Fiancee flourish at the finish for runner Deirdre

Distance runners often look lucky to be able to stand up after some races, but one man fell to his knees for a very different reason yesterday.

While thousands of runners will consider themselves winners after completing the Rock ‘n’ Roll Dublin Half Marathon, Scott Norton and Deirdre Cannon had a special reason to celebrate.

Just after the finish line, Scott got down on one knee to propose to Deirdre, who said yes.

There were many messages of congratulations to the couple, from Connecticut in the US, on Facebook afterwards, although one competitor remarked that she was “surprised she [Deirdre] had the breath left to say yes”.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Dublin Half Marathon mixed pavement pounding with drum pounding as it brought 7,500 pairs of legs around a 13.1 mile course.

Every mile the runners were greeted, not with the wall, but a wall of sound as DJs and musicians cheered them on, while a finish line party in the Phoenix Park was headlined by the Frank and Walters.

The idea for the race originated in the US in 1998 as a way of making running fun and it is held in 26 cities there each year.

It spread to Europe last year and Dublin took up the challenge for the second year running yesterday.

While many runners came out for fun, others were taking the event very seriously as the Athletic Association of Ireland’s National Half Marathon Championships were incorporated into the race.

More than 800 top club athletes competed for the title, which went to Mick Clohisey from Raheny Shamrock AC, completing the race in 1:05:54, but the overall winner was the appropriately named Scott Overall from the UK who won in 1:05:19.

Sarah Mulligan, representing Dundrum South Dublin AC, came home first in the ladies race with a time of 1:16:02 in her first ever half marathon race.

Around 2,500 of the runners came from abroad, mainly from the UK, the US, Canada, France, Spain and Germany, and the event donated €1 to Special Olympics Ireland for every runner registered.

Among the local legs lending their support were those of race ambassador, TV and radio presenter Mairead Farrell, who completed the race despite having a heavily bandaged ankle.

Broadcasting sisters Gráinne and Síle Seoige, model Teodora Sutra and US television personality Carrie Keagan, also joined the throng.

For those for whom a half marathon was a bit too far, the event also included a 3km fun run with the run part substituted by job, walk, skip or buggy push in many cases. Participants here ranged in age from 76 to just four months.