:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/RAPNQI3BPEWBRMHAJPSETCXCJI.jpg)
A man has collapsed and died during Monday’s Belfast Marathon.
The runner, aged in his 50s, encountered difficulties at around the sixth mile, on the Sydenham Bypass near Victoria Park in East Belfast.
He was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in West Belfast, where he later died.
Two senior members of the management team visited the family in hospital, a spokeswoman for the marathon organisers said.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/UDLKUSMZZYGURXTICGR3CIYQXY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/K6UIMM2YHZCKYBWE7ANNYANXKY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7DPJPSPU2Q4NLTKVOF5GMPXHEU.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/4HNTHG7Q3MX7KU4IHRJQ5PQSYY.jpg)
A postmortem examination is expected to be carried out later to establish how the man died.
About 17,000 people entered the race, which was won by Eric Koech, from Kenya.
The Belfast City Marathon is one of the city’s showpiece events and attracts thousands of spectators and competitors who also take part in fun runs and relays to raise money for charity.
The event is in its 37th year.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/365cc36e-0bb8-4fb2-871b-ed273b2b038f.png)