Byrne qualifies for Olympics

ATHLETICS:LOTS OF things drive you through the final miles of a marathon – mostly sheer willpower – although for Linda Byrne there was only one thing driving her: the London Olympics.

Like many Irish athletes, once London was announced as the venue for the 2012 Games it became an all encompassing and almost obsessive target. London is the once-in-a-lifetime dream opportunity, and now for Byrne a wonderfully rewarding reality.

At age 25 some felt Byrne was a little young for the marathon, yet after a promising junior career on the track and in cross country appeared to stall, she sensed her chance: last year she ran three-quarters of the Dublin Marathon, just to get a feel for the distance, then yesterday – in her first proper attempt at the distance – ran a brilliantly paced and well-composed two hours, 36 minutes 21 seconds.

It was good enough for sixth place overall, plus the Irish women’s National Marathon title, but far more importantly was inside the 2:37:00 A-standard for London next summer. Byrne thus becomes the first Irish woman marathon qualifier for London, and 12th individual Irish athlete overall, and there was no disguising just what that meant to the young Dundrum woman.

“Yes, everything, it just means everything,” she said, “I’m delighted for all my family and friends and my coach as well, after all the support they gave me.”

Byrne lost her high performance grant two years ago, and earlier this year was troubled by low blood-iron levels and a stomach illness. But she refused to let her chance slip, and trained consistently hard during the summer – which was reflected in her performance over the 26.2 miles.

“It was tough enough, and fairly exhausting from 20 miles on. The last three or four miles was just about holding the pace, keeping going. But the thought of the London Olympics was really driving me on. Everyone shouting as well, because the support was great. But I think there’s lots more room for improvement, because it wasn’t very high mileage.

“I think after my junior career I lost some confidence, but my family and friends and coach never lost faith. The Dublin Marathon Mission got me focused as well, having the support behind me as well. And I didn’t mind the conditions, I like the Irish weather. It was all about sub-2:37, just under six-minute miles, and went out quite conservative.”

Byrne was in a hard battle with former Dundrum team-mate Maria McCambridge up until around 15 miles, before the latter fell off the pace, and finished in 2:40:24 – and thus outside the A-standard for London (although she will give it another go in the spring).

Overall victory went to Helalia Johannes, the 31-year-old from Namibia, who clocked a national record of 2:30:55 – having finished second, third, and fourth in Dublin.

Kenya’s Emily Rotich took second in 2:32.10 and Ethiopia’s Radiya Adilo third in 2:32.22 – with Johannes also collecting the winner’s prize of €15,000.

The first of the wheelchair athletes home was Armagh man Paul Hannon in a time of 2:20:38.