Brown leads from the front at Carlingford

Brown leads from the front at Carlingford

11 March 2020

NEWCASTLE AC’s Aidan Brown produced the goods to win the Carlingford Half Marathon on Saturday. 

Brown led from the start with club mate David McNeilly also emerging early, ahead of the over 900 starters at Carlingford Yacht Club.

The course is undulating and the weather conditions were typical of 2020 so far — grey overcast skies, a hint of rain and wind, wind and more wind - this time from the direction of Dundalk, into the face of the runners on the first few miles, but even as they turned at the coast and headed for Greenore, it wasn’t exactly helping. 

All the more credit for the times that were achieved on this course that boasts almost 300 feet of climbing.

Brown’s PB dates back a couple of years to the Bohermeen Half Marathon in 2018 where he had clocked 1:17:45. He went close to that in the Belfast Half Marathon in September 18 (1:17:53) and after clocking 2:44:52 in the Dublin Marathon last October, his PB was due for a re-writing. He led every step of the way and despite being distracted by a fan on a mountain bike with still 5k to go, he came home to win in a new PB in the challenging conditions of 1:17:28.

David McNeilly is the same age as Brown and has a long, successful career on the mountains, running internationally for many years. He plans to run the London Marathon in April and after several fallow years, this target has helped him refocus in training and he seems to be enjoying his racing again. 

He doggedly chased Brown down in the later stages, closing to nearly 10 seconds at one point and was more than satisfied with an impressive PB of 1:17:43 in second place - what might he run in London.

James King, another relatively new runner on the scene, set off at great pace and emerged at three miles on top of the climb out of the village in fifth place. Then his early enthusiasm got the better of him and the wheels came off and clubmate Noel Gallagher, aka ‘Wonderwall’, passed him into the fifth mile. 

‘Wonderwall’ is another enigma and has set the target to run a sub-three hour marathon - a time that he was only 28 seconds outside in Manchester a few years back - but has managed to self-conspire (subtly different from self-isolate) to finish outside three hours at every attempt since. 

‘Wonderwall’ is not known for his canny racing, but whilst Saturday was better, it was still far from perfect - will be ever run an even-paced race?

At eight miles he monetarily moved into third place overall, making it a Newcastle 1, 2, 3, but Jonathan Healy had other ideas and promptly re-gathered and passed Wonderwall again. 

At 10 miles ‘Wonderwall’ was 60:59 with King now finding a new lease of life and around half a minute back in seventh th in 61:31. So, the wheels were back on for King and wheels were off for ‘Wonderwall’. Into the home straight, King went straight past ‘Wonderwall’ to finish in an excellent fifth place and a big PB of 1:21:10. ‘Wonderwall’ crossed the line in 1:21:17 with a big smile on his face and well he might for it represented nearly three minutes off his PB from a few years back - life in the older dog yet. What chances a sub-three hour clocking now in an upcoming spring marathon?

Having turned 50 just before the end of 2019, Phil Murdock has a new lease of life and a consistent and focused block of training has seen him get to the shape of his life. He plans to tackle the three hour barrier at the London Marathon in April and on current form has a great chance. 

His best ever marathon was in London in 2017 when he clocked 3:10:08 — can he go ten minutes and nine seconds faster? The signs are good with a 10k PB of 38:33 in November past at the Seeley.

His half marathon PB was from Bohermeen in 2018 where he had clocked 1:27:21 and here in Carlingford he ran just outside 1:31 last year. 

He is full of confidence and passed the three mile mark at the top of the climb in 19:05 and then passed six miles in 37:24 — meaning he passed 10k just outside his 10k PB pace (38:42 v 38:33). He was 66:10 at 10 miles with ‘just a parkrun to go’ and although slowing a little he came home in a massive PB of 1:23:08 (over four minutes inside his best) for 14th place overall.

Paul and Áine Gosling would get the prize, if there were any prizes, for the fastest husband and wife in the race. Paul is naturally talented and with a few, carefully planned miles under his belt can come out and run personal bests. 

Just outside 66 minutes for the Trim 10 in February, he passed 10 miles here in 66:10 and came home in a half marathon PB of 1:27:25. Meanwhile, Áine ran a well-paced race, 20:27 at three miles, 27:00 at four miles, 67:30 at 10 miles — bang on 6:45 mile pace and a half marathon pace of 1:28:30. 

Her personal best is 1:29:12 from the Belfast Half-Marathon last September and having been well inside 1:29 pace for so long, she just faded a little of the final three miles to come home in 1:29:45.

She was a bit disappointed, but fifth women overall and 54th in a field of over 900 doesn’t leave too much room for disappointment. Her focus will now turn to breaking the 40-minute barrier over 10k in Titanic at the end of the month.