Dublin Marathon 2017 saw over 20,000 athletes take part in this year's event. The route snaked its usual path from Fitzwilliam Street, through the south city and onto the Phoenix Park, through Drimnagh, Terenure, Belfield and Ballsbridge and finishing in Merrion Square. The first wave departed at 9:00am along the 42km route. Bernard Rotich (Kenya) won the race in 2:15:53 while Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine) won the women's race in 2:28:58 following her victory in 2015. Ireland's Patrick Monahan took the wheelchair title in 1:49:54.

The usual strong representation of approx 40 from Athenry AC travelled to Dublin. The group comprised some seasoned marathoners and some first timers. There were a number of PB and some great times.

Tammie Corrigan ran her second Dublin marathon and achieved a 13+ minute PB.

Kenneth O'Hara ran his 5th marathon and 4th Dublin marathon and completed this year's race in 3:50. Kenneth was happy enough as he contended with a chest infection on the day. His plan is to put more time into his training and knows he can clock a more competitive time. We will be watching out for Kenneth over the next few months!

Patrick Forde writes

My report.. warts and all...Dublin No 10 in a row.. 2008 through to 2017. So that was an achievement in itself. Not too happy with the run in.. leg problems, busy with life.. a bad dose of lazyitis.. But that said I got a bit done in the lead up and made it to the start line on the Sunday morning.

The plan was 3.45. It was a realistic target based on the way I was.The race went well early on. The pace was manageable. I ran with Kenneth and we chatted away about all the members in the Club.. no one got spared..Dublin was breathtakingly beautiful especially in the park.. probably the nicest I've ever seen. On 14 miles Ken pulled back so I pushed on.. TBH I missed his company.

The "Up Athenry " shouts were brilliant. Huge crowds in the villages and nice and quite in other areas. On 20 miles at the viaduct I started to feel pain. I knew I was going too good and it was pay back time. Experience told me to re-evaluate or I wouldn't finish.

I pulled back big time and found the last 5 miles hard going. It was brilliant to see the family on Mile 26. Even after many years of running it's still a very emotional moment to see family and friends as I finish. 3.49 crossing the line.. not what I was looking for but by no means a disaster.

As always the support from AAC members out on the road was very encouraging. Thank you to all of you and I hope some day to do likewise. This is a fantastic club made of a motly crew of mad people that love to do one thing ..run... long may that continue.

Patrick Forde

Pb for me..3.25.56..slowly but surely

David O'Sullivan,

Brian Somers writes...

I ran my second Marathon on October 29th (the other was Dublin in 2013) and am glad to say I ran a six minute PB coming in at 3 hours, 12 min, 2 seconds. My goal was to knock four or five minutes off my previous attempt so I am rather pleased with the result. I only really started to do Marathon specific training from around September 10th (I briefly attempted the Hanson Plan in August but dropped it as it was too difficult to go from 3 days to 6 days a week running!) so overall I am happy to "pull it out of the fire " a bit and do better than my previous attempt. I have to admit I was slightly nervous of the unknown last few miles but although I did feel tired thankfully I did not totally crumble.

My shorter distance times indicate I can possibly go a bit faster so I am hoping to get the time (and kop on!) to fully see through a Marathon plan and see what can happen! Once again wearing the Colours of Athenry AC made the experience amazing, and it was a Privilege to run alongside some fantastic colleagues, the bit of banter before the race felt like we were going off to do a handy 5 k as opposed to the DCM! The support from the Club around the route was also amazing, nothing like seeing a few familiar faces to make you straighten yourself up a little.

Brian Somers

Kieran Walsh

I got 3:19:46. It was my second marathon and gained about 16 mins on the first one so it was a new pb.

I ran Dublin and had it tough the whole way. I had a problem with shoes from early on and then suffered cramp which scuppered my chances of getting a category medal. Finished 6th of 43 in 70-74 age group and 10906th out of 15891 overall I think.

Martin Keane

Peadar Nugent

I completed my 38th DCM on 29th October, accompanied for the 7th year by Maire Treasa Beatty, in 5:33:57. This was almost five minutes slower than last year, but very satisfying nonetheless. Valerie was with the two of us for the first 20 miles, at which stage she moved ahead to finish with Michael Glynn, four minutes faster than MTB and me.

Congrats and well done to all!