Mayo AC women lead Ireland to brilliant new world record

Two Mayo AC master athletes helped to make history in Dublin on Sunday, writes Tom Hunt.

Pauline Moran and Mary Browne of Mayo AC joined Noreen Bonner of Finn Valley AC and Brigid McCabe of Mullingar Harriers AC in an Irish team attempting to break the world W65 4 x 800m relay record time of 14:49, held by USA since 2022.

Dublin Athletics Board included an event in their graded meeting at Santry to facilitate the attempt.

They were joined in the relay race by an Irish W45 women's team also trying to break the world record for a 4 x 800m relay held by Australia in a time of 9:43.76 since last year.

And what an exciting and successful day it was.

The W45 team crossed the line first in 9:40.94 – just under three seconds inside Australia's 2023 time, setting a new world record.

The Irish W65 relay team were led brilliantly by national 800m record holder Pauline Moran and came home in 12:59.94 – a massive two minutes faster than USA, and also a new world record!

It was a fantastic achievement by the two Irish quartets and another immensely proud day for Mayo AC. Congratulations to all athletes!

This success comes just two days ahead of the Mayo AC 2024 Intersport Elverys 5k Series. The 12th edition of the series of five races begins in Castlebar on Tuesday evening (May 14). Registration and bib collection is at the De La Salle Hall, St. Gerald's College (F23 AF72), and the race start time is 8 p.m. Full details can be found at www.mayoac.com.