SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon 2018, Celebrates Female Runners 

The 39th running of the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon will take place on Sunday, 28th October with 20,000 runners set to hit the streets of Dublin. This year marks a celebration of female runners with Constance Markievicz appearing on the finishers medal. The number of female participants has grown from 70 in 1980 to 7,000 in 2018.

Many international elite distance athletes are set to compete against Ireland’s top athletes. The race will also serve as the Athletics Ireland’s National Championships with Olympians Lizzie Lee, Caitriona Jennings, Mick Clohisey and current national champion Gary O’Hanlon set to line-up. This year’s race also incorporates the European Police Championships. In the Wheelchair race, four-time champion Patrick Monahan will have to contend with a strong international field. For many others taking part, this will be their first marathon and the achievement will be crossing the line.

Race Director Jim Aughney said: “We are delighted to again have a sold-out entry of 20,000. The marathon has grown 10-fold from just over 2,000 runners in 1980 to 20,000 today. I am also proud that we are celebrating female runners today, with a special mention to Mary (Hickey) who has competed in every marathon since we started back in 1980.”

Leanne Sheill, Sponsorship Manager at SSE Airtricity, said: “As proud health and fitness supporters we are excited for the weekend ahead to see all of the hard work and training commitment come to fruition. It’s also great to see the fantastic growth of the Dublin Marathon and Race Series over the last number of years making it one of the largest marathons in Europe. I would like to thank the people who make the Dublin Marathon and Race Series so special every year, from runners, supporters to volunteers and the organising committee, including Race Director Jim Aughney, for their outstanding level of effort and commitment.”

Celebrating Female Runners from 70 in 1980 to 7,000 in 2018

This year is a celebration of female runners, linking with the nationwide commemoration of Vótáil 100. Constance Markievicz, a key campaigner for Irish women’s voting rights, will appear on the finishers medal. The Dublin Marathon has over the years, attracted women of all ages and fitness levels from around Ireland and across the globe. In 1980 the first year of the event, there were only 70 female runners entered, in 2018 it has increased to 7,000. 66-year-old Mary Hickey, the only women to have competed in 38 Dublin Marathons and was one of the women who took part in the first event in 1980, said: “I really feel I’m blessed. It’s not everyone that can run a race 39 years in-a-row. Life hits you in so many ways so to get to the start-line every year, I’m amazed and surprised by that really and regard myself as very lucky”.

Elite Fields

For the elite runners there is a potential prize pot of €120k up for grabs at this year’s SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon.

Women’s Elite Field

In the elite women’s field Remalda Kergyte of Lithuania, with a personal best of 2.35.13, will be one of the key contenders.  Others include winner of this year’s Belfast Marathon (2.41.17) and Edinburgh Marathon, Caroline Jepchirchir of Kenya. Motu Gedefa of Ethiopia who finished third in the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon in 2016 (2.36.25) will be joined by fellow country woman Mesera Dubiso.  Ireland’s Lizzie Lee (Leevale AC) will be looking to make her mark in her second ever Dublin Marathon, she last competed in 2006. The Olympic marathoner has a personal best of 2:32.51 from Berlin in 2015. The Cork woman has shown good form this year, setting a new personal best in the Half Marathon of 1:13:19 at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in March and winning the Women’s Mini Marathon in June.

The national title will be a battle between Lee and fellow Olympian Caitriona Jennings (Letterkenny AC). The Donegal woman placed second in the 2017 National Championships. Other contenders include Jane Ann Meehan (Galway City Harriers) and Zola Flynn (Calry AC). Reigning national champion Laura Graham will not line up due to injury.

Men’s Elite Field

In the Men’s field, last year’s winner (2:15:53) Benard Rotich of Kenya is set to toe the line. Fellow countrymen Vincent Tonui, Eric Koech and Joel Kiptoo are all likely to be top 10 finishers. Asefa Bekele of Ethiopia who finished third in 2017 and 2015 will also be a key contender.

There are several athletes vying for the national honours who have the potential to run sub 2:20. Last year’s national champion Gary O’Hanlon (running a personal best of 2.18.53) will be joined by Clonliffe clubmates Sergiu Ciobanu and David Flynn. In September, O’Hanlon won the master’s category in Berlin Marathon and won the Cork City Marathon in June. Flynn won the 2018 SSE Airtricity Dublin Half Marathon in 1.06.21. Dublin will be his debut marathon. Stephen Scullion will not line up as he is recovering from injury.

Raheny AC’s Mick Clohisey will also be in the mix after he ran a personal best of 2.14.55 in the 2018 Seville Marathon and finished 18^th at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin in August. Other contenders include Tomas Fitzpatrick (Tallaght AC), Thomas Frazer (St Malachy’s AC), Eoin Callaghan (Sar of the Sea AC) and Louis McCarthy (Rathfarnham AC).

Wheelchair Race

Four-time Dublin Marathon Wheelchair winner and Rio 2016 Paralympian, Patrick Monahan (Ireland) will have a competitive international field to contend with this year. Britain’s Johnboy Smith will be a tough competitor, he secured a Commonwealth Games Silver Medal in the Marathon (T54) this year and is also a previous Seville and Manchester Marathon winner. Sam Kolek of Poland who is currently ranked eighth in Europe will also be in contention. Richie Powell (Wales) who represented Great Britain at the Paralympic Games and Sean Frame (Scotland) will also be at the start line.

European Police Championships

The 7th Union Sportive des Polices d’Europe (USPE), European Police Championships Marathon, will take place as part of the Dublin Marathon with 155 athletes from 22 countries represented including Ireland.

Lord Mayors Award

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Nial Ring will present the 2018 recipient of the Lord Mayor’s medal at the start of the 2018 SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon.

Key Race Day Information:

Road Closures: Road closures will be in effect within the city during this event. The SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon will start at Fitzwilliam Street Upper on Sunday October 28th at 8:55am and will finish in Merrion Square North up to 5pm.

For more information see: http://sseairtricitydublinmarathon.ie/traffic-information/

Social Media: To keep up to date with all the action follow on https://twitter.com/dublinmarathon and https://www.facebook.com/dublinmarathon

Live Streaming:  The SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon will be live streamed via the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon YouTube Page. Fans will be able to watch every moment of the action live from 8:30am-4:30pm. The commentary team for the day will also be made up of some well-known names from the world of Irish Athletics including Ian O’Riordan, Frank Greally, Susan Walsh, Fintan Reilly, Liam Moggan, David Carrie and Feidhlim Kelly so make sure you tune into all the action via http://bit.ly/2yERGfX

Waves: The Waves: Wave 1: start 9.00, Wave 2 start 9.15 Wave 3 start 9.30   Wave 4 start 9.45

Pacers: Pacers will be running for the following times: Wave 1: 3:00, 3:10, 3:20 Wave 2:  3:30, 3:40 & 3:50, Wave 3: 4:00, 4:10 & 4:20, Wave 4: 4:30, 4:40, 4:50 & 5:00

Live Tracker: Runners tracker link https://track.rtrt.me/e/TDL-DUBLINM-2018

For further details please contact:

Dublin Marathon Team @ Wilson Hartnell

Sophie Eustace (085 7176183) sophie.eustace@ogilvy.com

Sinéad Galvin (087 6266816) Sinead.galvin@ogilvy.com

NOTES TO EDITOR:

SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon

• 2018 is the 39^th Dublin Marathon.
• Founded in 1980 with 2,100 runners.
• Record number of participants every year since 2009 with a record number of 20,000 entries in 2017 & 2018.
• Dublin Marathon is now the largest marathon in Ireland and the 5^th largest in Europe.
• Known as the ‘Friendly Marathon’, Dublin
• Hosts the Athletics Ireland National Championships.
• Voted ‘Best International Marathon’ in 2014, 2^nd in 2015 & 2016, ‘Best Mass Participation Event’ at the Sport Industry Awards 2016.
• The Dublin Marathon Expo which takes place in the RDS on the Friday & Saturday before the Marathon attracts 25,000 visitors on an annual basis.

SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon Results 2017

       Male

• 1. Bernard Rotich: 02.15.52 – Kenya
• 2. Yurii Ruskyuk: 02.15.55 – Ukraine
• 3. Asefa Legese Bekele: 02.15.58 – Ethiopia

     Female

• 1. Nataliya Lehonkova: 02.28.57 – Ukraine
• 2. Ashu Kasim: 02.34.35 – Ethiopia
• 3. Viktoriya Khapilina: 02.35.54 – Ukraine

National Championships Results:

      Male

• 1. Gary O’Hanlon: 02.18.52 – Clonliffe Harriers A.C.
• 2. Sergiu Ciobanu: 02.19.05 – Clonliffe Harriers A.C.
• 3. Stephen Scullion: 02.19.44 – Clonliffe Harriers A.C.

       Female

• 1. Laura Graham: 02.39.06 – Mourne Runners
• 2. Caitriona Jennings: 02.42.36 – Letterkenny A.C.
• 3. Pauline Curley: 02.50.53 – Tullamore Harriers A.C

Dublin Marathon Wheelchair Championship Results:

• 1. Patrick Monahan: 01.49.55

Union Sportive des Polices d’Europe (USPE)

The Union Sportive des Polices d’Europe (USPE) was founded in Paris on 30 November 1950 by 10 European countries at the initiative of the French Police Sports Association. USPE is made up of 40 European countries. USPE’s registered office is located at the seat of the General Secretariat in Berlin. An Garda Siochana/ Ireland is a member of USPE. USPE’s objective is to promote police sport within its member countries. Irish Team:

• David Mansfield
• Jason Miley
• Kieran Lees
• Clive Glancy
• David Craig
• Louise Long

A very interesting article in yesterday’s Sunday Independent  by Katharine Teeling, check out the link below:

https://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/fitness/how-to-run-a-marathon-26-tips-26-miles-37441894.html

Pacing Yourself

So, you are working on your training and getting those sessions ticked off. Hopefully at this stage you are starting to see some improvements in fitness and an increase in endurance too. Check out these helpful tips below to help with nailing down & controlling your race day pace!

The Long Run

The long run you complete each week as part of your training is a vital part of setting a good and realistic pace on race day. There are many theories out there on the best ways to run a long run and how to pace a long run but the best thing to do is to keep it simple. Things like heat, hydration & the course profile will all have parts to play on the big day.

If your goal is to run the marathon in under four hours, your long training runs need to reflect that. Therefore, doing every long run at a 4-hour 10-minute pace and expecting a miracle on race day is a recipe for disaster! The wheels will come off later in the day but there are things we can do to avoid this. Practice makes perfect, so if we look at a 20-mile-long run. Good practice here is to run easy for 8 miles with only vaguely looking at pace and running to feel and then for the remaining 12 miles of the long run, start dialing in that goal race pace.

Again, keep it simple – this will allow you to run to the 20-mile mark in training at the pace you are planning to run on race day. In long training runs people will often do the opposite – start too hard and be unable to finish correctly. In essence you are negatively splitting your long training runs – which means you run the second half faster than you ran the first half.

Hydration & Water Stops

I highly recommend you practice your hydration strategy in training and not to leave it until 6 miles into the marathon to start thinking about it.

On the day of the race there will be 10 Celtic Pure Irish Spring Water stops out on the course. That’s 10 opportunities to get some fluids in and personally, I would stick to water on race day perhaps some electrolytes the day before and the morning of but, the same general rule of thumb applies to hydration as it does to nutrition – nothing new on race day!

Looking at the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon route you have Celtic Pure Irish Spring Water Stops at miles 3, 5, 7, 9.5, 11, 13, 16, 19, 21 & mile 24 – so there are plenty of places to keep topped up! With that in mind I would also mirror this in your long training runs. The aim is to make the long run as specific as possible. In training you can make note of these locations & consume water at the same points during the long run.

For me I find it helpful to do loops, or drop water off at certain points before a long run, but do whatever works best for you. Consuming & sipping on water at those markers in a long run will remove any guess work on race day too in Dublin.

Heat & Course Profile

The average temperature in October for the marathon will be somewhere between 12-14 degrees Celsius, maybe plus or minus one or two but it shouldn’t deviate too much from that. However, it is Ireland so expect anything! Regardless of the race day temperature – keeping tabs on your hydration is key. Hydration for running is something to look at all the time, not just the 2/3 days before the marathon! It’s easy to under consume water if the day is a little cool or even cold.

So, sip throughout the days before hand and on the morning of & be careful not to over consume either.

Things like temperature and the course profile can have an influence on your heart rate too and the overall rate of perceived effort.

Keep the consistency in your training over the next few weeks & make that longer run specific to what things will be like on race day, and as always keep enjoying the process!

Celtic Pure Irish Spring Water Ambassador Shane Finn

Family owned, Irish water brand announced as official water sponsor for the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon Series, 2018

Ireland’s largest independent water producers, Celtic Pure Irish Spring Water are delighted to announce that they will be the official water partner of The SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon Series 2018. The race events run from July to October and will see the family owned Irish brand provide over 900,000 litres of spring water to its thirsty runners across water stations, dotted throughout the course.

Pictured at the launch of the new sponsorship, running expert and Celtic Pure ambassador, Catherina McKiernan met with Caitriona McCahey to bring her through a Chi Running Workshop ahead of her participation in the 2018 SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon Series. Hailing from Carrickmacross in Co. Monaghan, the home of Celtic Pure Irish Spring Water, McCahey will be taking part in this year’s marathon series with guidance from Irish Marathon record holder and Co. Cavan native Catherina McKiernan.

McKiernan commented; “I’m really excited to be working with Caitriona ahead of this year’s Dublin Marathon. The marathon is a big undertaking and I’m so proud of the progress Caitriona is making already.” She went on to say that; “The Chi Running Workshop will help Catriona become mindful of her position and posture to improve her running technique. With a little bit of focus and lots of relaxation she will become a much more efficient runner, with a lot less impact on her body.”.

Earlier this year, Celtic Pure Irish Spring Water launched their #PureMoments campaign which focuses on the importance of savouring the purest moments experienced by Irish families in everyday life. With this in mind, becoming the sponsor of one of Europe’s most valued Marathon Series was a natural fit for the family owned water brand. The company, based in Co. Monaghan, has invested over €15 million on expanding the company since 2012 and has become a family favourite in homes across Ireland.

CEO of Celtic Pure Irish Spring Water, Padraig McEneaney commented; “We are delighted to be part of such an important and widely attended Irish event, to support runners with their hydration during all Dublin Marathon race events”. He continued to say; “We are also proud to be working with the Dublin Marathon Series organisers, along with Dublin City Council and Thornton’s Recycling to ensure all bottles and compostable cups used during the events are collected and recycled responsibly.”

The marathon is a hugely popular event in the Irish calendar and continues to grow year on year. Marathon organisers believe that this is partly down to a cultural change that is happening in Ireland today with people of all ages valuing a healthier and fitter lifestyle. The SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon Series is viewed as an entire experience; from beginning to end, you experience a journey of memories, friendships as well as pure and raw moments that you will never forget.

Speaking at the launch; SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon Series Race Director Jim Aughney said; “We are thrilled to be working with Celtic Pure Irish Spring Water for this year’s Dublin Marathon Race Series. The marathon has always been a time when family and friends come together to support each other and cheer each other on and as a family brand Celtic Pure is a perfect fit for this year’s race series. Furthermore, as the race series continues its success over the last few years, we continue to commit a duty of care to our runners and the environment, enhanced by our new partnership with Celtic Pure.”

The Dublin Marathon was founded in 1980 when 2,100 runners took part and since then over 306,000 people have participated in the race. The marathon is now the largest marathon in Ireland and the fifth largest in Europe. There has been a record number of entries each year and over 20,000 people are registered to take part in the full marathon race this year on Sunday 28^th October, a sold-out event.

Celtic Pure is available to purchase nationwide.

Visit website www.celticpure.ie and follow @CelticPure on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Although the popularity of training for the SSE Airtricity Dublin marathon increasing, completing it in a fairly quick time is still quite a challenge. Statistics show that only 5% of female runners and 18% of male runners finish in under 3.5 hours. However, a lot can be done in the approach to the race to enable your best performance ever. Alongside your training regimen, you’ll need to take a hard look at your diet to ensure you’re at your best. By following a few simple food tips you can tap into a faster gear on the day with improved endurance, for your best marathon achievement.

Food choices approaching the special day

About a month prior to the marathon event you should probably be lowering your carbohydrate intake, especially if you’re still carrying a little too much weight despite your training programme.  This will help you achieve a lean running build provided you are eating enough protein, especially following a training session and within the anabolic window.  This will help support your muscles.  

Protein sources to feed muscles

Best quality lean protein e.g. chicken is an excellent source but there are plenty of other vegetarian/vegan choices that are also beneficial choices. For example, sprouting vegetables contain an exceptionally high protein level along with an amazing nutritional profile which includes many beneficial elements on top of protein. Broccoli sprouts contain vitamins A, B, C E and K along with some especially powerful antioxidants to provide protection from illness.  In addition, they contain the minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.  When you consider what you’re asking of your body to run a marathon, it makes sense to feed it the highest concentration of nutrition in the approach to this exertion.  Whilst general advice is to exclude protein the day before a marathon, it is a good idea to include a small amount of a good vegan source e.g. sprouting seeds.  This is because they are far more easily digested than meat protein.  On the race morning, you do not want your body to be struggling to digest heavy proteins from the previous day.

Increase carbs two days before

Best advice is to increase your carbs slightly in the last two days before the event to give you that energy boost.  However, do not seriously overdo this as it can make you sluggish and heavy for the day.  So moderation is the key here.  If you’ve been on a carb restricted diet to promote a lean physique, then even a small increase in carb intake will give you that boost in energy you need.  Ensure you have a small high energy breakfast on the morning before the event, e.g. an energy bar or similar.

Enjoy your day

After all the hard training and careful diet plan leading to the event, make sure you enjoy your day.  Feeling relaxed and happy in the knowledge that you’ve prepared properly can really help you have a great day.  Your time will be one of your very best.