Will the mass appeal of running marathons be dented by this week's death in Dublin, asks Ian O'Riordan
According to Greek legend, the Persians attempted to invade Athens in 490 BC but were held off in the small town of Marathon, about 25 miles north of the city. A messenger named Pheidippides was sent running back to Athens with the news, shouting "be joyful, we win!" upon his arrival, before dying of exhaustion.
There is no evidence this dramatic incident ever took place. That hasn't prevented it from inspiring the universal symbol of endurance, the 26.2-mile foot race. Yet despite that dramatic origin, the marathon was never seen as a life-threatening event.
In any test of human endeavour - be it mountain climbing or skydiving - one fatal accident is always one too many. Yet these are high-risk challenges. Marathon running falls at the other end of the scale, which makes any fatality during the race a particular shock to all those involved.
The death of a Co Louth man in last Monday's Dublin City Marathon was a tragic reminder that such fatalities can and do happen. In his mid-40s and active in several sports, Michael Morgan collapsed about 16 miles into the race and died of heart failure. There's no easy way to explain a sudden death like that, and it can't necessarily be attributed to the challenge of the marathon. This was only the second such fatality in the 27 years of the race, following the similar death of a man in 1986. So for organisers of the Dublin marathon, a sudden death is not something they ever expect.
"No, it's one of the things you have to plan for, rather than expect," says race director Jim Aughney. "From the very first stage of the race entry we advise people to consult their doctor, because of course the marathon is not something you take on lightly. And still we provide as many emergency services and mobile crews on the route as possible that can get to people if there is any trouble on the route. But at the moment I don't think there's anything more we can do.
"We don't want to frighten people off, either. We're trying to say that this is achievable by anybody that puts in a decent amount of training. If we go the other way, saying it's a mammoth challenge and you can't do it unless you have a cert from your doctor, that will only frighten people away, which is just not necessary."
The death of a participant is something most big city marathons have experienced. The London marathon has suffered six fatalities from heart failure in the 26 years of that event, and the 2005 Great North Run - a half marathon of 13.1 miles that draws of field of 50,000 runners - was overshadowed by the deaths of four male runners.
"A lot of references have been made to that Great North Run," says Aughney. "Part of that problem was people running in costumes on a very, very warm day. And a lot of hearings are going on there in order to prevent something like that happening again, and should we actually prohibit people in costumes, especially on a warm day."
Yet the profile of big city marathons has changed as their popularity has grown over the past two decades. All shapes and sizes can apply, which they do, and for the vast majority of starters it's about claiming the finisher's T-shirt. When Dublin was first staged back in 1980 the average runner had a stopwatch on their wrist and well-toned muscles. In recent years the average runner has a bottle of water in one hand and a mobile phone in the other. They'll have done little competitive running, one of their main tools of preparation will have been the treadmill, and an iPod is practically standard.
The marathon has become a sort of trendy challenge of the masses. In 2004, for example, there were 10,050 starters, with only 233 finishers breaking three hours, 2,795 breaking four hours, and 2,520 finishing in more than five hours. In 1981, there were 6,817 starters, with 608 breaking three hours, 3,977 breaking four hours, and only 342 finishing in more than five hours.
There are several reasons for these changes, not least of all a general decline in the overall fitness of the population. Many entrants come from the health-club background where running is an exercise programme, not a sport, and the charity element of the race draws in more novices.
"There is a shift towards the fun runner," says Aughney, "but I don't believe that means they're taking it any less seriously. We have seen the times slipping out further and further, and a smaller percentage finish under three hours. But there's nothing to support the idea that they're taking it lightly.
"Some marathons such as Boston and New York have qualifying times, but that's purely because they get more entrants than they can accommodate. They also have end-of-race times of around 6½ hours, whereas we leave our race open for eight hours, which allows people to complete the race in a slower time if necessary. And that's always been a large part of what Dublin is about, to be as inclusive as possible, rather than trying to tell the 50-year-old they can't run because they're too slow.
"Of course what happened on Monday took the shine off the race for us, and put everything into perspective about the event. We will look again and see if there is anything more we can do. We've been very unfortunate even to have two deaths in the history of the Dublin marathon, that's the way I look at it. But I don't believe it should scare people off. Everybody realises that it is quite a challenge, and that's why so many people want to do it."