Kevin Seaward is the first Irish man home in the Olympic Marathon with a time of 2:21

Conditions were far from ideal for the Olympic men's marathon with the temperature up around 30 deg C and 85% humidity. There were 76 finishers with about 30 posting DNF's after dropping out.

The best of the Irish was Kevin Seaward who finished in 58th place in a time of 2h 21m 45s. Despite the the difficult conditions, he even picked up 30 places in the second half!

Paul Pollock was the second Irish man home in 71st place with a time of 2:27:48.

Unfortunately the third Irish competitor Stephen Scullion had to withdraw, leaving the race just after the 15km mark

Irish Men in the Marathon at the Olympics...1948 to 2016

Following the men's marathon at the Rio Olympics recently, I had a closer look at the history of the event since the London Games of 1948. As you can see below, it puts into perspective the performance of Paul Pollock with his time of 2:16:24. He is now the third fastest Irish man is an Olympic Marathon.


A total of 22 Irish men have completed the Olympic Marathon between 1948 and 2016. Dick Hooper completed 3 (80, 84 & 88) while John Treacy completed 2 (1984 & 1992). (DNF's excluded)

This is a breakdown per year. Note the numbers between 1968 to 1992 and the complete absence in the following Games.

Year - Venue - Number of Irish Men
1948 - London - 1
1952 - Helsinki - 1
1956 - Melbourne - 0
1960 - Rome - 2 & 1 DNF
1964 - Tokyo - 1 DNF
1968 - Mexico - 2
1972 - Munich - 3
1976 - Montreal - 3
1980 - Moscow - 2
1984 - Los Angeles - 3
1988 - Seoul - 2 & 1 DNF
1992 - Barcelona - 2 & 1 DNF
1996 - Atlanta - 0
2000 - Sydney - 0
2004 - Athens - 0
2008 - Beijing - 1 DNF
2012 - London - 1
2016 - Rio de Janerio - 3 (Max team of 3)

Following the 2008 Games in Beijing, the Irish Marathon Mission was established to improve the standards of elite Irish runners. This has been mostly financed by the organisers of the Dublin City Marathon and as you can see, it has helped in getting a full team for 2016.

An easier qualification standard for the Rio Olympics probably helped as well though.

This chart shows more clearly the times of the 22 Irish men between 1948 and 2016. As you can see, Paul Pollock's performance in Rio was faster than a lot of other Irish men in previous Olympic marathons. Kevin Seaward's time was the 5th fastest.

It''s also worth noting just how fast John Treacy and Jerry Kiernan were relative to other Irish marathon runners.

Note that these times were all set on different courses and with different conditions so we can't do an exact comparison. Still though, they are all Olympic Marathon finals so they are similar in that respect.

As a footnote, the following Irish athletes competed in the Olympic Marathon for these other countries...
1912  Kennedy McArthur (Antrim) 2:36.55 for South Africa
1964  Peter McArdle (Dundalk) 2.26.25 for the USA
1988  Peter Maher 2:24.49   for Canada

Irish women in the Marathon at the Olympics...1984 to 2016

Following the women's marathon at the Rio Olympics last weekend, I had a closer look at the history of the event which was first introduced in 1984 at the Los Angeles Games. One of the most suprising findings is just how few Irish women have actually taken part in this Olympic event.

Some stats...

1) Only 11 Irish women have taken part in the Olympic Marathon.

 
2) Prior to the 2012 Games in London, only five Irish women had run an Olympic marathon. The three in 2012 and the three in 2016 brought the total up to eleven.

3) Amazingly, there were no Irish women in the Olympic Marathon from 1992 to 2004.

Year - Venue - Number of Irish Women
1984 - Los Angeles - 2
1988 - Seoul - 2
1992 - Barcelona - 0
1996 - Atlanta - 0
2000 - Sydney - 0
2004 - Athens - 0
2008 - Beijing - 1
2012 - London - 3 (Max team of 3)
2016 - Rio de Janerio - 3 (Max team of 3)

Following the 2008 Games in Beijing, the Irish Marathon Mission was established to improve the standards of elite Irish runners. This has been mostly financed by the organisers of the Dublin City Marathon and as you can see, it has helped in getting full teams for 2012 and 2016.

This chart shows more clearly the times of the 11 Irish women between 1984 and 2016. As you can see, Fionnuala McCormack's performance in Rio was exceptional when compared to the rest.

Note that these times were all set on different courses and with different conditions so we can't do an exact comparison. Still though, they are all Olympic Marathon finals so they are similar in that respect.

Crazy Irish ex-priest banned from 2014 London Marathon...

During the marathon of the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, a former Irish priest Neil Horan ran onto the course just after the 22 mile mark and stopped the leading runner Vanderiel de Lima. The Brazilian athlete was stopped for about 15 seconds and then had to regain his momentum again. He was subsequently passed by two other athletes and finished in third place.

It has just emerged that the very same Neil Horan was planning to run this years London Marathon as a charity entrant for St.John's Ambulance.

When the charity found out who he was, they issued the following statement..."It has been brought to our attention that you have a history of disrupting major sporting events and hold extremist religious views which are not in line with St John Ambulance charity’s values. Due to the above reasons we have no option but to retract this offer and remove you from the London Marathon 2014 team with St John Ambulance.”

In response, the ex-priest said..."It’s nearly 10 years now since I disrupted a sporting event and I’ve said many times that I will never do anything like that again. I’m extremely upset at this decision."

Irish women finish 66th, 68th and 107th in Olympic Marathon

The Olympic Women's Marathon was held on Sunday, the 5th of August and three Irish women took part. The first Irish woman home was Linda Byrne in a time of 2:37:13 in 66th place. Just behind was Ava Hutchinson in 28th place in a time of 2:37:13. Both were very close to the 'A' standard of 2:37 which was used to qualify for the Olympics. The third Irish woman home was Caitriona Jennings who obviously had a tough time with a foot injury finishing well back in last place in a time of 3:22:11.

The split times for the three Irish women are shown below. Just to put into context how fast they are actually running, look at the 5k, 10k and Half-Marathon splits. The full results can be see HERE

Linda Byrne
Km    Ranking    Time    Time Behind Leader
5    86    18:00    +0:40
10    86    36:18    +1:32
15    85    54:39    +2:29
20    82    1:13:20    +3:54
Half    82    1:17:27    +4:14
25    75    1:32:02    +5:39
30    72    1:50:42    +7:58
35    71    2:09:53    +10:24
40    68    2:29:16    +13:06
Finish    66    2:37:13    +14:06

Ava Hutchinson
Km    Rk    Time    TBL
5    89    18:01    +0:41
10    87    36:18    +1:32
15    86    54:39    +2:29
20    84    1:13:20    +3:54
Half    83    1:17:27    +4:14
25    76    1:32:02    +5:39
30    70    1:50:41    +7:57
35    68    2:09:31    +10:02
40    67    2:28:42    +12:32
Finish    68    2:37:17    +14:10

Caitriona Jennings
Km    Rk    Time    TBL
5    107    18:36    +1:16
10    108    37:27    +2:41
15    110    56:35    +4:25
20    113    1:18:38    +9:12
Half    113    1:23:51    +10:38
25    110    1:43:24    +17:01
30    108    2:09:55    +27:11
35    108    2:39:22    +39:53
40    107    3:09:33    +53:23
Finish    107    3:22:11    +59:04