East Down AC members run in the Dublin Marathon
Early Sunday morning saw the running of the 43rd Dublin Marathon with 17 ,00 runners taking on this year’s challenge.
With such a large entry the start timings are broken down into five waves writes Martin Wilcox
With a new start line on Leeson Street lower and a new finish line on Mount Street Upper the rest of the course is the same as last year, with most of it within the city cente
Conditions were cool and dry and the EDAC had 5 runners on the start line for this great event.
Gordy Graham is no stranger to this distance and the Dublin Marathon and was looking for a good time after training hard and getting in the big miles.
Gordy had a strong race up to the 24 mile point when the marathon monster jumped on his back and slowed him down a bit, and Gordy still crossed the line in 2 hr 36 mins some going.
The training team that is Neil Curran and Gareth Kelly were next in for East Down, aiming for a solid time but also raising money for Cancer Focus and the ICU in the Royal Victoria Hospital.
They both crossed the finish line in 3 hrs 18 mins and raised over £2000 for their charities, so well done to both of the guys.
Not too far behind was Dermot Cahill who got a last minute entry and was not fully prepared, but still he broke the tape in 3 hr 20 min getting a negative split from his efforts.
EDACs marathon man Philip Vint is almost at his goal of completing 100 marathons by the end of 2024.
Dublin was 99 and Philip will be happy with his run coming in at 3 hr 39 min, next up Tollymore Marathon.
Another member used to pounding the streets of Dublin is Declan Teague, with very little miles in the legs Declan got round in a steady 4 hr 14 min, and as ever enjoyed the post-race refreshments.
Well done to all, a very popular and well organised event.
