The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42km 195m, usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.
Nathan Hines is an Australian-born former rugby union and rugby league footballer. He played at international level for Scotland, winning 77 caps, and at club level for Edinburgh, Perpignan, and Clermont Auvergne among others. He also played rugby league.
John Richard Filan is an Australian football coach and former professional player.
Craig Mottram is a former Australian long and middle-distance runner who specialised in the 5000 metre event.
Iwan Gwyn Thomas is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European, Commonwealth Games and World 4 × 400 metres relay champion.
Ryan Hall is a retired American long-distance runner who holds the U.S. record in the half marathon. With his half marathon record time (59:43), he became the first U.S. runner to break the one-hour barrier in the event. He is also the only American to run a sub-2:05 marathon. However, this time is not eligible to be a record due to the course being point-to-point and a net-downhill course. Hall won the marathon at the 2008 United States Olympic trials and placed tenth in the Olympic marathon in Beijing.
Joanne Marie Pavey MBE is a British long-distance runner representing Europe, Great Britain and England in a career notable for its longevity, range and consistency. A World, European and Commonwealth medallist, Pavey won her only senior title when she claimed the 10,000 m gold medal at the 2014 European Championships in Zürich, ten months after giving birth to her second child, to become the oldest female European champion in history at the age of 40 years and 325 days.
Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah is a Somali-British former long-distance runner. Considered one of the greatest runners of all time, his ten global championship gold medals make him the most successful male track distance runner in the history of the sport, and he is the most successful British track athlete in modern Olympic Games history.
Scott Evans is a former Irish professional badminton player. As of 2017 he was the highest ranked Irish player.
Galen Rupp is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the Summer Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo. He won the silver medal in the men's 10,000 meters in London and the bronze medal in the men's marathon in Rio de Janeiro. Rupp competed for the University of Oregon and trained under Alberto Salazar as a member of the Nike Oregon Project. He won the 2017 Chicago Marathon, becoming the first American to do so since Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. Rupp won the marathon at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta with a time of 2:09:20, and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, where he finished eighth.
Gerard O'Brien is an Irish former professional footballer who played in the League of Ireland as a defender. He is the current Director of Football at St Patrick's Athletic, who he spent 5 seasons playing with. His former clubs also include Athlone Town, Kildare County, Shamrock Rovers, Derry City, Sporting Fingal, Bohemians.
Shalane Grace Flanagan is an American long-distance runner, coach, Olympic medalist and New York City Marathon champion. She was the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977. She holds the NACAC area records in both the 10k and 15k road races.
Seán Kevin O'Brien is an Irish retired professional rugby union player. He previously represented home province Leinster for eleven seasons. At Leinster, he helped the team win four European titles, and was named ERC European Player of the Year for the 2010–11 season, he then played three season's for English Premiership Rugby side London Irish.
Abel Kirui is a long-distance runner from Kenya who competes in marathons. He had back-to-back wins in the World Championship marathon in 2009 and 2011. Kirui won in 2009 with a time of 2:06:54, then defended his title with a winning margin of two minutes and 28 seconds – the largest ever margin at the World Championship event. He earned the silver medal in the 2012 London Olympic marathon.
Lawrence 'Larry' Quinlivan Bulger was an Irish rugby union player, athlete and doctor. Bulger played international rugby for Ireland and in 1896 was chosen to represent a British Isles XV in their tour of South Africa. Bulger, who was nicknamed "Fat Cupid", was described as an elusive runner and a devastating tackler, one of Ireland's outstanding players.
Richard David Telford AM is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood and Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s, although he mainly played reserves. He went on to become as a leading Australian sport scientist and distance running coach. He was the first sport scientist employed by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).
Jessica Stenson is an Australian athlete who won the gold medal in the marathon at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. As a long-distance runner, she competes in distances from 5000 metres up to the marathon. She represented Australia at the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the marathon.
Stephen O'Brien is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for the Kenmare Shamrocks club and at senior level for the Kerry county team since 2014.
Molly Seidel is an American long distance runner. Seidel represented the United States at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country in 2012, 2013, and 2018. In her first-ever marathon, Seidel placed second at the 2020 U.S. Marathon Olympic Trials. Later, she went on to win the bronze medal in her third career marathon at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. At the University of Notre Dame, Seidel was a 4-time NCAA champion, 6-time NCAA All-American, 6-time Atlantic Coast Conference champion and 2016 female ACC Athlete of the Year.
Jacob Riley is an American long-distance runner. He placed second behind Galen Rupp at the 2020 US Olympic Marathon Trials, securing a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Riley finished the race in a personal best time of 2:10:02. Riley was the first American in the 2019 Chicago marathon, in a time of 2:10:36.
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