Dublin Marathon 2024

crisco10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121333370#Comment_121333370

That was the first thing my wife said when I mentioned this current debate to her. And she isn't even a runner.

If they really wanted to keep the current route, but move the start/finish, then it feels like back to the Park it is for us. :-( A nice alternative would be UCD Campus, Start out the N11 side, finish through the Clonskeagh Gate or something. It'd run through town, same as now, but the roads would only be closed for first part of Marathon rather than all of it.

solidasarock

The Donabate HM is still my PB.

I think the lack of water added a sense of urgency to reach the finish. Also the added warm up from running around trying to find the start line.

Anyway. I wouldn’t be against a route change but moving the start out of city or the race all together really seems like a dumb idea and would hurt a lot of the appeal and accessibility for those travelling in for the race.

Maybe a earlier start time if needs be. I think I remember the RnR races starting around 8. But then again they where smothered due to similar NIMBY issues with DCC so I dunno if it’s the best option.

FinnC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121336341#Comment_121336341

A lot of bigger Marathons start outside the City like New York, London, Boston etc but finish in the City. I know this means extra work with bag drops if it's a point to point course though.

event

I wouldnt mind a route change, but not just for the sake of it.

Will there be less or more hills?

More or less turns?

Tighter or wider roads?

Can there be more or less crowds?

You'd hope a lot of these things will be taken in to account

Sunny Dayz

They didn't seem to make any use of Merrion Square park. The mini marathon finishes in around the same area and they had tents, physios, medal engraving etc all in the park after.

Sunny Dayz

I listened to the Newstalk piece linked above. I think the local resident (seems to be in around the Lansdowne Rd area) - for him it's not the marathon itself. It's everything else - it's the mini marathon, it's the many matches and concerts in Lansdowne Rd stadium and the road restrictions which are being extended out as the years have passed. When asked where should the marathon (and mini-marathon) be re-routed and you just know he wanted to say that he didn't care, just so long as they are not in his back yard!

event

Going way off topic I am sure. But surely thats one of the things you have to take in to account when you buy a house close to a stadium that seats 50k people and also live in a major city

FazyLucker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121336611#Comment_121336611

Irish discourse in a nutshell. Its grand but not in my back yard.

He didn't think buying a house beside a stadium might I dunno mean he might be inconvenieced on the day of matches?

Would he raise his head if for example Pride march (which I have zero problem with) or a anti-domestic violence demonstration went past his house? Would he kick up about that?

brick tamland

Id imagine all the pubs/restaurants/coffee shops the were full to the brim after the marathon would have something to say about that any plan to move it out of the city too

rovers_runner

Feels like it's going in the direction of a compromise where they allow rolling road closures in the city but want the start/finish area outside the main streets.

Has to be a park now at this stage Marlay/Phoenix/St Annes, UCD campus would be my preference, easy to shuttle into and out of town via N11 to Stephens Green on the day for early morning start and after finish. They could even stick with the vast majority of the existing course.

It is easily workable with a fleet of shuttle buses and some proximity to Luas or Dart services.

I'm sure DCC and Govt funding can foot a portion of the costs of this as a compromise to the organisers.

Trampas

10,000+ people to shuttle is a lot of people to the Phoenix Park. I’m not even sure the Phoenix Park could even manage that numbers for a race. Bad enough with the half never mind 3 or 4 times the number. Big difference running through it than having people meet up on chesterfield road.

event

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121337030#Comment_121337030

Flyefit must make an absolute killing from Baggot street

custom_build

Thinking outside the box. I wonder if, like in Amsterdam for example. They could host other distances on the day of the marathon, the women's mm for example.

There would be greater attendance, more bye in from the people that make the decision and an even better atmosphere in general. Also obviously one less day of traffic disruption.

I'm sure there would be some cross over of potential participants of the two events, but in my experience it would be minimal.

Its might also encourage more participants from abroad. Amsterdam had 20,000, in the marathon and another 20,000 the other distances.

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121337509#Comment_121337509

The event is at full capacity as it is. No need or desire for this sort of thing, which is the norm at smaller Irish marathons like Cork, Limerick, Galway and Belfast.

custom_build

Minister of state for sport, Thomas Byrne is having none of it. And rightly so, they should be looking at making it a bigger, more prestigious event. Not detracting from it.

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2023/1107/1415120-marathon/

custom_build

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121337609#Comment_121337609

How is full capacity derived. No need or desire from whom?

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121337336#Comment_121337336

They did that in Belfast. A fleet of buses moving people from city centre to Stormont and then from Ormeau Park at the end back to city centre.

I wouldn't have too much confidence in Dublin bus to do similar.

FinnC

Could Croke Park or the Aviva be a good finish line? Stadium finishes work well in other Marathons.

Trampas

How many did Belfast?

No track in Croker Park or Lansdowne so will need to put a surface thing down

FinnC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121337778#Comment_121337778

Ran Melbourne before and they put a temporary surface down inside the MCG, worked well.

custom_build

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121337778#Comment_121337778

3345 finished

event

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121337679#Comment_121337679

I coudnt see the Croker residents agreeing to that, hard enough to get the concerts through every year

FinnC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121337920#Comment_121337920

Therein lies the problem. No matter where they change the route to or relocate the Start or finish line to, someone will have an issue with it.

event

Yeah I agree. But Croker especially, considering they already have about 20 events through the year resulting in their roads being blocked. No way we get another one in there

left_hander

I can't think of anything worse than a finish in a stadium. I think is it Amsterdam or Athens or somewhere that it finishes in a stadium. By all accounts, it is hopelessly dead. You are not having 40k people cheering you over the line. Most people wait along the route I believe.

Listened to Eoin on Newstalk there, god what a windbag. Living in a city sometimes involves inconvenience and you can't have all your own way all of the time. Imagine having the marathon in the Phoenix Park, what a god awful event it would be as you do laps of a park just so Eoin can drive his SUV around South Dublin and not be inconvenienced for a few hours.

And, in fairness even with the road closures you can get around. It just requires a bit more thought. Might not be Eoin's strength if he's ringing in to Newstalk mind with such an illogical argument. He didn't even accept that businesses want this event in the city. What a clown. Lunchtime Live seems to be going full Joe Duffy on it.

The best thing about the DCM and many other running events is that it encapsulates so many parts of the city and is a great way to see it. What a loss it would be if some soulless, boring route were to be planned.

I think DCC just don't seem to understand what a city is supposed to be.

Flex2016

Please god it doesn’t use any more of the Phoenix Park! I’ve stopped doing the half marathon there since they started to only use one side of the park.

nice to see Thomas Byrne talking some sense.

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121337620#Comment_121337620

No need/desire from the organisers, who have no trouble selling out the race as it is. The numbers are limited by the City Council as far as I know - it's a condition of the permit I suppose.

ligerdub

Maybe I'm reading too much into this but it does sound like there's not a huge amount of support for the "change the route" side of the debate.

Almost all of the politicians that have spoken on it have criticised the calls for change.

Also, there's a lot of talk about drastic route changes but the comments specifically mentioned that the start and finish areas were requested to have as little disruption to transport and closing off streets in the city for extended periods of time. Outside of that I didn't see anything about the need to change anything else.

I can't see a scenario where you could have a marathon route through Dublin and not have some parts of it that go through the city. As it stands there's not a huge amount that goes through the city centre anyway.

If they only need to change the start and finish points then I don't really see calls to have an event that if focused around the phoenix park or what have you. Surely there could be some sort of plan where the start and finish points are held in an enclosed area that isn't used for vehicular traffic. There was a half marathon a few years back that finished in Kilmainham gardens. I'd imagine something like that but not exactly that could be in mind if they were to change things up.

FazyLucker

This is why it takes years to get anything even started, let alone done, in this country (e.g. BusConnects, Metro, Children's Hospital, etc all millions and millions spent before anything done).

We have to indulge major moanbags like Eoin from Newstalk and find the least moaniest moanbag and send the route down his street.

Go on to YouTube and look at the route of the NY Marathon, over about 4-5 major bridges and through the heart of the city. We have to consider re-routing it because we need to close one square over a bank holiday weekend when the city would be empty anyway.

Eoin has 364 days to plan for what he wants to do on the Sunday oft the DCM when he's minorly inconvenienced whereas thousands of people have got the physical and mental benefit of months of training want to have their day in the sun? And charities benefit to nearly 10m.

But Eoin wants them to go and do 5 laps of the Phoenix Park instead. It reminds me of the lovely residents of Merrion Row who were outraged about BusConnects potentially cutting down trees while half of them have an SUV in the driveway?

Its just pathetic.

DarHan84

He's talking through his arse too. If he's on the coast side of the Merrion road, he can drive unimpeded to the strand road and exit Dublin via the port tunnel or Blackrock. No road closures.

If he's on the Donnybrook side, the N11 (Stillorgan road) is open so he can exit Stillorgan.

He's not being held hostage at all, he just has to move his car maybe 250m before the road closures (which last for 7 hours at most unless he lives in Merrion Sq which wouldn't be impacted by the Aviva stadium...)