Records fall as sun shines on Dublin marathon

'Yeah, yeah, I am going to buy a farm when I go home,' Kenyan winner of €15,000 prize-money declares. It was a day for records at the Dublin City Marathon yesterday Kenyan athlete Ruth Kutol (30) smashed the women's record by coming in 5½ minutes faster than the current record holder, Russia's Lidia Vassilevskaiaa.

Dublin man Tony Mangan expected to enter the Guinness Book of Records by running 231.18 miles on a treadmill in a 48-hour period - before running yesterday's marathon.

Collette O'Hagan completed her 100th marathon, in memory of her mother who died last week. Finnish athlete Tuomo Vilmunen ran his 300th marathon in Dublin.

But the greatest record for the 8,000-plus runners was that they did not have to battle around the course in a sheet of rain and wind. It was a cold but sunny morning when the flag was raised at 9 a.m. in Nassau Street.

This year's course ran in reverse, going through O'Connell Street at the beginning to avoid traffic disruption in the afternoon. It also gave athletes an easier run home, with most of the homeward course downhill.

A Scot, Kenny Herriot, was the first wheelchair user past the finishing line in Merrion Square just after 10.30 a.m. It was his third time to win the race in as many years, but this victory was sweetest as he cut 10 minutes off last year's time after a difficult season. "Today was fantastic, absolutely fantastic," he said.

But it was the Kenyan athletes who swept the boards, taking the top four places in the men's race as well as the top women's prize.

Onesmus Kilonzo (26) won the men's race which he ran in two hours, 17 minutes and four seconds. His fellow countryman, Lezan Kimutai, was just 25 seconds behind him. It was Kilonzo's first time to win a marathon. "I have enjoyed the race, but the first half of the marathon was a bit slow."

Asked if he would buy some land in Kenya with his €15,000 prize-money, he said: "Yeah, yeah, I am going to buy a farm when I go home."

The fastest Irish man was Donegal's Gary Crossan (32), who came sixth, three minutes and 23 seconds behind the winner.

"I was on my own for the last 24 miles and it's a long, long way if you are by yourself," he said, after finishing his eighth marathon.

Ms Fenya Crown (90) from the US dropped out after 15 miles, organisers said last night. "She was "going to have to talk to her trainer about strengthening her legs, as this never happened before" a spokesperson said.

The women's winner, Ruth Kutol, who also won the Madrid Marathon. And while it was just her fourth marathon, she was not surprised to win "because I had done a lot of training". She said she would return next year to break it.

The first Irish woman home was Annette Kealy, from Malahide, running her debut marathon in two hours, 43 minutes.