Four Tipperary athletes under 30 minutes at Dunshaughlin 10K
Dunshaughlin was the venue last Saturday night for the Michael Manning 10k road race. This race attracted a top-class field to what was probably the best 10k race in Ireland so far in 2022. The race was won by the extraordinary Efrem Gidey in record time but three Clonmel athletes finished in the top ten with outstanding performances.
William Maunsell, in sixth place overall continued his recent good form with a time of 30 mins 1 sec and just outside the magical half- hour. He also continues to hold down a prominent position in the Kia series. David Mansfield was next in ninth position with a new PB run of 30 mins 16 secs, a huge improvement on his previous best dating back to the Dundrum 10k in 2019.
Evan Fitzgerald in 10th place showed no ill-effects from his magnificent silver medal winning performance in the national 5-mile championships six days earlier, coming home in a new PB of 30 mins 19 secs.
Indeed it was also nice to see another Tipp man, Kevin Moore of Dundrum finishing in 12th place in 30 mins 28 secs.
Not many counties could boast about having four athletes all clocking under 30 minutes and 30 seconds for this classic distance. The future is bright!
With such a talented group of athletes, they would form the basis of a very strong county team in any event, which is brilliant to see.