The Antrim Coast International Half Marathon took place early on Sunday morning last with William Maunsell and David Mansfield representing Ireland and winning their first International vest. This was a proud occasion for both club members as the years of hard training paid rich dividends with their first International appearance. The race over a very flat route produced some brilliant performances, none more so than that of William Maunsell. Competing in his first ever Half Marathon, William went through the 1st 10k in 31 mins 24 secs and then he kept that strong pace going when finishing 21st in a brilliant time of 66 mins 4 secs a new PB. William also had the distinction of being the first Irishman home, fantastic achievement. Then we had David Mansfield also running a brilliant race, going through the 10k mark in 31 mins 44 secs and then maintaining that tempo all the way to finish 27th in 67 mins 5 secs, brilliant achievement. David also scored on the Irish team that finished 3rd.
In the open Half Marathon race Courtney McGuire also ran a brilliant race when winning the woman’s race in 73 mins 54 secs, this was a massive improvement of 4 mins 30 secs on her performance at the 2021 event where she was 2nd in 78 mins 24 secs. Indeed, she was the fastest Irish woman on the day and the 4th fastest Irish woman over this distance in 2022. Courtney went out at a strong pace going through 10k in 37 mins 12 secs and she maintained that effort when finishing 16th overall, a wonderful achievement and caps a great week for Courtney as she graduated from Limerick University during the week.
