Rarely if ever in the history of the Dublin Marathon has there been such wild elation at the finish as exhibited by Hiko Tonosa on Sunday morning, his third place overall in 2:09:42 the fastest marathon ever run by an Irishman.
With that the 29-year-old, running for Dundrum South Dublin, took one glance up at the clock, then grabbed an Irish flag and promptly ran back down the finish on Mount Street to similar wild elation from the Dublin support.
“I was thinking to get the Irish flag around 1km to go, I couldn’t find it, but I knew one day I can hold this flag,” Tonosa said. “This is the one [country] that saved my life, so I need to hold this.”
Moses Kemei from Kenya took the victory in 2:08:47, the 31-year-old also taking the top prize of $15,000, making his decisive move inside the last couple of miles. Abebaw Desalew from Ethiopia held on for second in 2:09:24.
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Then came Tonosa, rewarded for his brave and beautifully balanced effort over the 26.2 miles. It’s been a long, hard road for the 29-year-old up to this point, in more ways than one, and his first reaction afterwards, the Irish flag still draped around his shoulders, was one of immense pride.
“It was a fantastic day for me, I’m so happy with my run,” he said. “I’ve come back from a lot of injuries. But it was my plan to get the Irish record anyway, and I’m so happy to do it in Dublin.
“For the European Championship marathon [in Rome in June], for the London Marathon [in April], I was very fit, but I had a lot of injury. But I didn’t tell anyone, because I needed something to happen. Because I was planning to stop running.
“Now, this was my home championship. Everyone said go to Berlin, but my plan was always to run Dublin.
Tonosa first sought asylum in Ireland from his war-torn village in Ethiopia in 2017. An Irish citizen since March 2020, he was on course to qualify for the Paris Olympics when passing the halfway mark in London last April in 63:39, before dropping off that pace.
Tonosa’s previous best of 2:15:01 was run in Valencia back in January – a time he smashed here by nearly six minutes. He also credited his former coach Feidhlim Kelly, the two remaining good friends, with Kelly also helping to convince him that Dublin would be his day of days.
Indeed, afterwards, Tonosa presented Kelly with his National marathon gold medal as a thank you gift: “And thanks to Feidhlim, who did a lot of me. He’s still my friend, my brother, he knows everything”.
Conditions for running were near ideal – no breeze, overcast, and dry – and after passing halfway in 64:13, Tonosa was sitting patiently in the group of around a dozen lead runners.
In the end, his 2:09:42 improved Stephen Scullion’s previous Irish marathon record of 2:09:49, from London in 2020. John Treacy did run 2:09:15 in Boston in 1988, although that doesn’t count for record purposes due to Boston’s net downhill gradient.
In all, Tonosa earned himself $5,000 for third, another €5,000 for breaking 2:12, plus the €3,500 for being top Irish finisher.
Emotions were also running high after Ann-Marie McGlynn of Letterkenny AC defended her national title in 2.34.05, good enough for sixth overall. The silver and bronze medals there went to Aoife Kilgallon of Sligo AC (2:35:56) and Grance Lynch of Dundrum South Dublin (2:36:09)
The race for the overall women’s victory was superfast throughout, Asmirach Nega from Ethiopia winning in a course record time of 2.24.13 (also winning $15,000), ahead of Sorome Negash (2.24.45) and Grete Dukale (2.28.29) also of Ethiopia.
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