Anyone here try to get in? I gave it a miss this time
I gave it a miss tooā¦the nervous breakdown I sustained somewhere between Crumlin & Walkinstown in late October was too fresh in my memory.
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I entered but got the thumbs down
Seems like a complete farce. Mustnāt have sent any emails to successful applicants yet. Had they said how many places were available in the ballot?
Nope. Gave some bluster about holding places for elites but that was all. Seems to be a minority with a pending status of sorts who youād assume will be in.
Be interesting to see if they release the numbers. Donāt think thereās any of the other marathons that charge you to enter the ballot. Iāve a good for age time so could probably get an entry that way in May like Iāve done previously. I can see this being a complete mess too as think previously if you had a time you were guaranteed an entry but with so little appearing to have been successful in the ballot I can see the numbers applying for good for age going through the roof.
Are you all set for Valencia?
Body is creaking but Iāll give it a lash. Sub 3.30 is long gone as a goal but sub 3.40 would still be a PB so will try aim for something like that
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Best of luck, itās a great race. I entered Chicago so thatās next marathon on my list. Entered Raheny 5 mile so will concentrate on the shorter stuff for the next while.
Fair play. Chicago is a great one. I think Iām slowly coming around to the realisation that my body is just not made for marathons so Iāll likely spend 2026 trying to build a bit of speed back up and maybe take in a half or two. I usually enjoy training and sticking to a plan but its felt like an absolute slog the last 3 months. Feel drained the whole time - not helped by busy work and home life. Maybe I need to get back to the hills in the new year or something.
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I ran Washington about a month ago and have only managed two short runs since. It was only when I stopped that I realised how much effort it took to lever 4-5runs/70k per week around family, work etc. It gets mental
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Yeah it is. The 2 of us are doing Valencia too which adds to it. Iāve taken the piss a small bit with getting runs done during work hours which has meant then working late on other days or over weekends to catch back up but it was the only way to find time with Mrs Macs long runs, Work related travel and kids sports / activities. She got pulled out of the ballot for London for next year which means sheās facing into it again from January! At least its only one of us this time!
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Dublin Marathon entry ballot creates some rage against winning numbers
Ian OāRiordan
Clearly lots of people werenāt happy with the Dublin Marathon entry ballot.
But nobody with ties to running in this country can say they didnāt know this was coming.
When demand for entries began outpacing supply, the lottery-based ballot was introduced after the 2019 event.
For next yearās Dublin Marathon, the organisers have scrapped the preferred entry route, which had guaranteed a spot to all those who entered the previous year (whether they showed up or not).
This move was aimed at increasing womenās participation and the number of first-time runners.
Yet it seems to have heightened interest in the crapshoot that is any ballot, which for the 2026 event opened for six days this month.
On Thursday, the organisers announced there were a record 47,000 applications for the 22,500 places available in next Octoberās event.
Of these, 17,200 were successful in the ballot, with close to a 50-50 split between first-time and returning runners. The remaining 5,300 slots will be shared among charity and international tour partners, good-for-age club runners, plus the elite men and women.
Cue widespread anger and dismay among those runners who missed out. Part of their anger was to do with the ā¬5 administration fee applied to all ballot entries to cover processing costs. For successful applicants, this fee was redeemable against the full ā¬110 entry fee.
But with 29,800 of the ballot applications unsuccessful, ā¬149,000 in administration fees were still collected by the organisers from runners whose name didnāt come up in the ballot.
As a not-for-profit organisation, all this money goes back into the running of the Dublin Marathon and, like everything else in this country, that price is going up. The organisers were upfront about this administration fee from the start.
The other option would have been to increase the ā¬110 entry fee, which has been unchanged for the past three years. Imagine some of the rage if that option had been taken.
Itās all a long way from the staging of the first Dublin Marathon back in October 1980. That had a little more to do with publicity than human endeavour, in this case the idea of Louis Hogan, then a senior producer with RTĆ Radio.
While on holiday in New York in autumn 1978, 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 RTĆās new pop music station, Radio 2.
Knowing nothing about running, Hogan turned to someone who did: the two-time Olympian Noel Carroll. Carroll was already familiar to RTĆ Radio listeners as public relations officer for Dublin Corporation.
Carrollās Monday evening slots on Jim OāNeillās Drivetime soon turned into a sort of evangelical plea for runners to sign up, some of whom knew little about the marathon distance involved.
Still they secured 1,950 race entries by the September deadline, who each paid the Ā£1.50 entry fee.
Consider how much the New York City Marathon has also grown over the years. That event began in 1970 with several laps around Central Park, the 55 finishers there paying a dollar entry fee.
For the 2025 New York event earlier this month, there were 200,000 applications for the open ballot, which only accounts for 6,000 of the overall entry of 60,000. In 2022, there were only 82,000 applicants in the open ballot.
Acceptance rate
This meant only 3 per cent were successful this year, which is incidentally a lower acceptance rate than Harvard, Princeton, Yale and every other Ivy League college in the US.
The entry fee is also substantially higher than Dublin, ranging from $255 (ā¬220) for New York residents to $358 (ā¬309) for international runners (all subject to an additional $11 processing fee).
All this helped generate a record $117 million in revenue last year for the New York Road Runners (NYRR), also a non-profit organisation that runs the New York City Marathon among other races in the Big Apple.
The New York City Marathon now attracts runners from 132 countries. Many of the entrants are there with international tour operators or else running for charity. Last monthās event produced a record 59,266 finishers ā breaking the previous record of 56,640 who finished the London Marathon last April.
Amazingly, of 59,662 starters, 99.3 per cent of runners successfully crossed the finish line in New York.
Still there was some rage against social media influencers who appeared to have successfully bypassed the ballot to gain a spot on the start line, as outlined in the 2,500-word breakdown of the race entry written by Joe Pompliano for the business of sport website Huddle Up.
From talking to some running coaches around the country this week, there was also some anger here about the number of social media influencers who appeared to be gaining entry to the Dublin Marathon.
There is nothing to suggest some or all of these were somehow bypassing the entry ballot, but in advance of this yearās event the organisers sent out a strict warning against the swapping of race numbers, particularly among men using womenās numbers.
āAny participant found to have sold, transferred or otherwise misused their race number will be banned (along with the recipient) from all future events organised by the Dublin Marathon,ā they said. It remains to be seen how strictly this will be enforced if those in breach of the rule are actually named.
Worrying decline
Meanwhile, after experiencing a worrying decline in the uptake of race-day entries in recent years, the Dublin organisers have reversed that trend over the last two years.
In the 2023 event, also a 22,500 sell-out, only 16,540 runners made the race start, with 16,347 listed as official race finishers ā meaning around 6,000 race entries went unused, despite all paying the entry fee of ā¬110.
Of the 22,500 for last monthās sell-out event, there just over 18,500 official finishers, meaning there were still 4,000 entries which went unused on the day.
Plenty of runners must be raging when hearing that, and the hope is anyone lucky enough to secure an entry for next yearās marathon wonāt be put off in any way. Time will tell on that front.
3:34 done. 3:30 was on for a while but the heat put an end to that so just made sure I got in under 3:35. 10 min PB. Happy out. Think thats enough marathons for another few years!
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Rome looks interesting. Iād be half inclined to enter just for the wander. Itās cheap too.
Thatās a brilliant effort. Chapeau.
Brilliant stuff, watched a bit of it earlier and looked hot. Great race, enjoy the beers.
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Donāt think I know anyone that has ran Rome, what time of the year is it on?
March. I donāt think it fills up so you can enter late. 75 quid iirc.
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Great run chief 
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Iāve only ran one in the spring, not a fan of the long runs this time of year. Know one or two that have entered Milan which is April I think. I wonāt do anything longer than half marathon before the summer.