Dublin Half Marathon to return to Phoenix Park

The Dublin Half Marathon Review was published today. This review was conducted on the back of the major traffic and travel disruption caused when the event moved from its traditional location in the Phoenix Park to Newbridge House and Demesne in Donabate.

There were a number of recommendations issued in the report, but probably the most pertinent piece for runners is the news that the Half Marathon will return to the Phoenix Park next year:

The Chairman of Dublin Race Series, Jim Aughney said: “We would like to apologise again to all runners affected by the delay on the day. This was the first year running the event at this location. We had a full and comprehensive traffic management plan in place.  It is clear however that there were shortcomings and we will take on board the findings to improve the Race Series for 2018. We will revert to the Phoenix Park for the SSE Airtricity Half-Marathon in 2018.”

I think this will be welcome news to most runners as, aside from the issues with Newbridge House, the Phoenix Park is more attractive for runners travelling longer distances. For example, in the past I've taken the train up and back, hopped on the free shuttle bus from Heuston, and generally had a really enjoyable event....which I look forward to doing again in the future.

Main Recommendations:

The report goes into a lot more detail about what happened on the day and how this could be improved upon. It also includes recommendations for managing other events in Newbridge House. The report was completed by former Dublin City Area Manager Charlie Lowe. Here are some of it's main recommendations:

 A baseline assessment of Newbridge House and Demesne, as a venue for hosting events, needs to be carried out.

• A longer lead-in period, with earlier deadlines for completion of Traffic Management Plans and Event Management Plans, needs to be implemented for future events.
• A protocol needs to be established for communication, clarification and sign-off for any changes to traffic management and traffic control plans.
• A Steering Group structure, chaired by a Senior Official in Fingal County Council, needs to be established to oversee similar large events held in Fingal.
• Below the level of the Steering Group, all ad hoc groups should be formed by the Steering Group with names, roles and responsibilities assigned and a reporting channel established.
• For events in Newbridge House and Demesne, which are likely to attract large crowds, a community liaison committee (CLC) needs to be established.
• A permanent slot on Joint Policing Committee Agendas for 'major events attracting large crowds' should be established.
• A review of the operational performance of each of the stakeholders for the Half-Marathon event should be conducted by each of them in order to identify areas where improvements can be made for future events of this type.

Dublin Race Series and Fingal County Council have pledged to implement the recommendations of the Dublin Half-Marathon Review.

Dublin Half Marathon

With over 9,000 entrants this year, the SSE Airtricity Dublin Half Marathon is the largest half marathon in Ireland and one of the largest races in the country. Therefore it is interesting to take a look at the changing patterns in the race over the past 10 years, as it's a good representation of how running in the country has developed.

The Numbers

It'll be no surprise to learn that the number of entrants to the Half Marathon have grown steadily over the years. So too have the number of finishers, as displayed below. Actually when you look at 2015 and 2016, it would seem that popularity has increased even further:

Finishing Times

Are we getting slower? Probably not, although the average finishing time (based on chip timing) is a lot longer than 2007, this is most likely down to the fact that the 2,454 finishers in 2007 were probably closer to elite runners (running wasn't as popular). Whereas the increase in numbers up to this year has probably added more "casual runners" (like myself), hence the average times increase, see below:

Running Groups / Clubs - do they help?

This is not an exact science, but I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the performance of people who run in a club or running group against those that do not. There is a natural expectation that the average times of those in running clubs would be faster, because most, if not all, the elites will be members of clubs. At the same time, this balances out, as some of the running groups are targeted at first time runners looking to finish, rather than chasing a time.

• 2016
• Average Time of non-affiliated runners: 02:00:11
• Average Time of affiliated runners: 01:55:35

• 2015
• Average Time of non-affiliated runners: 01:58:24
• Average Time of affiliated runners: 01:53:25

In both years the runners associated with clubs or groups are on average 5 minutes faster than those that are not.

Male versus Female Runners

The increase in the number of finishers over the past 10 years has been heavily driven by more women entering the race. In 2007, 32% of the total finishers were women (just under 800). In 2016, 41% of the total finishers were women (just under 2,900).

Finishers from Groups and Clubs

Finally, for a bit of fun, here's the list of the running groups and clubs with the most amount of finishers this year. I'm not going to compare times here, because really that would be done as a team event, so a bit unfair to retrospectively do it. Here are the top participant clubs/groups:

Top 10 Athletics Clubs

Top 3 Running Groups