BY CIARAN O’DONNELL
Last Saturday morning in the Phoenix Park around 9.45, Martin Kerr wrote himself into the record books of Irish athletics when he posted a new over-70s national record of 42 minutes and 38 seconds for 10K. In doing so, he trimmed 11 seconds off the previous record set by his sporting idol, the late Jim McNamara.
Back at the start of December, the quietly spoken Milford AC man broke the over-70 record for 5K when clocking 20:02 in the Letterkenny AC turkey trot. Being the holder of two national records is no mean feat in the business of long-distance racing.
Yet, as he made the journey to the capital for Saturday’s Great Ireland Run, which attracted a field of 1,400, a second Irish record was the furthest thing from his mind. A troublesome foot injury almost ruled him out of taking the starter’s gun at 9 am.
“I had entered (the Great Ireland Run) and wasn’t recovering as quickly as I wanted. I raced the Drumman 5K on March 27 and that was my first run out in two months. I ran 20:50 and figured I’d be ok for the 10K. While 5K is ok, 10K is a lot tougher when you’re not training hard,” he says.
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