There are certain things you never expect to see or hear of in your lifetime. And an athlete finishing a marathon in under THREE hours has to be right up there in such terms.
Even that, though, is eclipsed by the fact 2026 winner – defending his men’s title from last year, John Korir of Kenya – nearly, very nearly in fact, went under TWO hours. Retaining the Men’s title on the streets of Massachusetts in a jaw-dropping 2:01:52.
Maybe the following is down to journalistic cynical skepticism, but I can’t be the only one pondering whether Korir’s astounding time was achieved in a legitimate manner. The only thing swaying belief that it may in fact have been a clean run is that the times recorded by all participants seemed to be well under what would surely be considered normal for the most gruelling sporting pursuit there is.
It’s surely not possible that such vast swathes of the field could have been on the funny stuff and have gotten away with it. Even though Paul Kimmage was his usual Doubting Thomas self. But then, I’d imagine you’d have to show him a calendar before he’d believe it was Saturday.
As an aside, that the wheelchair athletes compete over the same distance as their able bodied counterparts is truly astounding. Even to somebody in the cockpit of one!
However, the reason for what you are currently reading is to highlight the achievement of Dunshaughlin AC athlete Stephen Duffy who completed the stamina sapping endurance test in a seriously impressive 2:34:43. Giving him an overall placing of 581st out of a staggering 29,376 overall participants.
Now, while there are a few Duffy families in and around the Dunshaughlin area I wouldn’t be as familiar with that side of Stephen’s family as I absolutely would be with the Carey/Dowd side where sporting success runs through the veins.
With several cousins having won Meath SFC medals and everything else going when Dunshaughlin were at their peak, another cousin, Ian Dowd, captained Donaghmore/Ashbourne to win the Meath IFC while Ian’s dad, the late Ger Dowd, rode Brown Lad to win the Irish Grand National in 1978 for Jim Dreaper.
Stephen’s achievement is every bit as noteworthy as any of the others.
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