Dublin Marathon 2022

Great to be back again.

Start was a mess, no policing of bibs for entry to wave pen I was in. No buzz at start of any of the waves.

The amount of ambulances was scary. Saw three different lads at death's door at various points.

Anyhow, as I said, great to finally be back.

To broaden out the point on the ambulances, in fairness the responses were excellent as the Gardai also had to assist in some places due to the volume of problems.

2023 opens Tuesday with a loyalty first refusal again to this year's entrants.

€110 is getting too a point I’d second guess

Managed to grab an entire bottle at that point held out by a nice lady near the last table. Agreed about it being too difficult to drink from a cup, whatever about water but the stickiness from spilled sugary drink doesn't feel great.

A 3:04:28 for myself, PB by almost 5 minutes from Manchester. I’ll get a proper report done for the log, but the quick and dirty is that the aspired sub-3 escapes me. Those drags at 34/35K with the breeze into the face just literally and figuratively took the wind out of my sails. I swore I was need of the jacks for the final 8K but didn’t stop. Funnily enough, didn’t need it at the finish. I do wonder if it was just my groin niggle moving centrally and given me hardship! I honestly had nothing left to give, even on the home stretch.

Im happy. Dublin course is a tough mistress. I didn’t stop, unlike previous attempts. Don’t get me wrong, there is a tinge of disappointment that I didn’t reward the training block with the result. I’ll deep dive into things in the coming days and weeks.

The support on course remains a highlight of this marathon. At €110 for an entry, I honestly question if I’ve done my minimum targets for this course and it’s time to move on to other races.

I think me Dublin Marathon days are over for the time being at least. Would like to concentrate on other Marathons.

Would like to Volunteer at Dublin next year maybe, how do you go about that?

I had a similar experience, just slower. Got a PB but missed out on my target by not very much and it was the final 6/7k where the time was lost. Clonskeagh road is mentally just a huge grind and I don't think it's just because of where it comes on the course. Like others I think I will look elsewhere for my next marathon, Dublin is just starting to feel like one long series of drags.

Also, **** plastic cups and anybody who advocates for them. There are plenty of shorter races where they can be used, but in a full marathon they are nothing but a **** curse. Bollocks to them.

All in all, a well organised race with great volunteers and great support, money well spent even if I came up a minute short.

I wonder would they look at a course change or are they joined at the hip to it now given how it does work for them with road closures and proximity to transport/services.

I was wondering what I was missing when I suggested a few weeks ago that I absolutely hate that stretch up the Crumlin Road. For me, that's the most boring part of the whole route.

I guess logistically closing off major arteries in any city is problematic but I have always hated the drag up Clonskeagh and Roebuck, given where it comes in the route. It comes at a point when the body is really starting to struggle regardless.

It would be great to see the route mixed up a bit or even every few years do something different, even running it in reverse. But as I've said before, I am not a marathon planner and I'm sure the logistics of it all must be unreal.

He cups there, and only there did seem like an odd choice. What actually threw me at Roebuck was the lack of signage for ‘Heartbreak Hill’. Passed it and thought ‘was that it?’, especially with the sharper climb a few kilometers later!

The 30cm rise at Mount Street bridge was a killer!

Heartbreak hill is only about 200metres long but it is the steepest individual section of the course I think.

Personally I really like the course. I think the fact that you do most of the climbing in the first 7 miles is a big positive, plus there are various times of challenges and relief. From a elevation change point of view there's very few tedious points.

I think it's fair to say that this would be considered one of the more challenging days from a weather conditions point of view? Warmer than usual and fairly windy. Is that a potential reason why this is a point of discussion?