A long and winding road
The race has come a long way since its birth in 1980. Its birth is due mainly to the vision of Noel Carroll and his ability to persuade the BHAA to take on his idea. The first race had a total of 1,420 finishers from an entry of 2,100. The first winner was Dick Hooper in a time of 2:16:14. The ladies were lead home by Carey May who ran a world class 2:42:11; she was the first of 40 lady finishers in the inaugural event. Second man home in 1980 was Neil Cusack who was to return in 1981 to post a winning time of 2:13:59 just 20 slower than his Boston win in '74.
1982 is in the history books for another reason, in that race was won by Jerry Kiernan in a time that still has not been surpassed in Dublin when he ran 2:13:45.
Dick Hooper was back for 85 and 86. 1985 also saw our ladies course record go to Julie Gates who posted 2:41:24 this was to be the top time until Moira O'Neill's time of 2:37:06 in 1988. 5,410 crossed the finish line in 1985 but this had fallen to under 4,000 by 1987.
In 1988 we celebrated Dublin's Millennium with an entry again of 8,700. John Griffen recorded the first of his two successive victories.
Just over 3,000 runners finished in 1989. Liz Bullen (twin sister of John Treacy) finished 2 minutes down on Moria O'Neill.
CDL came on board to sponsor the event in 1990. In 1991 the race double as the Olympic trail for Barcelona and it saw the men's title go north for the for the first time when Tommy Hughes beat off Jerry Kiernan and John Griffen to the tape.
Moving on to 1993 saw a new sponsor in Golden Pages take over. Our Olympic Silver medals, John Treacy lead a home double with Cathy Shum as they finished in front of 2,617 others. Cathy also took the honours in the last year of Golden Pages sponsorship when winning again in 1996.
In 1997 we had a new sponsor with the association of 98fm.
1999 also saw our ladies course record drop to 2:34:24 when Ester Kiplagat had almost 6 minutes to spare over Carol Galea of Malta.In 2000 another of our Olympic silver medallists, Sonia O'Sullivan, won in Dublin.
In 2000 our entries rose by 44% on the total for 1999 to a high of 8,900. The US and Canada accounted for 3,579 (43%) of the total entries this included circa 600 entries from the Us that were not with any charity. By now we have entries coming in from over 40 countries, which is a large increase from 28 in 1997.
2001 saw a new chapter in the life of the marathon being opened as the Dublin Marathon joins an elite band of marathons by being part of the adidas marathon series.
This sponsorship confirmed Dublin as one of the major Marathons worldwide.
The last number of years has shown that the entries can be increased and so our target over the next four years is to grow the home market and continue the work done over the past two decades to restore the Dublin Marathon to one of the nations sporting spectaculars.
We also have a breakfast run on the Sunday morning that has grown from a field of 150 5 years ago to an expected entry of 4,000 this year. After the run our International friends receive a second T-Shirt followed by breakfast to the backdrop of Irish music. This year's event is being supported by Bord Failte using the Holiday In Ireland theme.
Dublin City too is a big winner as we expect the large entry to exceed last years spend of €7.86 Million and to reach a new high of over €10 Million this year or next.
The Lifestyle Sports - adidas Dublin Marathon is also a member of the Association for International Marathons (AIMS). AIMS gives us profile in all major affiliated marathons worldwide.