There were a lot of disappointed runners in Ireland last week when a lottery was held to allocate places for next year’s Dublin Marathon on Oct. 25. A record 47,000 applications were received and with only 17,200 places allocated through the ballot system, naturally not everybody was happy. A statement from the organizers of the race said: ‘‘The new ballot system delivers a more balanced and inclusive outcome, improving fairness for newcomers and supporting gender diversity, with hundreds more women set to be on the line in 2026, making a positive step forward for representation across the field.’’ When demand for entries began outpacing supply, the lottery-based ballot was introduced after the 2019 race. For next year’s race the organizers decided to scrap the preferred entry route, which had guaranteed a spot to all those who entered the previous year whether they showed up or not.
Cue widespread anger and dismay among those runners who missed out and of course some of them rang RTE Radio’s “Liveline" show. Current presenter Kieran Cuddidy revealed that he once ran the Marathon in a pair of borrowed runners, which were a size too small for him. Part of the callers’ anger was to do with the €5 administration fee applied to all ballot entries to cover processing costs. For successful applicants, this fee was redeemable against the €110 entry fee. But with 29,800 of the ballot applications unsuccessful, €149,000 in administration fees were collected by the organizers from runners whose name didn’t come up in the ballot. As a not-for-profit organization, all this money goes back into the running of the Dublin Marathon and, like everything else in Ireland, that price is going up. The organizers were upfront about this administration fee from the start. The other option would have been to increase the €110 entry fee, which has been unchanged for the past three years.
It’s all a long way from the staging of the first Dublin Marathon back in October 1980. While on holiday in New York in autumn 1978, RTE producer Louis Hogan stumbled upon a still-fledgling marathon happening in Central Park. He reckoned a similar event in Dublin could be used as a platform to promote RTÉ’s new pop music station 2FM. They got 1,950 race entries by the September deadline that year, who each paid the £1.50 entry fee. The New York race started in 1970 with several laps around Central Park, and the 55 finishers paying a dollar entry fee. For the 2025 New York Marathon held in October this year there were 200,000 applications for the open ballot, which only accounts for 6,000 of the overall entry of 60,000.
CUP GAME A 1ST
FOR MUNSTER
We have had European Rugby finals played in Dublin and various European Rugby games played in Thomond Park, Limerick, The Sportsground in Galway and Ravenhill in Belfast. Now it’s Cork’s turn and we will see a European Rugby Champions Cup game on the banks of the River Lee for the first time on Saturday next when Munster play Gloucester at Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Musgrave Park in Cork has hosted URC games, but this will be the first time we will have a European Cup game in Cork. And the game will literally be on the banks of the famous River Lee as the river enters the sea after it passes by the famous GAA ground in Ballintemple.
NIENABER’S FAMILY
‘REALLY ENJOY DUBLIN’
Leinster Rugby’s senior coach Jacques Nienaber says quotes about him missing South Africa were taken out of context, and he is happy at Leinster. Nienaber was a key part of South Africa’s management team, which won the 2019 World Cup, and he was head coach for the 2023 World Cup triumph in France before joining Leinster, where he is contracted until 2027. A few days before Ireland’s game against South Africa at the Aviva last month Nienaber was interviewed by the South African TV company Super Sport, in which he said: ‘‘I miss the Springboks. I really miss the group, and one never knows.’’
However, Nienaber said the context of the answer was based on his time in Leinster so far, and dismissed he was preparing to go back to the Springboks. He said: ‘‘The whole interview was about my time in Leinster. I’m starting my third year and we are starting to make friends with our neighbors. You start making friends in Ireland that you can actually go on holiday with. That’s where we are as a family, and we are really enjoying it. My daughter is over on summer holidays, my son has one more exam and then he is joining. We are getting the family together over Christmas time, and we really enjoy Dublin and the club. I enjoy working with the players, and there is a lot of stimulation.’’
TYRONE HONOR TURBETT
Tyrone GAA is to honour former goalkeeper Thady Turbett by naming of the stands in Healy Park Omagh in his honour. Thady played for St Enda’s in his native Omagh and, enjoyed an illustrious career to become Omagh, Tyrone and Ulster’s most famous goalkeeper. Thady, who died in 2021, won six Tyrone county senior championships, two Ulster Senior championship titles with Tyrone, three Railway Cups, one McKenna Cup, one Gael Linn Cup and two Lagan Cups.
RYAN MAKES CLEAR
PREZ AMBITIONS
Tipperary’s Ger Ryan is the first person to allow his name go forward as a candidate to replace Jarlath Burns as president of the GAA at its annual Congress in February next year. Last week Tipperary GAA County Board gave its unanimous support for the Templederry Kenyons clubman to be a candidate for Uachtarán Cumann Lúthchleas Gael. Chairperson of Munster GAA from 2022 to 2025, Ger will bid to become the first Tipperary man to become GAA President in over half a century, seeking to follow in the footsteps of the late Séamus Ó Riain, who held the role from 1967 to 1970. There is speculation Wexford native Derek Kent, who is currently the Leinster Council chairman, is also likely to contest the election in February.
