There may be a few more runners on the streets around you this weekend as the KBC Virtual Dublin Marathon takes place in its Covid dispersed fashion.
Thousands of runners from among the 25,000 that would have set off from Merrion Square will instead take on the 26.2 miles (42 kilometres) distance in cities, towns and villages nationwide.
This is the second and hopefully the final year in which it will be held only in a virtual sense.
When announcing that this would be the case earlier in the year, race director Jim Aughney said at the time that he would rather be here on this weekend wishing that the race had gone ahead as normal rather than wishing that it had not. That was perhaps seen by some as a cautious approach but with a property that has a storied past and a strong future, it was also a smart choice not to play with fire.
“We would like to wish all runners who are taking part in the 2021 KBC Virtual Dublin Marathon the best of luck,” he added yesterday ahead of the weekend event.
“Training for a marathon takes a lot of commitment and many participants are also raising funds for charities and causes. We are very much looking forward to being back with the runners on the streets of Dublin in 2022.”
There is an app that runners can use to record their time which must be done continuously on either Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
The organisers issued eight tips yesterday, including to avoid running the actual course which would normally be completely different with road closures and crowds.
It is also urging celebration of the completion using the social media hashtags of #RunYourTown and #KBCVirtualDublinMarathon
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