My Life with Mary Nolan Hickey: I've completed more Dublin marathons than any other woman in Ireland

Mary Nolan Hickey is an Irish athlete from Arklow, County Wicklow, known for being the only woman to have completed every Dublin Marathon since its inception in 1980.

Back in the day you weren’t allowed to do anything when you were pregnant, never mind run a marathon.

So you can imagine the girl at the registration desk’s surprise when she spotted the bump underneath my coat. I was a little more than six months gone with my youngest son Calvin, who is now 36, at the Dublin Marathon. Noticing her shock, I placed a finger to my lips as if to say sshh! Luckily, my secret was safe and she handed over my registration number without a fuss. In reality, you can do a lot of things while pregnant. I got through the marathon without any trouble that year. Just like in any other race you find a way to navigate the obstacles. Of course, there were no Portaloos back then so I had to knock on a few doors along the way.

I have another son, Tony who is 37 now. Sadly, I lost my oldest son, Stuart to tragedy when he was just 20. My boys are hugely supportive of me and were very proud to see the Mary Nolan Hickey Perpetual introduced for the women’s elite race at the Irish Life Dublin Marathon. The gesture marked my contribution to women’s marathon running in Ireland. I competed in every Dublin Marathon between 1980 and 2024, 43 in total, in addition to two virtual editions during the pandemic.

Women like me weren’t always celebrated the way they are today. It was quite the opposite when I started out.

The first group I joined was St Benedict’s AC in Arklow which was founded by Nancy Quinn and Breda Sinnott. These two ladies were very ahead of their time. After all, this was back in 1968 when there weren’t a lot of women involved in sport. At 16 years old, I had already left school early due to family circumstances.

There was nothing I was really interested in doing but I happened to wander into the club one day. A lady tapped me on the shoulder and asked me who I was. I explained that my brother was a good runner. “Well, you must be a good runner too then,” she replied. I was taken to the start line and that was my first race. I think it was a half mile or something like that.

Being a trailblazer is difficult

It was difficult in those days because you were subjected to a lot of cat calls while out training. There were fellas shouting, “get your knees up” and that type of thing. That was off-putting, but when you love something that much, you refuse to let anything get in your way.

I didn’t really see the full extent of the attitudes until the marathon began. I remember training for my first one. You could see the guys looking at you, as if to say “you’re not really going to run a marathon, are you?”

Women didn’t really run marathons back then, bar the odd one in America or England. Out of 2000 people in the Dublin Marathon, there were just 40 women. I think the guys thought we wouldn’t be able to keep up with them. Little did they realise... There were a lot of them we could outrun.

As the years went on, everything changed. I’ve seen this literally from 1980 right up to 2024. The respect now has grown big time. In athletics, at least in races, the men know that the women are very strong and very fast. I actually know some of the good guys who will literally plan their race to try and stay with the lead women. if they’re not going to win the men’s race, they will try and stay with the group of lead women to get a good time.

They realise we are going to pace it really well and it will benefit them to try and stick with us. It’s magnificent to see the support that exists now.

I was always the kind of person who was never afraid to run on my own, but I can understand why some women would be afraid. I was always slightly too brave for my own good.

I don’t really race anymore due to injury, but I’m still moving very well for my age. I have a walking/jogging group in Arklow called the Trail Trotters and it’s lovely to be able to give back. I’ve helped a lot of people with their training for marathons or just for short 5K walks, over the years.

I’ve also done stupid things like run around the whole coast of Ireland. I called it the lap of the map to fundraise for the RNLI. I ran the whole coast of Ireland, north, south, east and west. It was a magnificent journey and we raised €70,000 that year for the RNLI. I’ll be 74 in June and am told I need a hip replacement.

Although I’m not running the marathon anymore, I’m still up there enjoying myself, having breakfast with the Lord Mayor and presenting trophies. I’m seeing it from a completely different perspective now, instead of the pain and agony of trying to do 26 miles. It’s an honour after all these years to still feel a part of it all.