Sean Hehir and Pauline Curley stole the headlines winning the national titles at the SSE Airtricity Dublin marathon as Alemu Gemechu and Nataliya Lehonkova took overall glory ahead of a record entry of more than 15,000.

Eoin Callaghan goes into Monday’s record entry Dublin marathon on the cusp of realising a dream.

In recent times Kenyan distance runners have become regular visitors to Ireland where they run for local clubs and hoover up prizes on the road racing scene before returning to the Rift Valley.

A fifth victory in a row by Sergiu Ciobanu of Clonliffe Harriers in the men’s race in and a course record winning time of 54:20 by Maria McCambridge of Dundrum South Dublin Athletic Club were the highlight performances at yesterday’s annual Ballycotton 10 mile in East Cork — the 38th running of this Irish road classic.

It was a case of déjà vu at the Cork Marathon yesterday with Poland’s Bartosz Mazerski denying Gary O’Hanlon’s brave attempt for a third marathon victory in 15 days in a sprint finish down St Patrick’s Street, while Pauline Curley smashed her course record from last year when coming home in 2:43:37.

Weighed down with all his gear, Alex O’Shea blazed a trail into the book of Guinness World Records, shaving a massive 58 minutes off the record for running a marathon in full firefighting apparel.

Some 12,000 people took to the start-line as Ireland's fastest growing road race, the Barringtons Hospital Great Limerick Run, attracted record participants and crowds to the streets of Limerick.

Sean Hehir became the first Irish winner of the Dublin marathon in 20 years this morning.

Poland’s Bartosz Mazerski denied Clonliffe Harriers’ Gary O’Hanlon a fifth marathon victory in eight weeks at the Cork City Marathon yesterday, winning in 2:28:29 while 2008 Beijing Olympian Pauline Curley ran a new women’s course record of 2:47:44.

A trickle of blood from the occasional stumble, lots of dribbling sweat, but no sign of tears as the fitter citizens of Cork and Dublin took to the streets to give each other’s city marathon a run for its money.

A Polish man has won the Cork City Marathon.

Olympian Ciaran O’Lionaird returns to competition today 3,000m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in the Reggie Lewis Centre in Boston.

Geoffrey Ndungu of Kenya retained his Dublin Marathon title yesterday, finishing in 2:11.09, well outside last year’s course record time of 2:08.33.

Kenya’s Geofrey Ndungu successfully reclaimed his Dublin Marathon title in a time of 2:11:09 this afternoon.

Maria McCambridge won’t lack motivation when she contests today’s Dublin City Marathon.

Sergiu Ciobanu (Clonliffe Harriers) yesterday retained his Ballycotton 10 mile road race title with a powerful display in East Cork.

OVER 3,000 runners will go to the starting line for tomorrow’s “Ballycotton 10”, Ireland’s most enduring and successful road race.

NEWLY-CROWNED national senior cross-country champion, Mark Kenneally (Clonliffe Harriers), is among the entries for the phenomenon that is the Ballycotton 10 road race.

NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa finished within five seconds of the course record when winning the Lifestyle Sports adidas Dublin Marathon on his debut over the distance.

THE expression on his face as he powered his way up the home straight said it all as Drogheda athlete, Keith Kelly, buried 10 years of frustration at Santry Park yesterday by claiming the National senior cross-country title for the first time at the age of 31.

MARIA McCAMBRIDGE makes her marathon debut at the Lifestyle Sports-adidas Dublin City Marathon on Monday when her presence will add an air of excitement to the record entry of over 11,700 who will face the starter.

On his first return to competitive racing after some months out of action, Galwayman Mike O'Connor stormed to victory in the Lifestyle Sports-adidas Dublin Half-Marathon in the Phoenix Park.

A LITTLE over 20 minutes after Constantina Tomescu won the Olympic Women’s Marathon, Pauline Curley jogged into Beijing’s National Stadium to begin her own victory lap.

Paula Radcliffe insisted she would have walked all the way to the marathon finish line if necessary after her quest for an elusive Olympic medal ended once more in pain and tears.

PAULINE CURLEY had long abandoned her hopes of ever fulfilling her dream of competing in the Olympic Games when she got a text message telling her she had been selected for Beijing.

PAULINE CURLEY was in an amusement park in Torremolinos with her husband, Adrian, and son, Emmett — just 24 hours into their Spanish holiday — when she got news of her Olympic selection.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN has lashed the treatment meted out to 800m runner David Campbell in the selection of B standard athletes for the Olympic Games.

Three further athletes - 400 metres hurdler Michelle Carey, marathon runner Pauline Curley and 800 metres specialist Thomas Chamney - have today been added to the Irish Olympic team for next month's Games in Beijing.

THOMAS CHAMNEY was rewarded for a last minute dash from Heusden-Zolder to Dublin to compete in the Woodies DIY National Championships yesterday when he was named on the Irish team for Beijing.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN flew into Cork Airport yesterday on the last leg of his return flight from South Africa and the Corkman was flying so high after the last 10 days of his 22-day training camp at altitude that he could have done it without a plane.

VINNY MULVEY (Raheny Shamrock AC) raced to a solo and very satisfying victory in yesterday’s Ballycotton ‘10’ and then confirmed what more than 3,000 entrants proclaimed that this is the best 10-miler in these islands.

VINNY MULVEY (Raheny Shamrock), the winner two years ago when he also won the national senior cross-country title, will go to the line as the favourite when the phenomenon that is the “Ballycotton 10” gets under way on Sunday.

MARTIN FAGAN and Mary Cullen are named in the Irish senior teams for the European cross-country championships in Toro, near Madrid, on Sunday week.

Athletics Ireland today announced a 36-strong team for the European Cross Country Championships which take place on December 9 in Toro, Spain.

LEGEND has it that in the first ever marathon, the Greek soldier Pheidippides ran all the way from the city of Marathon to Athens to announce that his country had won the war against Persia in the battle of Marathon.

A family of 15 siblings today wearily trudged their way into the record books after completing the Dublin City Marathon.

Almost 11,000 runners and walkers will pound the streets of the capital tomorrow for the Dublin Marathon.

Gerry Ryan and Rosemary Ryan have won the Adidas Irish Runner Five Mile road races in the Phoenix Park.

Clare athlete Marie Davenport has won the 2007 Flora Women's Mini-Marathon in Dublin.

EVERYONE was a winner in yesterday’s Dublin City Marathon.

A Russian runner today broke the record for Dublin City Marathon by a minute and a half.

Over 10,000 runners and walkers will flood the streets of the capital on Monday as the Dublin Marathon gets underway.

A RECORD 4,000 women are expected to take part in the upcoming Irish Examiner-sponsored Limerick Women’s Mini-Marathon.

A record entry of over 2,300 runners is to take part in Sunday’s adidas Irish Runner Challenge – the first of the series in the Phoenix Park.