Kiernan in the rare auld times

Running: The inception of the Dublin marathon in 1980 proved to be a catalyst for the original running boom in Ireland, and for Jerry Kiernan, it was a glorious time.

“For me, the Dublin marathon was everything,” recalls running legend Kiernan, who made his debut over the classic distance in Dublin in 1982 in a course record time of 2:13:45 which stood until 2004.

“I’m not going to compare it to the Olympics but I ran in the Olympics (Los Angeles in 1984) in the marathon because of Dublin. If the Dublin city marathon never existed, I probably never would have realised I was good over the distance.”