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Event
Information:
The
Dublin Marathon is a marathon run
every year in Dublin, Ireland,
normally on the last Monday in
October, which is a public holiday
in Ireland. Held each year since
1980, in 2007 there were about
11,000 race participants, half of
whom were from overseas.
The
course is generally reasonably flat.
It starts at Fitzwilliam Square in
the city center and concludes at
Merrion Square. Exact routing
varies, although in recent years the
race has proceeded in an
anti-clockwise direction around the
city, including passing through the
Phoenix Park.
The
race was founded in 1980 by a group
led by Noel Carroll, who persuaded
the Business Houses Athletic
Association BHAA to take up the
idea. In the first year, 2,100 took
part, of whom 1,420 finished. Dick
Hooper of Raheny club Raheny
Shamrock Athletic Club claimed first
place, in a time of 2:16:14. The
women's winner was Carey May who
finished in 2:42:11. In mens second
place was Neil Cusack, who returned
in 1981 to post a winning time of
2:13:59.
The
event record, shattered in 1982 by
Jerry Kiernan in 2:13:45, is
currently held by Aleksey Sokolov, a
Russian national who ran the race in
2007 in a time of 2:09:07, the
fastest Dublin Marathon since its
inception. The women's record is by
Ruth Kutol (from Kenya), being
2:27:22.
By
1988 the number of participants had
increased to 8,700; up from the
4,000 the previous year. It was 2000
before the 1988 participation record
was finally broken when 8,900 took
part.
In
2001 the marathon became part of the
Adidas Marathon Series, which now
also includes warm-up races of 5
miles, 10 miles and half marathon
distance over the preceding months,
all run in the Phoenix Park.
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