A record number of teams and runners took part in the fourth Grant Thornton Corporate 5k Team Challenge last night on Dublin’s Docklands.
The event was a sell-out weeks before the starting pistol sounded with over 5,000 runners representing 1,285 teams from 139 different companies taking part.
Conor Dooney (Davy) came out on top in a time of 14:49 while Deirdre Byrne (St David’s CBS) was first woman across the line in 16:06.
Davy were placed in the team event as well coming in third behind a quartet under the name of The Run Club and the Defence Force team that won last years event.
Social
Aimed at encouraging social running amongst Dublin’s business community, the event welcomed both seasoned runners as well as beginners. Each team had a minimum of four participants.
This was the final run of the successful Grant Thornton 2015 series following on from the National Sports Campus in Blanchardstown Fingal on May 13th and Cork City on June 30th.
Grant Thornton had 34 teams taking part while Dunnes Stores topped the pile of entries with 42 teams. A real testament to the growth, and popularity, of the event was seen with the number of Irish Life teams. They had 35 teams taking part having had only 7 teams entered in 2014. Other significant entries included Bank of Ireland, Aon, Investec and Davy Stockbrokers.
“The growth of the event is testament to the feel-good factor and camaraderie that running brings. It was a fantastic sight to see so many runners taking part from the regular runner to the complete beginner,” said Event Ambassador, Olympian and former London Marathon winner Catherina McKiernan.
Camaraderie
“This event is a great way to encourage people to take the first step towards getting fit enough to run a 5k. The team element adds a sense of fun and camaraderie competitive atmosphere amongst work colleagues in a really well organised event. There was a great buzz and I’m sure the fun is only beginning for the rest of the evening.” McKiernan was second woman home in 16:20.
The event is organised by Athletics Ireland as one of its key fundraising events to support its Junior High Performance programme which supports young emerging talented athletes to fulfil their potential. In addition, the ISPCC Child Line service received 10% of all entrants to assist their work in supporting vulnerable children nationwide.
Once again there was a strong presence from Sport for Business members with AIG leading the way ahead of Beauchamps Solicitors, GloHealth and AIB. PwC and Accenture had strong entries as well as Microsoft. Sigmar Recruitment put in a good performance.
Special mention to PSG who entered three teams and supplied the group photograph above. Fair play to the Penguins team led by Kieran McSweeney who finished top of their trio ahead of the Panthers led by Colm Woods and (yes, we did scroll through to near the bottom) the Panda’s for whom Mick O’Keefe was the fastest finisher.
Image credit: Aoife Ross
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