Roisin Flanagan closes road season with solid run in Germany

Roisin Flanagan was fifth in a world class road race over one mile in Germany on Sunday afternoon.

The Finn Valley AC woman clocked a solid four minutes and 39 seconds in the New Balance Kö Meile.

In Königsallee, Düsseldorf, the 26-year-old was fifth woman home.

Kenya’s Vivian Chebet won in 4:32 having competed in the 800m at the recent World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Nozomi Tanaka, the Japanese Olympian and former World U20 gold medallist, was second and Dutch runner Vera Hoffmann third, both having also been in Budapest for the Worlds.

Nora Stapleton recalls facing World Cup team-mate in All-Ireland final

‘It was very strange being team-mates a few weeks earlier in a different sport to rivals and ultra-competitors on the pitch. Pretty much marking each other, we had a few clashes on the field in Croke Park that day.’

Larissa Damink from Germany, 11th at the European Indoor Championships over 1500m earlier this year, was fourth, just ahead of Flanagan.

Sunday’s run ends Flanagan’s season on the road with the Gortin native having had a period of training in Saint Moritz, Switzerland lately after picking up silver in the women’s 5000, at the National Senior Championships in Santry, where she edged for gold by Ide Nicdhomhnaill of West Limerick AC.

Flanagan will now put her focus on preparing for the forthcoming cross country campaign.

In England, Finn Valley AC Jon-Jo Doherty continued his fine form by winning the Wigan 10k in 31:20 while British international Gemma Steele was the first woman home in 34:21.