Hutchinson qualifies for Olympic marathon

ATHLETICS:PATIENCE AND persistence has duly paid off for Ava Hutchinson as she yesterday joined the list of Irish qualifiers for the London Olympics.

Running only her second marathon, in Houston, Texas, Hutchinson clocked two hours, 35 minutes and 33 seconds – comfortably inside the 2:37:00 A-standard for London, and good enough for fourth place in a fairly high-quality elite field.

Hutchinson thus becomes the third Irish marathon qualifier for London, joining Dundrum South Dublin clubmate Linda Byrne, with Mark Kenneally also qualified in the men’s event. Her qualification extends to 13 the number of Irish athletes with the necessary A-standards in various events.

Victory on the day went to hotly-fancied Ethiopian Alemitu Abera, who clocked 02:23:14, but Hutchinson ran a perfectly consistent race of her own, passing halfway in 77.48, and actually passing runners in the closing miles to end up fourth.

The 28-year-old clearly learned the lessons of her debut marathon in Dublin last October, where she was also on course for a sub-2:37 time but faded in the final miles to finish in 2:42:48, good enough for 11th place on the day.

Straightaway she sets her sights on a second attempt, and with the support of the Dublin Marathon Mission made the long journey to Houston yesterday with every ambition of qualifying.

There was very nearly a third Irish qualifier as Gladys Ganiel of North Belfast AC finished eighth, in 2:40:56, and may yet have another shot for London – with Maria McCambridge also looking to secure the necessary marathon standard over the coming weeks.

For now Hutchinson can look forward to London, as she’s actually Ireland’s fastest qualifier (Byrne ran 2:36:23 in Dublin, and was the first to make the A- standard). At 28, she’s worked hard towards the moment, first emerging as a talented junior, before following the US scholarship route and attending Providence College.

For the last year she’s been based at Loughborough University in England. Last February she won the national cross country, and followed that up in September with the national half-marathon title, in her debut at that distance, finishing in 74:30.

She also ran the world cross country for Ireland earlier last year, and still receives coaching advice from her former college coach in Providence, Ray Treacy.

Meanwhile Fionnuala Britton’s effort to beat the very best of the Kenyans at the Seville International Cross Country fell short, as she ended up eighth, although she was still the second-best European.

Kenya’s Linet Masai – the three-time runner-up in the world cross country, and 2009 World 10,000 metres champion – won convincingly, finishing the 8km course in a time of 25 minutes, 42 seconds.

Kenyan rival Vivian Cheriuyot crossed the line 18 seconds later, just ahead of Ethopia’s Wude Ayalew, while Britton’s time of 26.54 was over a minute off the winner. The European champion appeared a little disappointed with her position, but will look to challenge the Africans again this Saturday in the Antrim International Cross Country in Belfast.

Naddia Ejjafini of Italy, the former Moroccan who took third behind Britton at the European Cross Country Championships, got the better of Britton on this occasion, finishing seven seconds ahead of her in seventh place. Joe Sweeney was further off the pace in the men’s race, finishing 24th.

In the meantime there are now seven women Irish qualifiers for London, to go with the six men –

200m: Paul Hession; 1,500m: Ciarán Ó Lionáird; 5,000m: Alistair Cragg; Marathon: Mark Kenneally; 20/50km walk: Robert Heffernan; 50 km walk: Brendan Boyce; 100m hurdles: Derval O’Rourke; 3,000m steeplechase: Fionnuala Britton, Stephanie Reilly; High jump: Deirdre Ryan; Marathon: Linda Byrne, Ava Hutchinson; 20km walk: Olive Loughnane.