All charitable life turns out for marathon

No wonder Sonia O'Sullivan broke the course record.

With more than 40,000 competitors stampeding after her in the women's mini-marathon yesterday, the safest thing for any Olympic hopeful was to stay well out of the way. Probably inspired by panic, the Cobh athlete knocked over a minute off the previous best time, and finished streets ahead of the opposition.

In fact, she finished suburbs ahead of most. But then, for the vast majority of participants, fun and fund-raising take first and second places in the order of priorities, with athletic performance a poor third.

The event has become a Who's Who of Irish and international charities, and the race announcer welcomed them over the finish line at St Stephen's Green like old friends: "Wexford Friends of Chernobyl, well done. The Christina Noble Foundation over there, fair play to you. Well done, Tipperary Cat Scan - you're still under an hour and a half."

All charitable life was there. A T-shirt with the messages, "Pigs on the Run" and "Free Irish Sows" belonged to Maria Baalack, originally from Sweden but one of about 10 people running for the Irish branch of Compassion in World Farming.

Their theme this year was the tethering of sows on Irish farms, Maria explained. "It was hens last year."

Ireland's huge transvestite population turned out in record numbers and in all shapes and sizes, massive bosoms being the only common denominator. But the announcer was taking a tolerant view: "Well done, Bray Cancer Support. You could have done with a shave this morning, but so long as you're raising money . . ."

There were plenty of genuine women, however - few more so than 4 1/2 months pregnant Catherine McElroy from Co Monaghan, who thought she should get two medals from the organisers. Perhaps as a precaution, her friend Alice Marron had her mobile phone with her throughout and got a call mid-race from her employers, Louth County Hospital, asking if she could come in and work. At least she had a good excuse.

There will be many sore limbs this morning, but none sorer than the arms of about 35 Institute for Physical Therapy staff, who provided free massages at St Stephen's Green. They did "four to five hundred" before the race, and there were queues around the corner of St Stephen's Green afterwards.

As somebody must have said, there's the rub.