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Dublin Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Dublin Marathon Information & Reviews

Course Rating Course 4.3 
 
Oranization Rating Organization 4.0 
 
Spectator Rating Spectators 4.2 
 
 
Number of comments: 267 [displaying comments 191 to 201]
More Comments: [ < 1 .. 18 19 20 21 22 .. 27 > ]

 

www.feckerabroad.com from munster in germany (7/20/2002)
"my first and best marathon" (about: 2000)


COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


Great spectators and atmosphere. I will be doing the 2002 marathon because of the party I had afterwards.

 

Jen Davis from Washington, DC (5/17/2002)
"My First Marathon, and best so far!" (about: 2001)


COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


Dublin was my first marathon and I loved every minute of it! The locals were very nice, especially those people from the coffee shop at mile2 who were handing out water to all of us who drained our bottles just waiting for the race to start. Hills were not bad, and it was a pretty flat course overall. The temperature was good, but the wind was a bit of a bother. I met my time goal! My only complaint was the carbonated water at the water stops, yuk! And also the plaques instead of medals at the end were disappointing. I have run one marathon since, and it was nowhere near as great as Dublin!

 

A Runner from Kansas (5/14/2002)
"Its the Guiness that is the goal" (about: 2001)


COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 4


My first marathon, did it with Joints in Motion. Organization...you are in Europe what do you expect it ain't America? The plaque given is a little disconcerting...the Irish Diaspora Memorial Statues...'not a real pick-me-up for a marathon.' The course was great the first 16 miles then you were west of the city in middle class homes. It was like America suburbia, a little boring. However, you can count pubs as you go to pass time. The spectators, if you are in a charity are great, and I even got encouragement from Senior Citizens with pots and pans claninging. It is in Dublin, a flat port city, and was worth the trip. The water issue. I liked carrying the bottle through the race. Then I could get rid of the thing when I wanted. You control what you can control.

 

A Runner from San Diego, California (4/9/2002)
"Cold, Wet, and Windy, but Fun!" (about: 2000)


COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 5


2000 was cold, wet, and windy (big surprise), but the crowds were great and the organization was excellent.

 

A Runner from NY, USA (3/15/2002)
"Sent to sidewalk at four hours" (about: 2001)


COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 2  FANS: 4


We had been told that the course would be open for eight hours. At four hours and at my pre-determined pace everyone was put on the sidewalk causing runners/joggers to move among spectators, Dublin citizens on their personal business, and walkers. As we progressed, the cones were picked up and we were told to 'follow the blue line'. The last two miles, on the sidewalk, was traversed through spectators. We were free to run only when we turned into the finish chute. I understand that the class runners were finished at four hours but the majority of any marathon field (especially one who includes walkers) is made up of over four hour finishers.

Another issue was two scheduled water stops that were without water.

 

A Runner from Los Angeles, CA (3/8/2002)
"Awesome 1st marathon" (about: 2001)


COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


The crowd support was incredible - they kept me going the whole way. Beautiful course, not too hilly. Well-organized, with the exception of running out of water. Many of the water stations had run out by the time I got there. I wasn't setting any records, but still, there should be enough water for everyone out there. I will definitely be back to enjoy the hospitality and enthusiasm of these gracious hosts.

 

A Runner from Nottingham, England (2/8/2002)
"Dublin 2001 womens marathon champion" (about: 2001)


COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


From Debbie Robinson (2001 Dublin Marathon Winner):

I would like to thank all the people from the US who attended the Dublin Marathon in 2001 for the support that they gave me throughout the race. This was a massive boost to me in achieving my personal goal of attaining a sub 2 hour 36 min time and spurred me on to the finish to win the race.

The condition were very testing, with the undulating course and the windy conditions. But God bless America and the Irish, with the great lift that your support gave me and carried me to the finish.

At present I am in training for the Commonwealth Games Marathon 2002 and will probably be running the Dublin Marathon again. A lot will depend on getting the training right, which my husband / coach Dave looks after. With the main difficulties being the looking after a family, working as a full time shop sales assistant and having to finance my running myself. I am afraid that in Great Britain, International athletes have to fund themselves and try and perform against full time professional athletes. It is very difficult, but I love the sport so much and when I do finally retire, I and Dave want to help others achieve their goals.

I hope that all America athletes, be it the casual runner to Olympic athletes achieve thier own goals and perform to your own personal standards.

One day I, Dave and My daughter Laura will be able to pass some of our knowlegde on to other runners and hopefully get some help to achieve our goals of starting a new life in the US. Starting a training camp for all types of distance runners and feel that we are wanted.

All our love

Debbie and Dave Robinson
33 Abington Avenue
Sutton in Ashfield
Notts. NG17 4NH
England

 

A Runner from New Jersey, USA (1/7/2002)
"Dublin is fabulous, Marathon needs work" (about: 2001)


COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 3  FANS: 4


I fully agree with Kathy from Wash. D.C., below. While I had a terrific time and PR'd by 20 min (the theory below about slower runners complaining about the refreshments is not quite correct- I ran a little over 4 hours) , I was very disappointed by the organization and amenities (or lack thereof!) for this event. I should note that the last marathon I ran was the New York, which is utter perfection in this regard. I was particularly surprised in light of the fact that Adidas has taken over sponsorship- instead of ensuring that the event matched up to the standards of a world-class race, adidas seemed only concerned with plastering its logo over everything in sight. The shirts were lame, the plaques not only weird and ugly, but thoughtless- not even a place to engrave one's name and time! The water stops were a joke- to be handed a tiny bottle with a screw cap while running is annoying- and the Lucozade-in full strength and also in screw-top bags- is sickeningly sweet to those unaccustomed to it. I therefore declined it at one stop, feeling sure that there would be water just ahead, but instead had to go another 3 miles (6 mi total!) with nothing, since as noted before either one or the other was offered at each stop. Other than that, I thought the bag drop-off was totally chaotic, with a mad crush of people coming and going in the same narrow alley, and there were no volunteers in evidence to answer questions. Also, thank goodness I never had to use a loo during the race, since I barely saw any en route! All these gripes aside, the people who did show up to cheer were wonderful, though again, the race seemed much less of an 'event' in Dublin than it is in NY and elsewhere. I hope that any race organizers who might read this would take these points as constructive critism rather than just plain crankiness, because I loved being there and running the race, as everyone does. Ireland as a whole is absolutely terrific, and I can't wait to go back!

 

A Runner from San Diego, California (12/31/2001)
"Great fun" (General Comments)


COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


Maybe because this was my first marathon and I don't have anything to compare it to, I disagree with a lot of the negative comments. I thought the course was beautiful, went through a lot of different neighborhoods (I'm a city person and like that sort of thing). The crowd was enthusiastic and oh so Irish. Maybe there could have been more, but hey, there are only 5 million people in all of Ireland. I thought the aid stations were fine and I actually liked the lucozade. The stations were every 3 miles, and consisted of water-only alternating with lucozade-only. By the way, I finished the marathon in 5 hours. It sounds as if a lot of the problems with aid stations and traffic happened with people who ran slower times. How much slower, I can't determine.
We hit the pubs after the marathon and listened to Irish music. What fun! Also toured around Ireland afterwards and had a great time. Overall, I thought it was a thrilling experience for my first marathon.

 

A Runner from Hassi Messaoud, Algeria (12/18/2001)
"Great City" (about: 2001)


COURSE: 3  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


15 of us from our local running club, took part in this event. 9 achieved PBs
and we all enjoyed the whole event, the spectators were great, and all along the route you could hear American voices telling you 'Looking good' which although at certain points in the race we found hard to believe, it still gives you that small lift. Apart from the race Dublin is a great place, and if you've never been, I thoroughly recommend that you visit sometime, it's a lot of fun.
And of course there's Guinness

 

More Comments: [ < 1 .. 18 19 20 21 22 .. 27 > ]


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