Cooke soars in Elite company to produce Olympic standard

Aoife Cooke from Youghal AC on her way to crossing the line as best Irish female finisher in the 2019 KBC Dublin Marathon. Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Aoife Cooke pictured after claiming the 2019 Women’s National Marathon Championship title at that year's KBC Dublin Marathon

Aoife Cooke from Youghal AC on her way to crossing the line as best Irish female finisher in the 2019 KBC Dublin Marathon. Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Aoife Cooke pictured after claiming the 2019 Women’s National Marathon Championship title at that year's KBC Dublin Marathon

Aoife Cooke from Youghal AC on her way to crossing the line as best Irish female finisher in the 2019 KBC Dublin Marathon. Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Cathal Dennehy

April 26 2021 02:30 AM

At Aoife Cooke’s home in Ballincollig yesterday morning, her family gathered around the TV and screamed their support – watching, hoping, wishing that she could reach the finish line at the Cheshire Elite Marathon before the clock hit 2:29:30.

That time was all that mattered – the automatic qualifying standard for the Tokyo Olympics. In the end, the 34-year-old Cork athlete didn’t so much beat it as break it apart, clocking a superb 2:28:36 to take four minutes off her PB and move fourth on the Irish all-time list, one spot ahead of Sonia O’Sullivan.

“It’s a little bit overwhelming,” she said hours later as she settled in for a celebratory beer. “I haven’t fully appreciated it yet.”

Cooke’s performance proved just reward for years of rigorous discipline, having logged 100-120 miles a week consistently. She was absent from competitive running for seven years during her 20s, struggling with injuries and bone density issues, but she found her way back in 2015 and signed up for the Cork Marathon on a whim, blowing up badly and running 3:15.

Two years later, she trained properly for her next attempt at the distance and clocked 2:46:37 in Amsterdam and, in 2019, she lowered her PB to 2:32:34 when winning the national title in Dublin.

With scant competitive opportunities in 2020, Cooke had little chance to secure the Olympic qualifying time and her planned tilt at the Valencia Marathon last December never materialised due to a rolled ankle. That left the Cheshire Elite Marathon as one of her final chances.

“I was confident enough I’d be within the 2:29:30,” she said. “The long runs had gone really well.”

Her plan was to run 5:40 miles from the start, and that’s exactly what she did as she ran among a group of men, reaching halfway in about 1:13:50. That left wiggle room for any mishaps over the latter half but they never arrived, Cooke the first woman home in 2:28:36.

“I was wrecked at the finish line, but then I gathered myself and the realisation (set in),” she said. “The second half I found tough, the legs were hurting and it was a mental thing but I told myself to keep the head, that I didn’t have long to go.”

Her phone was as busy as you’d expect in the hours after, Cooke chatting to her coach John Starrett and her mother and sister, who were “shouting down the phone” in celebration. As an elite athlete she received an exemption to travel for the race, which took place in Pulford, a village 15km south-west of Chester.

She will be back at work as a personal trainer on Wednesday and then the planning will begin, with just three months to go until the Olympic marathon where she will compete alongside Irish team-mate Fionnuala McCormack.

There is still one spot open if another woman can dip below 2:29:30 over the coming month, and Ann-Marie McGlynn came agonisingly close yesterday. The 41-year-old Letterkenny AC athlete produced the race of her life, clocking a Northern Irish record of 2:29:34 despite a mid-race pit-stop.

Meanwhile at the Multistars event in Italy, rising star Kate O’Connor smashed her own Irish heptathlon record, the European U-20 silver medallist coming of age with a superb tally of 6,297 points, adding 203 points to her national record and putting herself firmly in line for Olympic qualification.

O’Connor smashed her PB in the 100m hurdles, clocking 13.94, and followed it up with a 1.80m high jump, 14.23m shot put, 24.94 200m, 5.84m long jump, 51.61m javelin throw and finally a lifetime best of 2:11.76 in the 800m.