Athletics Ireland apologises after error leads to 10km race being short

Athletics Ireland has issued an apology after a mistake caused runners in the national 10km championship to race over a course that was too short.

Sunday’s Great Ireland Run in Dublin ended up being only around 8.5km long after misdirection led to one part of the course being missed.

Around 2,000 runners had entered the race, which had an entry fee of €30 and was hosted by Dublin City Harriers.

All results and times were declared null and void, with no prizes handed out to the winners.

A statement read: “Athletics Ireland and the event organiser Dublin City Harriers wish to apologise to all participants for the unforeseen circumstances that led to today’s Great Ireland Run (incorporating the national 10k championship) being less than the specified distance.

“Athletics Ireland will continue to engage with the race organisers on the matter and update national 10k championship participants when further information becomes available.”

Athletics Ireland will now investigate with Dublin City Harriers to determine how the error occured.

Reports in Ireland say that around the 3km mark runners should have been directed to take a 1.5km lap in Phoenix Park but this was missed and it was too late to adjust the route to reach the full distance.

Last year Scottish athlete Elish McColgan saw here record-breaking time annulled after it was discovered that the Grat Scottish Run route in Glasgow had been 150m short.