special to Irish Runner.com by Eoghan Young-Murphy

From the impeccable precision of the organisation to the relative quality of elite fields, yesterday's Dublin Marathon was a resounding success, even if the paucity of home talent at the discipline was clearly illustrated.

There was a time this event was almost completely dominated by Irish runners, when winners from abroad were an aberration. Think of the days of Dick Hooper and Jerry Kiernan and Co when women's sallied out of their houses, juggling brown bread in one hand and an infant in another, to cheer on their neighbours.

It is well-known - and equally well documented - that the landscape has changed since then, that the standard of home-grown runners has declined demonstrably. Yet Monday's marathon was surely an all-time low.

Ireland's best World Class marathoner, or only, Mark Carroll, will be racing next weekend at the New York City Marathon.

No Irish man made the top ten: Ulster's Gary Crossan was first home - he was 13th in 2:23.18. How far short of world class running is that performance it is hard to put into perspective. Not only was he looking a two-miler marker as the winner breasted the tape, but, had he been involved in the women's edition of this year's World Championship in Helsinki, he wouldn't have ascended the podium.

Even by his standards the run was poor; his personal best, 2:19:35 set in Paris 2003, is almost four minutes quicker. His emergence five years ago as an athlete of considerable aptitude for the discipline created a groundswell of optimism that the barren period of Irish distance running could be brought to a conclusion.

But his only just managing to stave off Padraic McKinney for the National title - the Irish Championships were held in conjunction with the event - was a stark reminder of his failure to progress.

Equally, on women's side, the scene was bleak. Pauline Curley can be justifiably pleased with her debut performance of 2:42:14 for seventh, but she is well into the dotage of her career - ditto Lucy Brennan; she was tenth in 2:48:06.

Thankfully, at least the elite races were interesting.

This race, like most major marathons is customarily dominated by Kenyan runners. But the trend was bucked this year: Europeans were to the fore in both races.

Chances of record performances were considerable lessened by the inclement weather conditions - rain poured inexorably - but Dmytro Osadchy became within five seconds of landing the significant bonus on offer for etching his name in the history books.

Yet he gained some solace in knowing that his winning time of 2:13:14 was the second fastest ever, and also by the fact that he was the first from his native Ukraine to win Dublin. Winning by almost a minute - South Africa's Neo Molema was second in 2:14:08 - granted him sufficient time to savour his victory in the closing stages.

The women's race was devoid of any major fireworks, Zina Semenova coming first for Russia in 2:30:50, ahead of Russia's Larissa Zousko in 2:33:23.

Of course, it's the masses of entrants as much as anything else that has contributed to this Dublin Marathon finding a place among the best of its kind in Europe. And colour and joy and sweat and tears were all on show among the 10,000 or so who can boast on completing the classic 26.2-mile race.

adidas Dublin City Marathon - Monday 31st October 2005
Event Records
Men: Lezan Kimutak (Kenya) 2:13:08, 2004
Women: Ruth Kutol (Kenya) 2:27:22, 2003

Men's Top 10: 1) Dmytro Osadchyi, Ukraine, 2:13:14; 2) Neo Molema, South Africa, 2:14:08; 3) Oleg Bolhovets, Russia, 2:14:24; 4) Marco Mambo, Zimbabwe, 2:14:52; 5) Tomas Abyu, Ethiopia, 2:15:24; 6) Mikhail Iveruk, Ukraine, 2:15:48; 7) David Makori, Kenya, 2:17:08; 8) Matt Smith, Great Britain, 2:17:51; 9) Michael Ngaseke, Zimbabwe, 2:19:25; 10) Tseko Mpolokeng, South Africa, 2:21:25

Women's Top 10: 1) Zinaida Semenova, Russia, 2:32:50; 2) Larissa Zousko, Russia, 2:33:23; 3) Anne Kibor, Kenya, 2:34:75; 4) Viktoriya Klimina, Russia, 2:38:02; 5) Marashet Jumma, Ethiopia, 2:41:46; 6) Birhane Dagne, Great Britain, 2:41:52; 7) Pauline Curley, Ireland, 2:42:14; 8) Tadelech Birra, Ethiopia, 2:44:35; 9) Marnie Oberer, New Zealand, 2:45:07; 10) Lucy Brennan, Ireland, 2:48:06