FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon to support
Athletics NI "Marathon Potential 2024"
The Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon event organisers have announced
that they will support Athletics Northern Ireland with Marathon Potential
2024, a special project that will deliver Olympic standard marathon runners
for Paris 2024 and beyond.
The project has been inspired by the Dublin Marathon Mission, which was put
in place in 2009 after a dearth of Irish representation at the Olympics in
the marathon event. It identified athletes with potential for the marathon
and provided support with coaching, group training and training camps with
the purpose of raising the standards of elite Irish Marathon running to a
level where all places on teams for Major Athletics Championships are
qualified for and Irish elite athletes become increasingly committed to and
competitive in the annual Dublin Marathon. Good progress has been made and
in 2016, six Irish athletes qualified for the event at the Rio Olympics
with more in contention. The Marathon Potential 2024 Project will aim to
support athletes, and their coaches, that have not yet fully moved to the
marathon distance but have the potential to do so and hope to bring the
next generation of Northern Ireland's marathon runners through.
Northern Ireland has a strong tradition of marathon running and can lay
claim to the 1912 Olympic Marathon Champion, Kennedy Kane McArthur.
Although McArthur became a native of South Africa, he was born in Dervock,
Co. Antrim and celebrated his success in the town, where he was greeted
with a torchlight procession, just eleven days after winning the Olympic
gold medal. This was followed with a silver Olympic medal at the LA
Olympics in 1932 from Sam Ferris who hailed from Dromore. Marathon
champions are as inspirational today as they were then, and their stories
provide motivation for the hundreds of people who sign up to run or walk
the revered 26.2 miles that make up the marathon distance.
Over the years, Northern Ireland has produced several international
marathoners including John McLaughlin (2:15:43), Tommy Hughes (2:15:39),
Marty Dean (2:16:49), Greg Hannon (2:13:06) and, on the women's side,
Teresa Duffy (2:35:27).
More recently, Athletics Northern Ireland has enjoyed supporting the
progress of Paul Pollock (2:15:30), Kevin Seaward (2:13:39) Stephen
Scullion (2:14:34), Laura Graham (2:37:05), Breege Connolly (2:37:24) and
Gladys Ganiel (2:37:55). In addition to contributing to the targets that
Sport NI set for athletics, they have encouraged others into the marathon
and into more active lifestyles as we enjoy this current 'running boom'.
It is expected that some of these athletes will continue to improve and
represent Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics, but it is unclear where the next
cohort will come from for Paris 2024 and a strategy is needed to make sure
we have a pipeline of talented endurance runners who have targeted the
marathon as their long-term ambition.
The Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon organisers have come forward to
offer financial support for the Northern Ireland & Ulster Marathon
Development Project. They will provide funds for the hire of training and
workshop venues and for athlete travel and accommodation expenses to
competitions. The inter-area road competitions have been identified as
competitions where athletes involved in Marathon Potential 2024 will take
priority for team positions. See the selection policy here.
www.athleticsni.org/Athletes/Competition-Opportunities/Selection-Polici
es-Overview/Inter~Area-Road-Selections-2019
John Allen, Chairman of the Belfast City Marathon said, "We are looking
forward to working with Athletics Northern Ireland on this exciting
project. Northern Ireland has a long tradition of producing top class
marathon runners and we are more than happy to play our part in trying to
ensure that our present and future cohorts of possible elite runners are
given every opportunity to develop their potential to the full."
Jackie Newton, Director of Coaching and Athlete Development at Athletics NI
said, "We are delighted that the Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon are
coming on board to work with us on this exciting Marathon Development
Project. This extra support for performance-minded athletes and coaches
will help us to improve standards and performance levels in the marathon
event. With six marathon runners currently on our Podium and Commonwealth
Potential Programmes, we recognise a need for succession planning and for a
clear pathway for young endurance runners towards the marathon."
For athletes and coaches interested in being a part of the Marathon
Potential 2024, please fill in an expression of interest form here:
www.athleticsni.org/Athletes/Competition-Opportunities/Selection-Polici
es-Overview/Marathon-Potential-2024-Project
The required standards to have been achieved in the last 12 months are:
Men Half Marathon - 70 minutes; 10k - 32:00
Women Half Marathon - 78 minutes; 10km 36:00
The Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon is sponsored by Athletics Northern
Ireland, Daily Mirror, Belfast City Council, Better, Cool FM (Downtown
Radio and Downtown Country), Translink, Daily Mirror, Spar, Belfast Live,
Framar Health, Tayto and Four Star Pizza. This year's official charity is
Cancer Focus Northern Ireland.
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