Eagle AC would like to send huge congratulations to club member Aoife Cooke on her outstanding performance today at the Run Cheshire Marathon.
Aoife’s winning time of 2.28.36 is nearly a full minute under the Olympic qualification standard and places her 4th on the all time Irish female marathon list – one place ahead of none other than Sonia O’Sullivan! Aoife led from the start of today’s race and consistently ran 5.35 - 5.40 pace for the entire 26.2 miles.
Aoife’s time knocks a full 4 minutes off her previous PB, which she ran at the 2019 Dublin City Marathon, on her way to becoming National Champion.
We have all seen the massive amount of training that Aoife has put in to achieving her Olympic qualification goal over the last few years. Her dedication and commitment has been truly inspiring for her fellow club members. Though (unfortunately!) we all can’t run a 2.28 marathon like she can, Aoife pushes the rest of us to dream big and to achieve our goals also.
A word too for Aoife’s training ‘crew’ who had to watch nervously from home this morning instead of joining Aoife at the race. The guys have logged many hard training miles with Aoife over the last year or more, and know first hand the effort she has put in to achieving her goal today. In fact, we heard poor Damian hasn’t slept since Friday with all the nerves and excitement!!
From the race live stream, it seemed like most of the Cork running community were cheering Aoife on this morning. This just goes to show how popular Aoife is on the Cork running scene – always modest, friendly and encouraging to her fellow runners, no matter what their running level may be.
We couldn’t be prouder to call Aoife an Eagle AC member and we wish her continued success with her training over the coming months.
Enjoy the very well earned celebrations first though Aoife. Coach Stazza will surely give you a day or two off!!
Finish for Aoife in 2.28.36!
1st and 2nd Lady Home
Damian kicking off the celebrations!!!
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