A massive breakthrough run by Fearghal Curtin saw him smash the Irish marathon record on Saturday to win the Gyeongju International Marathon in South Korea.
The 27-year-old from Youghal, running in only his second marathon, clocked 2:07:54 to take one minute and 42 seconds off the previous Irish record of 2:09:36 set by Peter Lynch at the Düsseldorf Marathon last April.
Curtin also earned himself $50,000 (€42,888) for his victory in Gyeongju, upsetting the pre-race favourites, including several top African runners. He had gone to Gyeongju in excellent form having already broke the Irish half-marathon record when running 1:00:22 in Copenhagen last month.
He controlled the second half the race, passing 20km in 61:34, before producing a faster second half of the race to finish well ahead of Ethiopia’s Antenayehu Dagnachew Yisma, second in 2:10:33, with Kenya’s Stanley Kiprotich Bett third in 2:11:07.
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Curtin has represented Ireland at the European Cross-Country, and after several years running at US colleges including Arizona State University, has been based in Portugal this summer. He has already set his sights on the Singapore Marathon in early December.
In his debut marathon in Düsseldorf, back in April, Curtin ran 2:11:35 to finish fourth behind Lynch, but has now taken the Irish record below 2:08.
