DUBLIN 2024: WHAT IS HAPPENING AT ELITE MARATHON RUNNING LEVEL?

by Perri Williams

On the weekend of the Dublin Marathon, it is only pertinent to examine some marathon statistics, ask questions of standards and look at this year’s main Irish contenders.

22,500 individuals will take part in this year’s Dublin City marathon, the entries being capped at that number. Of these 22,500 the majority have their own goals, and few are elite athletes. Most slipping into the “personal achievement” and “I ran the Dublin City Marathon” categories. Some will marvel at the winning times of the male and female elite, but just for that fleeting second that the times pass before their vision. Most will take much more delight in their own times, responding to the constant question “what time did you get”. Their medals hanging high in their living rooms as a daily reminder of their achievements. For most the winning times won’t be remembered at all.

But yet we constantly speak about world class marathon runners, the feats of Eliud Kipchoge or Ruth Chepng'etich the recent winner of the Chicago marathon in world record time of 2.09.56. Often in recent conversations these and other elite names come up. An Irishman ubiquitously cited is John Treacy. Occasionally the names Jerry Kiernan, Stephen Scullion and Dick Hooper pop into conversation. This year more than any other year, the appetite for Athletics in Ireland has soared particularly for elite running. Yet on the marathon front, we seem to have lost our footing, and our accolades for the main part remain very much rooted in the 1980s. Fionnuala McCormack was our only representative in this year’s Olympics. We had no men. Has the shift in focus for marathon running now moved to the preserve of the masses – the personal achievements for those who have taken up running for fitness? 

The Irish men’s marathon record is held by Stephen Scullion at 2.09.49 which he set in Seville back in 2020. John Treacy is the second on the list, with his 2.09.56 which he set on his debut marathon where he won a silver medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984. In the forty years since Treacy set that time, a time that was an Irish record for over thirty-six years, only two Irish runners have run sub 2:10. Six out of the top ten Irish marathon times have been run more than twenty years ago, with only two of them in Ireland. The fastest time run by an Irish man in the Dublin marathon is the Irish record holder Stephen Scullion who was third last year in 2.11.51. The last Irish man to win the marathon was Sean Hehir. Hehir won in 2013 in a time of 2.18.19. Yet in the years since then foreign athletes we have never heard of nor names we cannot pronounce can come in and sweep the overall title, disappearing into oblivion.

This weekend Hugh Armstrong (Ballina AC) goes into the Dublin City marathon as the main Irish contender with Ryan Creech (Leevale) right up there with him. Armstrong has a best of 2.12.26 which he ran in Seville back in 2020, in that same race where Scullion set the national record. He ran 2.13.24 in Hamburg in April of this year while Creech ran 2.12.28 in Seville in February. This was Creech’s second marathon after his debut in Dublin last year. The World Championship standard has now been lowered from the 2.08.10 for the Paris Olympics to 2.06.30 for Tokyo next September. With conditions ideal in Seville, and Hamburg, both Armstrong and Creech are still a long way of the World standard. The best they can hope for is a place via the ranking list. The statistics would point to Dublin not being the ideal place to run a marathon standard or even your best marathon time. But there are other reasons to run the race. The glory of an Irish person winning the race outright or even being the winner of the national marathon, which of course will attract ranking points. 

Of all the runners attempting to run good marathon times this year, the suggestions point to Peter Lynch (Kilkenny City Harriers) as being a good marathon potential. Lynch ran 27.49 for 10,000m in California earlier this year. He ran into the wall at his debut marathon in Chicago recently but can learn from his mistakes. No doubt he will do another marathon in the coming months, but it won’t be Dublin. Which is a pity but understandable if you are seeking qualifying standards. Hiko Tonosa has run 1.02.46 for the half marathon in Larne in August and he does have a Dublin marathon race entry. Both Armstrong and Creech will be aware of Tonosa coming into Sunday’s race and understand that despite Dublin not being the most ideal race for fast times, they will have to do their best to push the limits. The race for Tokyo 2025 is always at the forefront of their minds.

The Irish record holder in the ladies marathon is still Catherina McKiernan from her 1998 Amsterdam marathon win in 2.22.23. Fionnuala McCormack has come the closest to McKiernan’s twenty-six-year-old Irish record, running 2.23.58 in December 2021. Number three on that top list is Carey May who run 2.28.07 in Osaka back in 1985. Maria McCambridge was the last Irish athlete to win the Dublin marathon. That was back in 2013, where her win was recorded at 2.38.51. Apart from McCormack, Aoife Cook, Ann Marie McGlynn and Courtney McGuire are the athletes that have currently pushed the limits of Irish female marathon running higher. McGlynn will be out to retain the National title she won last year. McGlynn has run the second fastest marathon this year a 2.33.31 in Seville. The fastest time was that of Fionnuala McCormack who ran 2.30.12 in Paris. McCormack is not running Dublin. McGlynn is somewhat out on her own in terms of marathon times for 2024. Behind her it is last years Dublin marathon runner-up Gladys Ganiel who recorded 2.40.21 in Belfast. Looking at these elite times, we are a long back from the days of Carey May and Catherine McKiernan. Ann Marie McGlynn, an amazing competitor is 44 years old.

Why has the elite times in Ireland not improved substantially, given the super shoes, improvements in nutrition, training and other conditions? Over ten years ago John Treacy shed some light on what you have to do to run a sub 2.10 marathon.

“If you want to run under 2 hours 10 minutes for the marathon, you have to have run sub-28 minutes for 10,000m,” he says. “I don’t know how you can expect to run a fast marathon if you aren’t already running fast over 5000m and 10,000m. It’s the starting point and I always knew that if I was running well over 5000m, I would go well in the marathon.”

John Treacy ran 27.48 back in 1980, running 28.18 at the same Olympics that he won the silver for the marathon. At the Bislett Games in Oslo that year he ran 13.16. Scullion has a 28.36 for the 10,000m, achieved a year and a half before his marathon best. Neither Armstrong or Creech have come close to sub 28 for 10km. “Why do we not have fast 10km runners? That’s where it starts” said Treacy.

Tonosa has run 13.26 for 5,000m and 27.53 for 10,000m. Can John Treacy’s theory hold true and will Hiko Tonosa of Clonliffe be the man to take the men’s title and bring the standard of men’s marathon running up to a new level? Tune in Sunday morning to find out.