Paul Pollock ran the second fastest marathon ever by an Irishman in Valencia on Sunday morning. The 33-year-old from Holywood, Co. Down also ran inside the Olympic qualifying standard.
Pollock finished in 2:10.17, breaking his own personal best by over five minutes.
The time means that only John Treacy's Irish record of 2:09.15, set 31 years ago in Boston, is faster. Pollock's run moves Mark O'Carroll's 2:10.54, run in New York 17 years ago, to number three on the all-time list.
Pollock's run is also a Northern Ireland record.
Just sat down after running 2.10.17. Not going to move for a while. A massive thank you to Sophie, Theo, Andy and all my family and friends. On 9th September, I was lying in Mri scanner with broken metatarsal. Today I went no.2 on Irish alltime list. #ThentherewasJohn #Delighted
— Paul Pollock (@ppmarathon) December 1, 2019
2019 has been a tremendous year for Irish marathon running. Stephen Scullion and Mick Clohisey ran 2:12.01 and 2:13.19 respectively in the Dublin Marathon, while Kevin Seaward ran 2:13.39 in Berlin.
In October, Fionnuala McCormack ran the second fastest ever marathon time by an Irish woman with 2:26.47, while Aoife Cooke and Anne Marie McGlynn ran the fifth and seventh fastest times with 2:32.34 and 2:32.54, respectively.
Top photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
