tightly packed finishing positions of their six athletes. Gowran’s Matthew Holland and Martin Desgrandchamps finished 15th and 16th respectively with Colm Smyth (KCH) just three places behind in 19th. The sixth scorer was Eamonn O’Connor (KCH) with Gowran’s Sean Morrissey just one spot off the medal position.

Dublin won the county section but the Dublin clubs could not match the might of Mullingar Harriers as they took the top club spot. KCH finished fourth, seven points adrift of Tullamore Harriers. Gowran finished seventh.

James Kelly (Castlecomer) was one of two competitors in the Masters men’s 7,000m event finishing in seventh place overall. He was the third over-35 athlete home. Matt Ryan (Gowran) finished 121st. In the masters over 60+ Mick Walsh (Gowran) finished 12th overall and was fourth athlete over-70.

USA Round-up

There was some good news from the USA last weekend as Peter Lynch secured a new personal best over the half marathon distance, while Shay McEvoy and Maebh Richardson competed for their colleges in some open indoor events.

McEvoy had a period of injuries over the past year that kept him out of competition and ultimately cost him an opportunity to challenge for a place on the Irish team for the European under-23 cross-country championships. Competing in the Arkansas Invitational Indoor meet in Fayetteville, the Tulsa athlete finished third in the men’s one mile.

McEvoy not only recorded a personal best but also broke the four-minute mile barrier for the first time. His time of 3:58.48 was a two second personal best. This is a nice 2025 season opener for the KCH athlete. He also ran the 3,000m where he finished sixth in 8:13.46, thus gaining the conference qualification standard.

In Seattle another KCH athlete, Maebh Richardson, was competing in the uniform of Portland University in the University of Washington 3,000m indoor. Richardson finished 15th in a top-class competition that saw her take 22 seconds off her personal best and record a time of 9:22.77. Incidentally the meet record is held by the 2024 Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan.

It is well known that Peter Lynch has his eyes firmly fixed on the marathon distance. His debut in Chicago went well up to a point. However, the wall effect kicked in over the final few kilometres, leaving him with new plans to lay for 2025 and possible marathon qualification times for major championships. Part of those plans lay with a 2025 season opener over the half-marathon distance in Houston, Texas.

At the weekend he finished 19th in the Houston half marathon, recording a personal best time of 61:15 which is not only a new personal best, but also elevates him to fifth place on the Irish all-time list. Lynch was just nine seconds behind Joe Klecker (USA) and 17 behind Morgan McDonald (Australia) – keeping in good company. The overall race was won by Addisu Gobena (Ethiopia). Runner-up Conner Mantz (USA) shattered the 18-year-old American record clocking 59:17, the same time as the winner.