Family of Marathon Founder Noel Carroll running Dublin to commemorate father’s 10 year anniversary

Family of Marathon Founder Noel Carroll running Dublin to commemorate father’s 10 year anniversary

Setanta Sports announce Marathon programme Schedule


The Countdown to this year’s Lifestyle Sports-adidas Dublin Marathon is well underway with less than three weeks to go before an expected 11,000 runners take to the streets of Dublin. This year marks the 29th anniversary of the Dublin Marathon since it’s establishment by the late Noel Carroll in 1980. In honour of his memory, Noel’s four children are taking part in this year’s race. They were in Dublin earlier today for the announcement of Setanta Sport’s Marathon programming schedule.

Leading international sports broadcaster Setanta Sports will broadcast an exclusive half hour Marathon programme on the night of Monday October 27th, following the race earlier that day. The programme will feature interviews with race organisers, elite racers and top finishers. Further Marathon coverage will be shown on Friday night, October 31st with an hour long special covering all aspects of the race.

Speaking at the announcement of their Marathon coverage, Setanta Sports CEO Niall Cogley said: “Setanta Sports are looking forward to bringing our audience the highlights from this year’s Dublin Marathon. The Marathon is one of the biggest events on the calendar and we hope our programmes will capture the excitement of the occasion as well as the hard work and determination of those brave enough to be taking part. Setanta’s coverage of the Dublin Marathon highlights our dedication to promoting Irish sporting events, while combining these with top class international sports occasions to bring our audience the greatest sporting choice from home and abroad.”

The birth of the Dublin Marathon is owed almost entirely to the vision of Noel Carroll, and his ability to persuade the Business Houses Athletic Association to take on his idea. Noel worked as a Public Relations Officer for Dublin Corporation, as it was known as the time, and in this capacity, he managed to secure the closure of some of Dublin’s main roads for the first ever Dublin Marathon.

The inaugural 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 race has come a long way since then with last year’s race attracting over 10,000 runners, a record number for the Dublin Marathon. Dublin is now recognised as one of the major Marathons worldwide and entries now come from over 40 countries. Last year’s race was won by Russian Aleksey Sokolov, who set a new course record of 2:09:07.

The Noel Carroll trophy, which is normally presented to the race winner by one of Noel’s children, will this year be presented by Noel’s widow Deirdre O’Callaghanl as Enda, Nicola, Noel Jnr and Stephen Carroll will all be busy pounding the 26.2 miles of the Marathon Circuit. Between them they will run over 100 miles on the morning of Monday 27th October in order to raise money for the Noel Carroll Building in Calcutta.

The Noel Carroll Building is a training centre and 'Half Way House' for young girls and boys that works to get young children off the streets of Calcutta and trained in the skills of arts & crafts in the hope to give them a better chance in life. Noel was formerly the Chairman of GOAL and the building is a testament to his dedication generous spirit.

Stephen Carroll said: “We thought what better way to remember Dad’s 10 year anniversary than running over 100 miles between us while raising funds for GOAL and the Noel Carroll Building in Calcutta”.



Setanta Sports Marathon programme schedule:

Lifestyle Sports-adidas Dublin Marathon half hour programme: Monday 27th Oct 21:30pm
Lifestyle Sports-adidas Dublin Marathon hour long programme: Friday 31st Oct 19:05pm


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