Guest Post: SEAMUS CAWLEY MAINTAINS HIS DUBLIN MARATHON STREAK ...by John Walshe

SEAMUS CAWLEY MAINTAINS HIS DUBLIN MARATHON STREAK

(John Walshe)

He may have been omitted from the pre-race coverage given to the small band of runners – now numbering less than 10 – who have completed all Dublin City Marathons, but once again the name of Seamus Cawley appears on the results for the 41st time.

A total of 1,420 runners finished the first Dublin City Marathon on October 27, 1980, but now the number who have taken part every year is in single figures. And the only Munster representative is the man from Rathkeale in County Limerick.

Speaking the week before this year’s event, the West Limerick AC clubman said he would be happy “to get around in four hours,” and so it transpired as he crossed the line in a gun time of 4:12:31 (chip time 4:11:27).

“I was happy enough, the legs felt ok but I felt a bit tired in the upper body. I got to halfway just on two hours but I managed to keep running all the way, I didn’t walk at any stage,” said the now 63-year-old. 

This was only the second time he finished outside the four hours in Dublin. Back in 2013, when he had to walk some of the way with his leg strapped because of a tear in his knee, he recorded four hours and 22 minutes.

Back on that Bank Holiday Monday of 1980, Seamus was just 21 years of age when he dipped under the magical three-hour barrier with a time of 2:59:34. “I had run the Limerick Novice Cross-Country on the Sunday and the day before that had been best man at a wedding,” he recalled of his maiden voyage over the 26.2-mile distance. 

He would go on to run 2:35:56 in 1984, knocking another half-minute off of that time 12 months later, and was comfortably inside three hours in the first 17 of his Dublin marathons. He also features in the old Cork City Marathon results, finishing eight in 2:35:46 in the last of that series which concluded in 1986.

Seamus also has the honour of being a scoring member of the West Limerick team (along with John Scanlon and Tom Brouder) who took the gold medals at the BLE National Marathon of 1985 in Limerick. He was also on the team that finished second two years later in Galway. “I have a gold and silver national medal which are great to have as they are the main ones,” he says.

An avid football fan, Seamus attends all of Ireland’s home games along with supporting his local Treaty United FC at the Markets Field in the League of Ireland.

He is also a long-suffering Leeds United fan - “since they won the FA Cup back in 1972 with Johnny Giles” – and no doubt that shock victory over Liverpool on the eve of the marathon put an extra pep in the step of this remarkable man from Rathkeale as he made his way around the streets of Dublin for the 41st edition of the famous marathon.

SEAMUS CAWLEY: DUBLIN MARATHONS 1980-2022

(Times from recent years are gun times)
1980: 2:59:34
1981: 2:42:43
1982: 2:55:33
1983: 2:37:04
1984: 2:35:56
1985: 2:35:24
1986: 2:41:41
1987: 2:40:19
1988: 2:40:43
1989: 2:48:32
1990: 2:49:18
1991: 2:39:57
1992: 2:39:45
1993: 2:42:47
1994: 2:50:00
1995: 2:52:43
1996: 2:56:10
1997: 3:33:04
1998: 2:58:32
1999: 2:53:41
2000: 2:56:40
2001: 2:53:54
2002: 2:58:32
2003: 3:02:17
2004: 3:06:22
2005: 3:02:49
2006: 3:05:47
2007: 3:05:00
2008: 3:10:58
2009: 3:19:09
2010: 3:19:51
2011: 3:26:34
2012: 3:28:49
2013: 4:22:01
2014: 3:40:21
2015: 3:31:04
2016: 3:35:19
2017: 3:49:25
2018: 3:37:56
2019: 3:55:02
2022: 4:12:31

A list of previous guest posts from John Walshe can be seen HERE