Peter Lynch broke the Irish marathon record to finish third in Düsseldorf on Sunday morning, clocking 2:09:36 in only his second competitive run over the classic distance.
The 27-year from Kilkenny City Harriers eclipsed the previous mark of 2:09:42 set last October by Hiko Tonosa when finishing third in the Dublin Marathon. Lynch also improved his previous best by over eight minutes, the 2:17:40 he ran on his debut in Chicago last October.
Lynch had gone to Düsseldorf in excellent form, having run 45:59 for 10 miles in the United States earlier this month. That broke the Irish record for that distance which had stood to John Treacy since 1993, when he ran 46:25.
Treacy did run a marathon best of 2:09:15 to finish third in the 1989 Boston Marathon, a time that doesn’t count for record purposes due to the net downhill gradient of the Boston course.
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Düsseldorf was won by Alex Meier from the US in 2:08:32, ahead of Benson Mutiso from Kenya, who clocked 2:08:48. Fearghal Curtin from Cork also ran a fine ran race to finish fourth in 2:11:35, his first marathon finish after dropping out of the Seville Marathon last year after 31km.
Lynch was trailed off the back of leading group just after 15km, racing solo most of the way from there. His 2:09:36 is also inside the B-standard for the World Championships in Tokyo in September. The former student at the University of Tulsa also clocked 61:15 for the half marathon in Houston earlier this year and is clearly benefiting from the move up to the longer distances on the road.
