A sparkling autumnal day greeted runners in today's 29th Dublin city marathon. Think of clear blue skies, a seasonal chill and a stiff but not very noticeable breeze and you've probably got near enough to ideal running conditions. Easy for me to say however, without having to run myself!

As the early morning CityLink bus inched up the quays in Dublin around 9am, it was clear from all the traffic restrictions that something big was happening. Having to walk the last mile on foot, by the time we reached O'Connell Bridge and then College Green, the last of the walkers/late starters were off. The 2008 Dublin city marathon hadn't time to wait around any more for late arrivals up from the country for the day - this race was already happening on the road out of town.

Nothing for it then but to choose a suitable vantage point for later on. We decided on a spot just by the canal close to the last official water stop - somewhere between mile 24 and 25 where the effort already spent, begins to collide head on with thoughts of the finishing straight. Not too long to wait however because close to 11am the eventual winner zipped by with suitable fanfare. Not too long afterwards again and our own Mike O'Connor came over the crest of the bridge with his personal team of outriders - for your information, Gary Thornton can cycle a bike almost as fast as he can run! Looking very comfortable, Mike went on to retain his national marathon crown trimming the guts of 5 minutes off his 2007 time for a new personal best - a fantastic performance!

Other familiar GCH faces were soon to follow as the running traffic began to increase - Conor, Ian, Ruadhrí, John, Regina and Gerry were all moving far too fast for my camera. Recently injured, but happily fully recovered for the big day, Fit4Life's Donal Nelson looked remarkably comfortable out on the road and was always going to finish well under 4 hours in his first marathon for 8 years. Moving to another location closer to the finish-line, our adopted Kerrywoman, Caitríona Shanahan, was seen speeding around one of the final bends and also broke 4 hours comfortably.

With apologies to the remaining GCH runners that I personally missed out on the course - it was however a great privilege to see such large numbers from the west of Ireland in today's field with the vast majority running at the business end of things. The running clubs of GCH, Athenry AC, Castlegar AC, Craughwell AC, Loughrea AC, Tuam AC and Mayo AC can be justifiably proud of all of these fine athletes and capable marathoners. Your club colours were duly noted and I hope our shouts of encouragement helped you in some very small way on your personal journey today.

The west was most definitely awake in our capital city on marathon Monday!

We hope to publish a GCH runner's view of this race sometime soon. In the meantime, the first batch of images are now available via the following link: http://www.galwaycityharriers.com/albums/dublin-city-marathon-2008

With thanks to sisters Audrey and Thelma McMahon from Loughrea AC for being my spectating buddies for the day.