Sebastien Locteau

Longford marathon presents a unique opportunity to achieve this elusive goal. Michael Rice Italy 100k World & European Championship 2008 For many serious marathon runners, finishing a race in less than three hours is a lifetime’s ambition. Such an achievement is no trivial matter and can often be the result of many years dedicated training. Although there’s no particular magic in the number, and accepting that any marathon finish is a magnificent achievement, running sub-3:00 still has a special allure for many runners. This year the Longford marathon presents a unique opportunity to achieve this elusive goal. Over many years the Longford race has established itself as one of the best-organised and friendliest races in the country. From a performance perspective, an important factor is that the Longford course is almost dead flat, and is therefore conducive to fast finishing times. Athenry AC runner Mick Rice has offered to pace anyone with a sub-3:00 fi

The last few months have been very hectic  I never experienced such struggle to keep my coaching plans up to date and for the first time in 13 years I was not able to provide a plan to some of my athletes. Mike Flannery from Atlantic Masters jumping from blackrock in stormy weather I always say to my athletes that there are no reasons to miss training, that you can always do something else if there is an issue with a session that is logistic, social, physical or mental. This rule could be applied to coaches. The floods made my life impossible at home and professionally. My partner and little girl could not get home and were stuck in the village of Craughwell which was on the main road from Galway to Dublin before they open the new Motorway and it was under the water. I decided to keep working and travel from Wesport, Roscommon, Dublin and Galway and even if many young athletes could not travel we kept some session going. I also made the trip to Naas for the “Pulse” Triathlo