Dublin can be heaven, as the song goes, and yesterday it came close. The sun baked the streets for much of the afternoon as Sonia O'Sullivan left a field of almost 39,000 runners in her wake to take this year's mini-marathon.
Just after 3.30 p.m. Sonia swept up Leeson Street and down the south side of St Stephen's Green waving to crowds, her trademark wide smile painted from ear to ear as she took the winner's tape.
A 14-piece band, bagpipes and all, blasted away as the Olympic silver medallist towelled down. As the pipers played their lungs huffing and puffing going on further back on the 10km course.
After passing the end line, runners slouched over barriers gasping for breath. "I can't talk to you," said one competitor, "I'm too busy trying to breathe". Her expression said she wasn't joking.
On St Stephen's Green hundreds of competitors thronged around officials handing out drinks, and further down the street the queue for free massages had grown to hundreds. Some of the more composed competitors were enjoying their first post-race cigarette.
Brenda Cherry and Marian Moylan from Castleknock, Co Dublin, were looking forward to "a few drinks and a sing-song" . For Brenda, it was her 19th time to take part, and Marian has run the mini-marathon 17 times,"I've been taking part in this for 19 years now and Marian has done it 17 times," explained Brenda'.
She was raising money for the Action Breast Cancer charity.
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