Local runners shine in Dublin and Chicago marathons

There were some fantastic results from the Isle of Man contingent in this year's Dublin Marathon last weekend, with several personal best times set.

That was despite the extremely windy conditions courtesy of Storm Boelo.

The fastest of the local runners was Lewis Crowe with a cracking time of 2 hours 38 minutes and 11 seconds, taking 3m 30s off his previous best which was set in Boston last year.

Next was Eamon Farrell whose time of 2:40.28 was also a pb, beating his time from Malaga last year by 3.38.

The fastest female was Steph Woods with an excellent 3:35.04, closely followed by Samantha Hall whose time of 3:35.49 was a new personal best.

It proved to be a good day for the Hall family as Sam's dad Martin also set a new pb of 3:25.29.

As is traditional in Dublin, a certain famous black liquid played a big part in post-race re-hydration for many of the competitors!

Local results: Lewis Crowe 2:38.11; Eamon Farrell 2:40.28; Martin Hall 3:25.29; Stephanie Woods 3:35.04; Samantha Hall 3:35.49; Quintin Van Dyk 3:45.09; Kerry Jones 3:50.32; Claire-Louise Lace 4:09.54; George Harker 4:15.57; Jacob Jones 4:17.38; Olivia May 4:30.20; Ciaran Gell 4:34.26; Christina Maddocks 4:35.47; Andrew Dawson 4:44.48; Lorna Kennaugh 5:16.26; Feena Moffat 5:45.08; Angie Goody 6:39.14; Fiona Goody 6:39.14.

Stephen Garrett, twice an Isle of Man representative at the Island Games in middle-distance track events, produced an excellent performance at the Chicago Marathon last Sunday, recording a substantial personal best of 2 hours 48 minutes and 39 seconds.

Starting conservatively, he ran an impressive negative split, passing halfway in 1:26.33 before covering the second half in 1:22.06 — over four minutes quicker than the first.

Although not currently a member of Manx Harriers while living away from the island, Garrett was keen to wear the club vest on the international stage and proudly display his allegiance to the Isle of Man.

Reflecting on his achievement, Garrett said: ‘I was absolutely delighted with the result. It’s an incredible event. It was my second marathon, having run Barcelona last year, where I didn’t respect the distance and crashed hard at 30km.

‘I took this one more seriously. I’ve been fairly consistent with my training, averaging around 40 miles per week over the last four to five months, including one quality threshold session or long run.

‘Alan Corlett has kindly been setting my programme, so I was in good hands.

‘My target was always to break 2hr 50m to secure some good-for-age entries for 2027, including New York and others.

‘I set off steadily before pushing on after halfway. Everything went my way on the day, which is rare over that distance!’

A great performance from Garrett, a well-deserved reward for consistent training, a well-judged race strategy and a strong finish.