Serious traffic restrictions remain in place in the capital today as the 24th Dublin City Marathon takes place.
Around 8,000 people from 40 different countries began the gruelling 26-mile race in cold, clear conditions at 9.00 a.m. this morning.
A large majority of them will have only had a fleeting glimpse of the eventual winners of the race. Kenya dominated the roads, with Onesmus Kilonzo winning the men's race and Ruth Kutol setting a new course record of 2 hours 27 minutes and 22 seconds to claim the women's title.
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Competitors in the 2003 Dublin Marathon crossing O'Connell Bridge this morning
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The first Irishman home was Gary Crossan of Letterkenny, Co Donegal, in2:20:27 while the first Irishwoman was Annette Kealy, of Malahide, Co Dublin,with a time of 2:42:55.
More than 5,000 runners travelled from overseas for the event, among them90-year-old American Fenya Crown, who took up marathon running at the age of70.
It is expected that the marathon will have generated €10 million for thecity's economy over the October bank holiday weekend.
Gardaí are manning checkpoints at a number of junctions throughout the city.
The Tara Street/Pearse Street junction to College Green will be closed until 3 p.m., while Merrion Square will remain closed to traffic until 6.30 p.m.
To ensure minimum disruption to road users, gardaí have set up five special traffic boxes to allow vehicles to queue and be allowed through the race route under supervision.
They are: Chapelizod, Templeogue Road, Angelsea Road, Merrion Road and Crumlin Road.
There are also restrictions to a number of Dublin Bus services, but it is expected they will be back to normal by this evening.