Dublin City Council has given permission to expand the number of runners able to compete in this year’s SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon by 2,000.
This brings the number of places to a record 19,500 for the race which will this year be held on Sunday October 30th.
It means that Dublin can now lay claim to being Europe’s fourth largest marathon behind only Paris, London and Berlin.
Last years race had only 13,000 finishers and the significant step up in popularity can be attributed to a shift from the bank Holiday Monday which often proved a drawback for overseas visitors.
With half of the 2,000 competitors who took part in the Ironman challenge last weekend coming into the country as tourists, and the Affidea Rock’n Roll Half Marathon attracting runners from 53 countries earlier in the month, these big mass participation events are succeeding in drawing sports tourism that delivers real value.
That value is currently being determined to a much greater degree of accuracy than before and we will be following closely the initiatives from Failte Ireland that could become possible with this greater degree of knowledge.
A waiting list has been created to reallocate the additional entries with priority going to those who have competed in the 2016 SSE Airtricity Race Series.
Dublin City Council is substantially increasing its emphasis on sport with the creation of the new Dublin City Sport and Wellbeing Partnership at the end of last year and strong support for major events including the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Euro Championship Finals.
