Marathon Challenge:The Dublin marathon attracts thousands from overseas. Lindie Naughtonfinds out why.
Not only does the Adidas Dublin Marathon bring about 11,000 runners and walkers to the city each October, it gives the local economy a lift at a traditionally quiet time of the year.
"This year, we will have between 2,200 and 2,300 from England and over a thousand from the USA and Canada - and they don't just fly in the day before and leave immediately afterwards," says race director Jim Aughney.
About 10 years ago, when entries for the marathon had dropped to less than 2,500, the committee of the time targeted North America, making promotional visits to the big marathons in New York and Boston and persuading charities to include Dublin in their roster of fund- raising events.
"From the start, we decided we would personalise our marathon. We do our best to make everyone who travels to Dublin for the marathon feel special," he says.
Before 9/11, up to 3,000 were travelling from the US each year.
"That number is down, but a charity such as Team in Training, which raises funds for leukaemia, will bring over 600 this year - only 322 of those taking part in the marathon," says Aughney.
In 1988, Martin Joyce and his wife, Colette Cowlard, organised a small trip to the Dublin marathon. "It was the first tour we ever did. We got 50 or 60 from the UK and put them all into B&Bs. Then it dawned on us that we'd have to collect them all on the day, which meant visiting 15 to 20 B&Bs. We did a rethink after that!"
As Sports Travel International, the pair still bring groups to the Dublin marathon.
"With the American economy in the doldrums and the euro now at 1.40 to the dollar when it used to be 1.20 the other way, coming here is very expensive for Americans. Fortunately, the number of European visitors continues to rise," says Joyce.
One man with a very special reason for running Dublin is Eike Tank from Berlin, as he explains: "In 2000, I got very ill with bladder cancer after working in nuclear medicine for 40 years. I said to myself if I finish the Dublin marathon, I will survive my operation and I will live."
Though he was ill and had never run before, Tank got around in four hours and 40 minutes. He has returned to Dublin every year since
"I love my beautiful wife, my three daughters and my four grandchildren and I tell myself that as long as I run Dublin I will live!" he says.
In all, Tank has now run 41 marathons and gets plenty of attention because of the tube he has attached to his groin and foot.
"If I stop for a rest, I have to tell people that there is nothing wrong," he says.
Next year, after a further trip to hospital in November, he hopes to run the first ever Ethiopian marathon.
"From 1964 to 1966 I was in Ethiopia to build a leper hospital and I have gone back regularly since. We have just built a school in a small town 150 kilometres outside Addis Ababa, with all the money raised by runners," he says.
One of the first overseas marathon runners to discover Dublin was François Leobon. So impressed was he by his run here in the 1980s that he started organising a regular tour through Thomas Cook.
"That was 25 years ago and I have now retired. My wife and I, both of us former marathon runners, adore Ireland and we still come for at least a month every year to Delphi in Connemara for fly-fishing and walking. We plan on doing this for as long as we can because nowhere else have we come across such genuine and warm people," says Leobon.
Over the years, he and his wife have backpacked across Ireland, relishing the peace and the fresh air: "When we first came here, Dublin had a village atmosphere. Now there is building going on everywhere and the wild places are threatened by bigger roads and overdevelopment. We think this is a pity."
A few years ago, Philomena Lawrence returned to her native Dublin to run the marathon. Her husband, Bob, takes up the story. "In 1972, before the Munich Olympics, the Olympic torch came to Ireland.
"My wife was a medallist in the Irish Schools Athletic Championships and was selected to carry the Olympic torch down O'Connell Street. So when she ran the marathon, she was returning to run the streets of Dublin."
A newcomer to the Dublin marathon on October 29th will be 23-year-old Erin Sprague, who is aiming to become the youngest person to have run a marathon on each of the seven continents.
A Harvard graduate, Sprague has already run marathons in North America (New York), Asia (Beijing), Africa (Kilimanjaro) and South America (Sao Paolo). After Dublin comes Antarctica and Australasia.
In each city Sprague has linked up with a local charity, such as Aids prevention in Africa. In Dublin, she is running for Co-operation North.
"Erin's family is originally from Monaghan, so that's why she picked Dublin for her European marathon. We are delighted because we still have a lot of work to do in the North," says Suzanne Connolly of Co-operation North.
Not many people realise that, since the peace process began, the number of so-called peace walls has increased. "While life in most communities has improved, in certain pockets it is still atrocious," Connolly says.
"We work to bring communities together. For instance, we brought 20 kids - 10 Catholic, 10 Protestant - to Lurgan to meet Roy Keane and the Sunderland players. They weren't able to sleep they were so excited - and they saw that Mickey doesn't have horns, nor does Sammy."
Tank, Sprague and other overseas visitors add greatly to the atmosphere on Marathon Monday. "It wouldn't be the same without the cheerleaders the Americans bring with their groups," says Aughney.
Indeed it wouldn't. Remember to give all our overseas visitors a big cheer on the day!
