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The plan was to aim for and then smash the Olympic marathon qualifying time and Aoife Cooke did exactly that, running just under a minute inside the Tokyo standard at the Cheshire Elite Marathon on Sunday morning, much to her considerable delight and indeed relief.
The necessary time of 2:29:30 required over a three minute improvement on her previous best, and Cooke smashed that too - by almost four minutes - winning the elite women’s race in 2:28:36, also moving her to number four on the all-time Irish women’s list, and only the fifth Irish woman to break 2:30.
The sunny dry conditions were ideal but still it was a big task for the Cork runner: with no Olympic fanfare whatsoever, the event was run without any spectators in Pulford, a small village 15km southwest of Chester and right on the border with Wales, the marathon route of 42km - or 26.2 miles in old money - set was over 7½ laps of a flat, rural countryside loop.
It was also Cooke’s first marathon since Dublin 2019, 18 months ago, where she also won the national title that came with being the top Irish woman, her 2:32:34 a then four-minute improvement on her previous best, moving her from 55th to fifth on the Irish all-time list. Aged 34 Tokyo was calling hard, and in truth it was over a year coming, Cooke originally targeting Vienna this time last year, before Covid-19 took care of all the big city spring marathons.
Although it doesn’t yet guarantee her selection, the Cheshire event will likely be one of the last likely qualifying chances for Tokyo before the May 31st cut-off: with that in mind there was proper heartbreak for Ann-Maria McGlynn, who like Cooke improved had her best in the 2019 Dublin Marathon, clocking 2:32:54. She took improved by other three minutes, clocking 2:29:34, and so agonisingly close but just outside the 2:29:30. Having turned 40 in February, it was a no less impressive run for the Donegal woman, though little consolation perhaps given she too was on pace for much of the race.
Along with her Tralee-based coach John Starrett, Cooke was confident all the hard training would pay off, and she set out in the group aiming for 2:26:00, Cooke part of the second starting wave: she passed halfway in around 1:13, well on pace at that stage and with that giving some time to spare over the second half of the race. She averaged, in old money, 5:40 per mile, for 26.2 miles of running.
That 2:28:36 is now fourth best Irish woman behind Catherina McKiernan (2:22:23), Fionnuala McCormack (2:26:47), and Carey May (2:28:01), and moves her ahead of Sonia O’Sullivan (2:29:01). McCormack was the only other Irish woman so far qualified for Tokyo, in line for her fourth Olympics, after she ran 2:26.47 in the 2019 Chicago marathon.
Three Irish men - the full quota per event - have already achieved the Tokyo marathon standard: Stephen Scullion, Kevin Seaward and Paul Pollock all hit their necessary mark over a year ago, also unlikely it seems to be ousted by a faster time at this point.
At age 34, still perfectly young by elite marathon standards, it also continues the unique running journey that first took flight when Cooke was only 17, following the well-worn trail of Irish athletes taking up a US college scholarship and ending up in Russellville, deep in the heart of the southern state of Arkansas, home to Arkansas Tech University.
That journey was later halted due to injury and overtraining, only once she rediscovered her love of running there’s be no turning back on that journey either. For now, with the Olympics he next focus, Cooke will return to Cork via the ferry on Sunday evening, before turning her thoughts Sapporo, 800km north of Tokyo, where the Olympic marathon and race-walking events are set for this summer.
She’s also been funding this journey entirely off her own back, working about 30 hours a week as a personal trainer, while running twice a day, every day, except Sunday, on which she does one very long run. The only daily allowance for being an elite athlete was being able to train beyond a 5km radius from her home. She paid for the race entry fee and the Covid-19 test on the basis the whole thing may not even go ahead, could be cancelled out at any moment.