At 23 miles Kenyan John Mutai was looking over his shoulder down Conyngham Road at the chasing Gerry Healy, almost football pitch distance behind. Mutai had developed a reputation for occasionally tying up over the final few miles and there was a faint hope that yesterday's Dublin marathon would, for the first time since John Treacy won in 1993, return an Irish winner.
To the surprise of few, however, Mutai held his lead, striding to the finish line in O'Connell Street in 2:15.18 ahead of over 6,000 runners to become the fifth Kenyan runner in five years to win the 98 FM Dublin City Marathon. Healy, however, maintained his tempo to finish second in 2:15.37 seconds, 19 seconds behind the winner.
A regular Dublin participant, the 33-year-old Mutai, recent winner of the Great Northern Run in Newcastle, finished fourth in Dublin in 1996, second in 1997 and third last year in 2:24.35, a time almost 10 minutes slower than yesterday. He will leave Ireland with £7,500 from an overall prize fund of £40,000. He also becomes the first recipient of the Noel Carroll Memorial Trophy, presented to Mutai by Noel Carroll's widow, Deirdre O`Callaghan.
"I made the right judgment today. I didn't think I would lose," said Mutai afterwards. "I ran the first half in 68 minutes and felt comfortable and at that stage I never thought I'd lose."
Healy will take comfort from the fact that his time would have won any of the Dublin marathons prior to Treacy's run in '93. The former kick-boxer from Civil Service won May's National Marathon in 2:18.06 beating veteran Dick Hooper into second place and has since won the National Half Marathon (66.02) and Cork Half Marathon (66.25), so his form was not unexpected.
"I was staying in behind. But he got away at 20 miles and I couldn't get back after that," said Healy. "I never thought about winning until late in the race. We both could have run a few seconds quicker I think."
Even though yesterday's time was a `B' standard for Olympic qualification, Healy is adamant that Sydney next year is not part of his schedule.
"What's the point of going to the Olympics and getting rubbished in the press for doing your best? What's the point? No, I really wouldn't like to run in them," said Healy. "I'll run next week in the Dublin Cross Country Championships."
Over a weekend when the world record was reduced to a margin almost 10 minutes faster than yesterday's winning mark, it is not difficult to understand 36-year-old Healy's intense frustration.
In the women's race Esther Kiplagat, having already won the Edinburgh marathon this year, made it a Kenyan double winning in 2:34.24, almost six minutes ahead of her nearest rival, Malta's Carol Galea.
Kiplagat, like many of the Kenyan runners, comes from a farming background and arrived in Dublin not knowing what to expect. She also took home £7,500.
"I was just coming (to Dublin) to try because I'd run another marathon a month ago. Running two in a month you never know. I ran 10 miles with everyone, felt good and then took the lead," she said.
The first Irish woman home was Donegal's Margaret Synott who finished in eighth place in 2:57.55. Running in her first race over 26 miles, the Finn Valley athlete's effort came off a fourth place in this year's National Half Marathon.
"I'll probably run more marathons. But not until next year, not until I get a bit more speed in my legs," she said.
The men's wheelchair winner John Fulham covered the course in a personal best of 2:54.00 with Colette O'Reilly taking the women's race despite suffering a puncture at 15 miles.
