How It Happened: Rathdrum’s Mick Byrne Takes World Masters Championship Gold In 10K Running And Sets New National Record

The World Masters Championships are underway in Poland and Rathdrum man Michael Byrne has today won Gold in the O55 Category 10k race and his time of 34:04 is the new National Record!

This is an absolutely amazing achievement for Mick to win Gold for Ireland but he wasn’t the only County Wicklow representative making headlines as fellow running superstar Ann Marie Kenny also ran an amazing 10k race in 41:30 finishing 6th in her age category against the best the world has to offer.

The great Wicklow man and Athletics Chairman Bill Porter is at the World Championships and we had a chat with him and here’s his firsthand account of how the wonderful events unfolded in Torun in Poland:

Monday was the Cross Country Race which was at 11.30. Mick Byrne was in great shape and the setup for the race was 8 kilometres broken into four 2 kilometre laps!

After 2 laps the pace was up and seven runners broke, Mick being one of them and looking good. After 3 laps, Mick was 5th and after a few more laps he got back to 4th place and got Team Gold for his team!

Ann Marie Kenny was running 8k as well and the format was also 4 laps. Anne Marie was in great shape and she had been in great shape coming to the Worlds and after 2 laps was looking good. Disaster struck as on the 3rd lap she had a fall but got back up to finish in 8th place which was highly impressive given the fall and she ran a really great race.

The next race was Wednesdays 10k which started at 10am on outback courses and both Anne Marie and Mick were looking good in the warm up.

Mick ran 34.06 and win the Gold Medal and set a new national record!!

Anne Marie ran 41.30 and finished in 6th place in her age group!!

This was truly amazing running by two great Wicklow athletes who run for the Parnell Athletic Club in Rathdrum! A truly great day for the club, the county and Ireland and a super week for us! Thanks Billy Porter, Chairman of Wicklow Athletics.

We are lucky to have such excellent athletes in County Wicklow and running is experiencing a massive boom in popularity in recent times so why not get out and join one of the many brilliant running clubs in County Wicklow or take part in many of the weekly events taking place around the county and beyond and see how your time stacks up against the likes of Mick and Ann Marie.