The 83-year-old Irish man who has ran every Dublin City Marathon since it began

Athenry veteran Peadar Nugent will take his place on the Dublin City Marathon start line again this Sunday, as eager as ever at the age of 83.

Peadar is one of only nine to have completed all Dublin City Marathons since that very first one 46 years ago. He acknowledges the passage of time of course; this year he hopes to complete the course in about six and a half hours, compared to his sub three-hour time in 1992.

Age has taken its toll, he says – although his modesty extends to ignoring the fact that he is the reigning over-80 champion and has been since he turned the decade.

This is the 45th Dublin City Marathon because the annual fixture was not run in 2020 and 2021, due to the Covid-19 restrictions on movement at that time.

That didn't deter Peadar, however, who ran 'remotely' during lockdown.

The first year, he ran a full marathon within the 5k restriction around his home place in Moyvilla, Oranmore, and a year later he ran around Esker in Athenry, when the rules were more relaxed.

Entry for this year’s race was open for only a two-week window last November.

A total of 47,000 applied for participation during this limited span. A lottery was used to determine who succeeded in getting one of the 22,500 coveted places available.

Upwards of 30 members of Athenry AC have taken part in it in all recent years. However, only eleven from the Club were lucky enough to gain entry this year through the lottery – and Peadar, the President of Athenry AC, made the cut.

He remembers back to the inaugural run, when only 1,421 finished, of which just 41 were women. The mix this year, between men and women, is close to 50/50.

Gone too is the mass start; participants are now divided into four waves of about 5,500 runners each, starting at twenty minute intervals. The starting gun for the first wave will be fired at 8.45am, while those in the fourth wave will hit the road at 9.45am.

The course begins from Leeson Street and the finish mat is passed after 26.2 miles at the Pepper Canister Church beside Merrion Square.

Peadar has said that he is just thankful that the Good Lord has given him the good health which he says he has generally enjoyed all his life, and which allows him still to complete such a gruelling event at his age.

“Of course, it is said that God helps those who help themselves and maybe I have helped himself by never drinking or smoking,” he says.

Born in Killimer in West Clare, he spent his working life in Dublin until he retired as a Registrar of the High Court at the age of 60 and moved back west – this time to Galway.

He has run all his life and competed with considerable success as a sprinter and triple jumper at national level into his late thirties – when, he says, his mind told him he could still run fast, but his legs had a different story.

This Sunday he will take it at his own pace as he modestly plays down his achievement; a remarkable man with a perfect record proving that a marathon commitment can last a lifetime.