Dublin marathon elite field

TRR

Anybody any news on the elite field for DCM this year. I wonder has the loss of the main sponsor going to have an impact. I can only guess it will.

Would have been great if Connolly or Keneally had of been down to run as they would surely have featured in a field without a string of sub 2.10 Africans.

pconn062

I was at a talk last week with Eugene Coppinger who organises the elite field for the marathon and he said they have lined up one of the strongest elite fields they've ever had including last years women's winner Helalia Johannes who has since lowered her PB to 2.26 (or 2.27 possibly?). On the mens side he said they will have a strong group of the usual 2nd and 3rd tier Kenyans and Ethiopians presuming all those who agreed to show up do. I think the National Championships on the mens side is going to be interesting this year with several of the lads capable of running 2.15. Hopefully someone can give you a few more names on the mens side.

rovers_runner

http://track.rtrt.me/e/TDL-DBMAR-2012#b=na&v=ptrack

Mens numbers 1-28 (elite)

#1 Geofrey Ndungu
#2 Charles Kibiwot
#3 Ernest Kebernei
#4 Demessew Tsega
#5 Jacob Chesire
#6 David Kisang
#7 Philemon Limo
#8 Lezan Kimutai
#9 Brandon Somba
#10 Johnstone Maiyo
#11 James Cheruiyot
#12 Othaniel Phahlane
#13 Andrey Minyakov
#14 Robert Kipchumba
#15 Dickson Terer
#16 Patrick Wambugu
#17 Abdisa Bedada
#18 Urga Negewo

#19 Sean Hehir
#20 Sergiu Ciobanu
#21 Andrew Douglas
#22 Gary Crossan
#23 Pauric Mc Kinney
#24 Stephen Scullion
#25 Barry Minnock
#26 Ben Jones
#27 Paul Pollock
#28 Gary O'Hanlon
#29 newbyrunner..........


Womens 101-115 (elite)
#101 Helalia Johannes
#102 Olga Glok
#103 Marina Kovaleva
#104 Derbe Godana Gebissa
#105 Natalia Punchkova
#106 Yuliya Ruban
#107 Faith Chemaoi
#108 Magdalene Mukunza
#109 Ashete Bekere
#110 Addisalem Mekonnen

#111 Barbara Sanchez
#112 Maria Mc Cambridge
#113 Pauline Curley
#114 Ailsih Malone
#115 Annette Kealy

tHE vAGGABOND

Its a bit strange, a few folks in work have asked me questions like this, about the elite field, folks who could not name a single top class male marathon runner - and then express shock when they learn there is no sponsor at all, that no one stepped in and took a one year option on the cheap [something which still amazes me tbh, and I simply cant believe no one did it]..

Great how folks who don't really care about running or marathons want their home marathon to be great, pride in their home city

brutes1

Colin Griffin No. 55 will be an interesting one..

average_runner

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

Its a bit strange, a few folks in work have asked me questions like this, about the elite field, folks who could not name a single top class male marathon runner - and then express shock when they learn there is no sponsor at all, that no one stepped in and took a one year option on the cheap [something which still amazes me tbh, and I simply cant believe no one did it]..

Great how folks who don't really care about running or marathons want their home marathon to be great, pride in their home city

I thought that also with the sponsor. I would of thought any sponsor at what ever price would be better than none.

Do they have a sponsor for next year?

Krusty_Clown

brutes1 wrote: »

Colin Griffin No. 55 will be an interesting one..

He's not running (or walking). Continued knee ligament problem cited, unfortunately.

average_runner

Is this person #29 newbyrunner worth a side bet? NR maybe?

Krusty_Clown

The real race is between #89 (Abhainn) and #90 (Pronator). I envisage 26.1 miles at 6:51 pace, followed by a crazy all-out sprint over the remaining 200m.

Plastik

A related, but slightly unrelated question, is there anyway of finding out how many wheelchair entries there are?

brutes1

Whos 29 - ??! silly guess Rob Heffernan??

Krusty_Clown

brutes1 wrote: »

Whos 29 - ??! silly guess Rob Heffernan??

We can't unveil the man behind the mask.

No, really, we can't...

rom

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

We can't unveil the man behind the mask.

No, really, we can't...

The stig ?

ecoli

Its the man who has John Treacy quaking in his boots about losing his record, this man took on Chuck Norris and won all off >20 mpw

nerraw1111

brutes1 wrote: »

Whos 29 - ??! silly guess Rob Heffernan??

Pretty sure no 29 is Kip Litton. A good dentist, but an even better runner.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/08/06/120806fa_fact_singer

woodchopper

Does the marathon mission approve of their athletes running around doing silly road races every weekend? Hardly going to help at around 11am next Monday when the fun begins.

Hard Worker

woodchopper wrote: »

Does the marathon mission approve of their athletes running around doing silly road races every weekend? Hardly going to help at around 11am next Monday when the fun begins.

While I agree with you about some athletes with unusual preparations, Marathon Mission don't own the athletes.

Hard Worker

Plastik wrote: »

A related, but slightly unrelated question, is there anyway of finding out how many wheelchair entries there are?

As far as I know, last years winner, Paul Hannan is competing. He will have stiff competition from Richie Powell and Luke Jones from Wales. There are at least two other wheelchair competitors also.

Hard Worker

Top 3 prediction:
Robert Kipchumba, Philemon Limo and Geofrey Ndungu.
Kipchumba is a former World Junior 10000 metre champion and has broken 60 for a half marathon on a few occasions. Philemon Limo was 7th in the World Cross Country last year and has also gone sub 60 for a half. Geofrey Ndungu is suited to the Dublin course and regularly runs in Europe.

pistol_75

woodchopper wrote: »

Does the marathon mission approve of their athletes running around doing silly road races every weekend? Hardly going to help at around 11am next Monday when the fun begins.

And 2 a lot of weekends :rolleyes:

brutes1

Hard Worker wrote: »

Top 3 prediction:
Robert Kipchumba, Philemon Limo and Geofrey Ndungu.
Kipchumba is a former World Junior 10000 metre champion and has broken 60 for a half marathon on a few occasions. Philemon Limo was 7th in the World Cross Country last year and has also gone sub 60 for a half. Geofrey Ndungu is suited to the Dublin course and regularly runs in Europe.

How about a top 3 Irish prediction HW??!!
Pollock looked class apart in the Nat half, but there are others with many marathons behind them in the field, Sergiu obviously...

TRR

brutes1 wrote: »

How about a top 3 Irish prediction HW??!!
Pollock looked class apart in the Nat half, but there are others with many marathons behind them in the field, Sergiu obviously...

Yeah I'm really interested in the race for the national title. It's great that Dublin can get these superb African athletes but I have more interest in the national side of things.

I'll be very interested to see how Pollock and Hehir get on. They've both got very decent half times (says the man who is at least 10 minutes slower than them ) but the marathon is a different beast and a good half doesn't always equate up to a class marathon. Will be very interesting

Pronator

I've heard that Heir has gone VERY well in training. While I agree that a good half marathon does not equate to a good full marathon, I think we could have a number of Irish breaking 2:18/19. If we get a good day and the wind does not blow we could get a sub 2:15 from one of them;)

Good luck to you all - it is my favourite marathon

shels4ever

Yep can't wait to this years race, need to try and make it to a few parts of the course now this year. Pity its not going to be on the box to record

pistol_75

Will it be a tactical affair between the Irish guys or will it be guys setting out with a certain time in mind trying to achieve that and seeing what it gets them?

Hard Worker

It might be difficult to estimate how Paul Pollock will go. He is definitely the fastest of the Irish. Not sure if he is ready yet to break 2.15. Sergiu will be reliable enough and should possibly be slight favourite, based on his vast experience. Sean Hehir is flying also. It should be a great race between those three. Barry Minnock won't be far behind either, although he ran the Gerry Farnan last Sunday and I don't know how he would be affected by that.
It would be nice to see Maria McCambridge have a pb. I'd say she is looking at trying to break the fastest time ever run by an Irish woman in Ireland. Barbara Sanchez should be in the medals. Probably a good race for bronze between two masters, Pauline Curley and Annette Kealy. There could be someone there to give them a race though.

TRR

Hard Worker wrote: »

It would be nice to see Maria McCambridge have a pb. I'd say she is looking at trying to break the fastest time ever run by an Irish woman in Ireland.

+1 don't want to drag up the whole Olympic marathon debate thing again but if there is one athlete who has a point to prove it's McCambridge. She has been going well of late so a pb wouldn't surprise me at all.

woodchopper

Pronator wrote: »

I've heard that Heir has gone VERY well in training. While I agree that a good half marathon does not equate to a good full marathon, I think we could have a number of Irish breaking 2:18/19. If we get a good day and the wind does not blow we could get a sub 2:15 from one of them;)

Good luck to you all - it is my favourite marathon

Yeah he apparently did a 24 mile run in 2.09.xx which is around 5.24 mile pace!

wgtomblin

pistol_75 wrote: »

Will it be a tactical affair between the Irish guys or will it be guys setting out with a certain time in mind trying to achieve that and seeing what it gets them?

Good question. Some of the irish guys may be able to get in a small group with other European athletes, while some may become quite isolated early on in the race. I'd say that tactics will play a big part.

Cock on the block time: I'll go for 1) Pollock 2) Ciobanu 3) Hehir, but very tough one to call.

RacoonQueen

Pronator wrote: »

I've heard that Heir has gone VERY well in training. While I agree that a good half marathon does not equate to a good full marathon, I think we could have a number of Irish breaking 2:18/19. If we get a good day and the wind does not blow we could get a sub 2:15 from one of them;)

Good luck to you all - it is my favourite marathon

Hard Worker wrote: »

It might be difficult to estimate how Paul Pollock will go. He is definitely the fastest of the Irish. Not sure if he is ready yet to break 2.15. Sergiu will be reliable enough and should possibly be slight favourite, based on his vast experience. Sean Hehir is flying also. It should be a great race between those three. Barry Minnock won't be far behind either, although he ran the Gerry Farnan last Sunday and I don't know how he would be affected by that.
It would be nice to see Maria McCambridge have a pb. I'd say she is looking at trying to break the fastest time ever run by an Irish woman in Ireland. Barbara Sanchez should be in the medals. Probably a good race for bronze between two masters, Pauline Curley and Annette Kealy. There could be someone there to give them a race though.

Sounds like it's a good year to be on the sidelines watching the action unfold.

TJC

Hehir, Ciobanu, Pollock, Minnock in that order.

McCambridge to take womens by a bit..

Pronator

I think McCambridge wants to prove a point to a few people who overlooked her for Olympic selection.

In my view she has nothing to prove but would'nt it be just great to see her run a PB and run the fastest time by an Irish woman in DCM!

If she could finish in front of TRR that would be an added bonus:D

She has handed him his a*s on a plate in recent times;)

TRR

Pronator wrote: »

If she could finish in front of TRR that would be an added bonus:D

She has handed him his a*s on a plate in recent times;)

The truth hurts, but you're still a bastard for bringing it up She doesn't know it yet but she is the unofficial TRR pacer

Tombo2001

personally I'd prefer if they didnt bring in the international (professional) athletes at all. I'd much much rather see the Irish guys battling it out and winning in 2'12 than some Kenyan guy winning in 2'06........who in the Irish public could name any of the past ten winners.

But when the likes of Dick Hooper and John Treacy were winning it, you had someone to cheer for, where you actually knew who they were.

Does anyone benefit from a Kenyan or Russian winning in 2'08, apart from the winner themselves? Does it matter for the profile of the race? Does it influence numbers participating? I dont get it.....

RayCun

Tombo2001 wrote: »

personally I'd prefer if they didnt bring in the international (professional) athletes at all. I'd much much rather see the Irish guys battling it out and winning in 2'12 than some Kenyan guy winning in 2'06........who in the Irish public could name any of the past ten winners.

I reckon there are few enough in the Irish public who could name any of the past ten national championship winners, so...

Tombo2001

RayCun wrote: »

I reckon there are few enough in the Irish public who could name any of the past ten national championship winners, so...

Thats true for sure, but if the national championship winner was the person on the six one news winning the Dublin City Marathon then there's a better chance they would know them.

On the other hand, even people in running clubs who are familiar with the Irish athletes would not recognise or know any of the african athletes when they run by at the front of the field.

TRR

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Does anyone benefit from a Kenyan or Russian winning in 2'08, apart from the winner themselves? Does it matter for the profile of the race? Does it influence numbers participating? I dont get it.....

I think so. If I am ever doing an overseas race I always look at the course record and past result, gives an idea how fast the course is. I know a couple of years back they were delighted when Aleksey Sokolov broke 2.10 as it showed runners that the course isn't much slower than some of the other big international marathons.

TFBubendorfer

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I'd much much rather see the Irish guys battling it out and winning in 2'12 than some Kenyan guy winning in 2'06

It's been a long time since a clean Irish runner ran 2'12, and that's not the fault of the Kenyans.

I doubt a lot of people would remember the past 10 winners even if they had been Irish.

Tombo2001

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

It's been a long time since a clean Irish runner ran 2'12, and that's not the fault of the Kenyans.

I doubt a lot of people would remember the past 10 winners even if they had been Irish.

Kenneally did 2'13.........I dont think man on the street will see a big difference betwee 2'12 and 2'13.

Look.....its my point of view. I'm more interested in the Irish guys running than the foreign guys.....or to be more explicit, I have no interest whatsoever in the foreign guys running in it when I have no clue who they are, where they come from etc. Again, thats just my point of view. I'm a spectator at this race, not a runner.

And coming back to your point, I remember Dick Hooper and Jerry Kiernan winning it when I was a kid. Thats because they were actually winning it, as opposed to being the first Irish person coming in 19th. I'd imagine Dick Hooper was a pretty well known athlete in Ireland in the 1980s, and that was mostly on the back of his performances in the National Marathon......which would contradict your view point that the public would not be aware of an Irish winner.

ultrapercy

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Kenneally did 2'13.........I dont think man on the street will see a big difference betwee 2'12 and 2'13.

Look.....its my point of view. I'm more interested in the Irish guys running than the foreign guys.....or to be more explicit, I have no interest whatsoever in the foreign guys running in it when I have no clue who they are, where they come from etc. Again, thats just my point of view. I'm a spectator at this race, not a runner.

And coming back to your point, I remember Dick Hooper and Jerry Kiernan winning it when I was a kid. Thats because they were actually winning it, as opposed to being the first Irish person coming in 19th. I'd imagine Dick Hooper was a pretty well known athlete in Ireland in the 1980s, and that was mostly on the back of his performances in the National Marathon......which would contradict your view point that the public would not be aware of an Irish winner.

The world moves on. The objective of every Race Director is to promote and develop their race to its fullest potential, Dublin,I think has done this very well. Dublin, because of its size and infrastructure cannot compete with the very big races like Berlin NY Chicago etc but it can be a leader of the next division of big city races.A big part of this is down to the elite field a race can attract. The onus is on top level Irish runners to achive times that would qualify them for the elite field. This would Id imagine be welcomed by Dublin Marathon organisers too and they have tried to encourage it through Marathon Mission

thirtyfoot

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

It's been a long time since a clean Irish runner ran 2'12, and that's not the fault of the Kenyans.

Has a dirty Irish runner ever ran 2:12?

nerraw1111

Some interesting facts about DCM

http://lindienaughton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/pre-dublin-marathon-irish-marathon-facts.html

"In April 1988, John Woods ran the fastest time by an Irishman on Irish soil when he won the National Marathon in Wexford in 2:11.30. In second place in 2:12.19 was Dick Hooper."

Tombo2001

ultrapercy wrote: »

The world moves on. The objective of every Race Director is to promote and develop their race to its fullest potential, Dublin,I think has done this very well. Dublin, because of its size and infrastructure cannot compete with the very big races like Berlin NY Chicago etc but it can be a leader of the next division of big city races.A big part of this is down to the elite field a race can attract. The onus is on top level Irish runners to achive times that would qualify them for the elite field. This would Id imagine be welcomed by Dublin Marathon organisers too and they have tried to encourage it through Marathon Mission

What does that mean - develop it to its fullest potential?

To increase the numbers? Well they've done that for sure. But I dont know if that has anything to do with the Kenyans who make up half the top ten.........maybe it influences overseas participation, I imagine it does to some degree.

Its all very well saying the onus is on the Irish guys to compete with the Kenyans, but that hasnt been happening, it isnt happening and its not going to happen.


My point is, that as a spectator spectacle, and this is my own point of view......I dont think the business end of the race is that interesting.

ultrapercy

Tombo2001 wrote: »

What does that mean - develop it to its fullest potential?

To increase the numbers? Well they've done that for sure. But I dont know if that has anything to do with the Kenyans who make up half the top ten.........maybe it influences overseas participation, I imagine it does to some degree.

Its all very well saying the onus is on the Irish guys to compete with the Kenyans, but that hasnt been happening, it isnt happening and its not going to happen.


My point is, that as a spectator spectacle, and this is my own point of view......I dont think the business end of the race is that interesting.

Im not a spokesperson for the Dublin Marathon but I dont think its just about partisapation numbers. Its providing the best race they can at the lowest cost, like any business.My first Dublin was in 96 and it was a very small event on the verge of extinction now its a thriving multi national event with a very strong global reputation. Not inviting foregin runners will lower Irish standards rather than raise them. Sport thrives on and exists because of competition.

woodchopper

The amount of Africans in the elite field is crazy. Do all these athletes undergo the WADA procedures? If they do not because of a lax system in Kenya they should not be invited.

Also cut the overall prize money and give it to the Irish competitors i.e the first Irishman and woman gets the same as the first overall winner in both events, the same for second and third.

This may cut out the number of Africans coming over looking for a big payday.

TFBubendorfer

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Its all very well saying the onus is on the Irish guys to compete with the Kenyans, but that hasnt been happening, it isnt happening and its not going to happen.

Not with that defeatist attitude, no.

There are plenty of non-Africans in recent years (American, Swiss, Japanese, Polish, Italian, .... ) who have run 2:08 or faster, which would be there or thereabouts to win Dublin these days. It IS up to the Irish runners to move up to that level, rather than saying elite foreigners should not be invited.

The marathon mission is trying to do just that, isn't it?

aero2k

thirtyfoot wrote: »

Has a dirty Irish runner ever ran 2:12?

Well, John Treacy was covered in muck when he won his second world XC, but he was much cleaner when he ran 2:09 in LA:)

shels4ever

Tombo2001 wrote: »

My point is, that as a spectator spectacle, and this is my own point of view......I dont think the business end of the race is that interesting.

It's been more of a race than most the majors the last few years, both men's and women's races have been very good, Proper races

Tombo2001

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Not with that defeatist attitude, no.

There are plenty of non-Africans in recent years (American, Swiss, Japanese, Polish, Italian, .... ) who have run 2:08 or faster, which would be there or thereabouts to win Dublin these days. It IS up to the Irish runners to move up to that level, rather than saying elite foreigners should not be invited.

The marathon mission is trying to do just that, isn't it?

2/3rds of what I said is a statement of fact. The other 1/3rd is a likely outcome, its nothing to do with 'poor attitude'. The United States has 300mn people. Japan has 130mn and Italy has 60mn. Sorry for stating the obvious here, but Ireland has 4mn.

Tombo2001

shels4ever wrote: »

It's been more of a race than most the majors the last few years, both men's and women's races have been very good, Proper races

Yep I'd accept that.

But my point would be that I'd rather watch the best Irish runners battling it out to win in 2'12 or 2'15 than watch a bunch of Kenyans/Ukrainians I've never heard of battling it out to win in 2'08.

Thats my point of view, its cleary not shared so fair enough, I have no quibble with the popular view.

Krusty_Clown

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Yep I'd accept that.

But my point would be that I'd rather watch the best Irish runners battling it out to win in 2'12 or 2'15 than watch a bunch of Kenyans/Ukrainians I've never heard of battling it out to win in 2'08.

Thats my point of view, its cleary not shared so fair enough, I have no quibble with the popular view.

That's the good thing about the Dublin marathon; you can do either, or both. Just ignore the field of international athletes as they run by, and focus on the national championship competitors.