Tommy Hughes: 'Without running, I could’ve been six foot under'

Irish Olympian Tommy Hughes turned in another stunning performance to smash the over-60s marathon world record on Sunday, clocking 2:30:02 at the Lisburn Festival of Running – an average pace of 5:44 a mile.

That took more than six minutes off the previous record, held by Japan’s Yoshinisa Hosaka since 2009, and it follows Hughes’ over-60s half marathon world record of 1:11:09 in Antrim last month. Hughes led home the seven-man field on Sunday, which was limited in size due to Covid-19 restrictions.

It caps a remarkable year for the man from Maghera in Co. Down, who ran for Ireland at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and who has a best of 2:13:59 at the marathon. Having fallen away from the sport several times following his elite career, Hughes returned better than ever in recent years, having overcome issues with chronic fatigue, depression and alcoholism in that time. “Without running, I could’ve been six foot under,” he said. “It kept me on this planet.” In Frankfurt last October Hughes smashed the over-55 marathon world record when running 2:27:52 and on the build-up to Sunday’s race he ran 120 miles a week in training.

Elsewhere, Seán Hehir was the fastest of 13,000 runners in this year’s KBC Virtual Dublin Marathon which took place over the weekend. Hehir, the 2013 Dublin Marathon champion, clocked 2:21:43 and while that was well short of his best of 2:16:01, it capped a great comeback for the 35-year-old Clareman, who was badly injured when struck by a car last December. Shirley Coyle of Raheny AC was the fastest female finisher, clocking 3:10:05.