Dublin Marathon

Dublin is not a course ratified by the IAAF so times are not accepted for World champs, Olympic Games etc by the World governing body.

I also suspecte a short course when I saw that.

30 years ago, I remember people like Des McGann and Donny Walsh running around 2:13, and I supected the course was short.

Ghost in Korea

Please excuse the typos.....

1. suspected

2. suspected

Ghost in Korea

Robinson has an 'A' standard by way of his Osaka top 20 finish and UKA have said they will honour this. Tom has it on time so anyone else wanting to go will need a sub 2.11 Brown is going to struggle to do this.

the 2.15 'b' standard is academic, nobody will get selected with that

Dublin is a well organised event and it's insulting to the organisers to erroneously label it as a short course. It's perfectly believable that a 62min half marathon runner as Tomas is should be able to run 2.10. Solokov ran 2.11 solo last year in less than ideal conditions so if weather was better this time coupled with much closer competition that he had this year then 2.09 is credible for him. Plenty of good quality guys ran in the high 2-teens, also credible performances (or slower than expected) for guys with their running biographies. I've run this course more than once and never felt the split times even once threw up unlikely or 'short' mile splits.

Dan R definitely has an 'A' standard as per GB selection guidelines by placing top20 in Osaka, as the previous poster says.

I fully agree, well organised and certainly not short.

Heck, in Berlin, Milan and Frankfurt they had .9ks followed by 1.1ks - not so in Dublin. Well measured. And please don't argue that every mile is a little short.

That course is not fast and albeit a 2:09 is sweet, it's still 3 mins. off the very fast times. Yes, it was a white guy running that, but - I beg your pardon - it was a Russian (FWIW).

It may be possible that Dublin was a short course when those past guys ran 2.13, Ghost, but the course for Dublin marathon these days is not the same as that run years ago. The new course has been in operation from some time after 2001, at least i know the 2001 route is different from that run in 2006...course changed some year between then to give today's route.

Sorry I wasn't referring to the Dublin course for McGann, Walsh and McDaid, but other courses in Eire which produced surprisingly quick times. Ireland had a few of those 'fast courses' during the time I was running there (in the 60's and 70's).

My old clubmate at Dundrum Athletic club - Roy Dooney, will be able to confirm the veracity of the distance for this Dublin Marathon.

Ghost in Korea

Ghost

No need for that, I'm in Dublin and it is correctly measured.

BTW, can a marathon be listed by AIMS and NOT be correct?

No company at 67 halfway for Andy jones?

There were 10 finishers between 2:14 and 2:25 maybe tag along with one of those.

Or just say - hey he had a nightmare

Good luck next time out.

if you looked at the results you would see most of those guys went out in 65 and blew up. If you are looking to run an even paced 2.15 +/- 3 mins these days you are not going to have many runners for company in any marathon

You guys truly consider Abyu a Brit? I just saw a picture of him and he looks like my Ethiopian colleague. What's his story? Heck of a distance runner.

One thing I fail to understand is how these Ethiopians, Sudanese, Somalians come to the UK seeking assylum and then they spend the winters going back to train or visit family and friends, surely if their lives were in danger when they lived there they are also in danger when they travel home?

Good point - most of those guys are simply economic refugees. I saw the same thing happen in Canada, where I moved to in 1998. Canada is such an easy place to gain refugee status. In fact, so many of the people simply destroy their documents, and then automatically gain temporary status in Canada when they arrive there and ask for it. It can take years to sort out the cases, and many go underground if in danger of being sent back.

Some of the best runners in Montreal are from Algeria, on refugee status, even though Algeria is no longer a dangerous country in that respect. Quebec loves those guys because they are French speakers.

The whole business makes a mockery of who the real needy refugees are. Australia takes a hard line on that, and Canada should take note.

Ghost in Korea

You could argue that Abyu is more British than Jon Brown......lives and races more in the UK than Jon Brown.

A respectable time and good running but wouldn`t say you are a heck of a distance runner these days with 2hrs 10mins.

2:10 is a heck of a runner for a Brit in the current climate, but not so great for an Etheopian.

You could argue Abyu is more of a Brit than Jon Brown, if you were a dick.

Ha, you must be one of the 100 or so people in the WORLD who can run quicker. 26.2 miles at sub 5 pace makes you a heck of a distance whatever the current world record - FACT. Its a similar argument to saying Richard Branson isn't filthy rich cause Bill Gates is worth a lot more.

2:10 is a great run for someone with Abyu's previous credentials.

Looking at his results over the last couple of years, one finds him racing 10ks and half marathons mostly in the 30 minutes and 67 minutes range - good times on the domestic scene, but there was little indication, until recent weeks that Abyu would run as fast as he did in Dublin.

Example of 'typical' 2:10 type marathon man.

5000 - 13:30 or slightly faster

10.000 - 28:00 or faster

Abyu is nowhere near those shorter distance times, and he may be more a 'pure marathon type' runner, like Italians Bordin and Bettiol, who had best 10k times around the 29 minute mark or just under.

A few athletes in my entourage have immediately said, following his run 'Abyu is doped' but it would not be good to rush to that kind of quick condemnation, and as someone else pointed out, Abyu had been racing in Britain for money for a few seasons and that prevented sensible training and racing plans.

Now that he has won some funds, and will possibly be in line for more substantial offerings, it might be in Abyu's interest to follow a more judicious program of less racing and better planned training.

I only hope that this run was not a fluke, as some athletes are suggesting, and we shall have to see how he recovers and moves on from there.

Ghost in Korea

Okay but now you are putting down criteria as to what qualifies one to be a heck of a distance runner. "for a Brit in the current climate."

Don`t get me wrong excellent run and not saying he won`t run faster in due course and become a heck of a distance runner.

Don`t think you are a heck of a distance runner cos you compare favourably to Brits in the current climate.

Heck of a runner in my mind is someone like Tergat.

Dick.