THIS YEAR’S DUBLIN MARATHON has been won in record times in both the men’s and women’s races.
Kenya’s Moses Kibet has won the men’s race in a time of 2:08:56, beating the previous course record – set by Aleksey Sokolov of Russia in 2007 – by just eleven seconds.
Tatyana Arysova from Russia also beat the previous record in the women’s race, with her time of 2:26:12 defeating the previous record (of Kenya’s Ruth Kutol) by seventy seconds.
The wheelchair race was won by Armagh’s Paul Hanna in a time of 2:20:38.
Best of the Irish in the mens’ race was Joe McAllister of St Malachy’s in Belfast, who came home in 2:21:05, while Raheny Shamrocks’ Barbara Sanchez was the first Irish woman to complete the 42km course in 2:39:09.
Organisers had hoped this year’s race could breed record times as well as a record number of entries – with this year’s field a new record of 13,200, about 450 higher than 2009 – as the cold but dry weather provided perfect running conditions.
Race organisers described the pace of the men’s race as ‘incredible’, with five runners finishing inside 2 hours and 11 minutes.