SEAN Connolly, as expected, successfully defended his Raheny 5 title this afternoon seeing off the considerable local challenge of Mick Clohisey and last year's runner-up Mark Kirwan.

A member of Tallaght AC Connolly - who does much of his training in the company of Mick and Mark - crossed the finish line in 24:13, ten seconds clear of  Mick with Mark a further four seconds adrift.

A record field of more than 1600 runners as well as several hundred walkers completed in the 26th edition of AXA sponsored race. Cillian O'Leary finished 5th in 25.11 to give the host club an emphatic win in the team event.

There was a high quality field at the business end of the women's race with Linda Byrne (DSD) holding off her Irish team mate Fionnuala Britton to take the title. A former winner Maria McCambridge was 3rd ahead of Annette Kealy who finished an excellent fourth and first O 40.

Orla O'Mahony  was 5th; Lorraine Manning 8th, Barbara Sanchez - in her first race since giving birth to a son last autumn -9th and Patrycja Wlodarczyk 10th. Not surprisingly the host club dominated the team prizes winning first, second and third.

Other club category prize winners in the race included Orla Gormley O 45 and Pat Timmons 0 60.

A sincere thank you to the many people and organisations who helped the ensure the success of the race. 

See you all back in Raheny on the last Sunday in January next year.

* For full detailed results just click on the Raheny 5 2010 icon on the left