It’s been twenty
years, but this year the Airtricity Dublin Marathon, the 34th
running of the event, looks likely to deliver an Irish victory in both the
men’s and women’s events. With no
invited International elite field, the road is paved for Irish success on the
double for the first time since John Treacy and Cathy Shum both won back in
1993.
This Monday also sees
two former Dublin Marathon winners, Jerry Kiernan and Dick Hooper, go
head-to-head once again, this time as coaches to the two Irish elite runners
expected to be the key challengers for the 2013 title.
Hooper coaches Clare
man Sean Hehir, who was the second Irishman home in Dublin last year, and was
the winner of the National Championship silver medal. Hehir has been training
hard for Dublin, and a recent half marathon time of 65:11 in Cardiff suggests
he may be the man to beat. A more unknown quantity is DSD’s Joe Sweeney, a
protégé of Kiernan who still holds the record for the best Irish time of
2:13:45 run back in 1982. Sweeney is making his marathon debut on Monday, but
has recorded impressive times up to 30k this season, and he is certainly one to
watch.
Others expected to
challenge are Sergiu Ciobanu of Clonliffe Harriers, who has run the fastest
marathon of the entire Irish field, and his 39 year old club mate Gary
O’Hanlon.
The only elite
International male runner in the field is Welsh National Champion Alun Evans,
who has a PB of 2:20.
Maria McCambridge is
favourite to win the women’s race and retain her National Marathon title.
McCambridge, who is also coached by Hooper, has recovered well from the
disappointment of the World Athletic Championships in Moscow in August, winning
the Airtricity Half Marathon last month. Leevale AC woman Claire Gibbons
McCarthy is expected to provide the main challenge to Maria, while Tullamore’s
Pauline Curley, a former National Champion and Olympian, would hope to be in
the final shake-up.
Dublin will have over
10,000 Irish participants this year, the biggest ever Irish field, while over
4,000 people will travel to Ireland to take part. 47 different nationalities
will be represented at the starting line on Monday.
Jim Aughney, Airtricity
Dublin Marathon Race Director said, “We may not be the biggest Marathon in
Europe, but we are most certainly the one with the biggest International field.
It has long been one of our goals to increase the Irish field, and it has been
great to do this while not losing our appeal to International marathon
runners.”
“2012 was a
challenging year for us with no sponsor in place, and we greatly appreciate the
support of our new title sponsor Airtricity, as well as that of Renault and our
other associate sponsors, who have helped us, deliver what should be another
great marathon experience for our runners.”
Stephen Wheeler,
Airtricity Managing Director said, “As proud sponsor of the Airtricity Dublin
Marathon, we’re looking forward with eager anticipation towards this year’s
race. For me personally, I ran my first Dublin Marathon in 2011 and I’m
looking forward to taking on the challenge of this year’s race course. A huge
amount of time and effort goes in to training and participating in a race such
as this, so I want to wish the very best of luck to everyone running on Monday
including all my Airtricity teammates. I hope everyone achieves their own
personal goals and I know that all the hard work and training for each of this
year’s runners will have paid off once they cross that finish line.”
To celebrate the
prospect of a first Irish Double Win in 20 years, Airtricity will present One
Year’s Free Energy from Airtricity to an Irish Winner of either the men’s and
women’s events. If Irish runners secure a Double Win for the first time since
1993, Airtricity will double the prize to Two Years’ Free Energy from
Airtricity to both Irish event winners.
As an added
motivation for the Irish elite field, this year’s winners will also receive a
brand new Renault Fluence ZE electric car.
But of course, the
Marathon is not just about the elite field, and with over 14,500 taking part
this year, Renault has also provided a third car to be raffled among the
entrants of the Airtricity Race Series and the marathon itself.
As anyone
who has ever run Dublin will attest, the support along the route is fantastic.
This year, as well as handing out over 40,000 bottles of Lucozade Sport on
Monday, Lucozade Ireland will also have a “Wall of Support” at Mile 20 on
Roebuck Road. Friends or family of runners can tweet their message to
@lucozadeireland with #wallofsupport
and the messages will appear as the runner passes the wall.
Friends
and families of runners will also be able to monitor their progress this year
via the Airtricity Dublin Marathon live tracker – which can be accessed via the
website or Facebook page.
The 2013 Airtiricty Dublin Marathon gets underway from
Fitzwilliam Street Upper at 8.55am (Wheelchair) and 9am (main field) on Monday
28th October and 26.2 miles later, the runners will eventually see
the welcome sight of the finish line in Merrion Square North.
Irish National Champion Maria McCambridge and her DSD club mate Joe Sweeney, who makes his marathon debut on Monday. Both runners are hoping to be the first double Irish winners since 1993.