Live blog: 33rd Dublin Marathon
12:05pm: Runners coming over the finish line now are taking off their shoes to admire their blistered, bleeding soles. Our reporter assures us that depite the pain they look pretty happy "exhausted, but pretty happy".
12:00pm: John Buckley, on twitter, says theAir Corps team is setting a pace of 3hrs 45 min pace. "Still on in block formation. Running in step. Amazing!"
11:56am: According to sources on twitter, the Dublin Marathon is known as the friendly marathon. Which city then, one wonders, has the honour of hosting its miserable, unfriendly counterpart?
11:53am: First woman home Magdalene Mukunzi ran a time of 2:30:46
11:49am: Barbara Sanchez of Raheny Shamrocks is the second Irish women through.
Read Ian O'Riordan's interview with race director Jim Aughney here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/1027/1224325795821.html
11:46am: Conditions were ideal if a little bit windy going through Phoenix Park, according to Martin Conroy and Roger Barrett of Ballina Mathletics club, both of whom have just finished the race.
11:44am: Kevin Baker, of the Mullingar Harriers, falls to his knees, kisses the ground and blesses himself, his time: 2:38:25.
11:40am: Maria McCambridge glides over the finish line at 2:35, becomming the first Irish woman home.
11:39am: Sweaty hugs galore as Ireland's top club runners stream in at the 2:35 mark.
11:37am: Paul Pollock is the first Irish athlete to complete the race.
11:33am: Paul Duffy of Sportsworld digs deep to sprint home in a time of two hours and 30 minutes.
11:29am: Luke Jones, from Wales is the first of the wheelchair athletes to cross the line, while Paul Moran, a superintendent from Ballymun is leading the Garda field.
11:24am: In 2011 first, second and third place were all taken by Kenyan Athletes. Namibian Helalia Johannes won in the women's category while Sean Connolly was the fastest Irish athlete, completing the course in 2:18:52.
11:20am: Geoffrey Ndungu has done it again. The Kenyan has just crossed the finish line, winning this year's Dublin Marathon in a time of two hours and 11 minutes.
11.04am: The winner of this year's Dublin Marathon is expected to cross the finishing line within the next few minutes.
11.01am: A record 14,300 athletes have signed up for the event and there's hope that today's ideal conditions will see last year's course record of 2:08:33, set by Geoffrey Ndungu, bettered.
Some vehicular problems on the N4 this morning caused this reporter to be a bit slow off the mark for the IT live blog coverage of the 2013 Dublin Marathon. Still, as many of the athletes competing in today's race will appreciate, better late than never.
