Madam, - We live in an era where most of the sports pages are devoted to profit-driven PLCs who are allowed to spy upon and maintain detailed files on nine-year-old boys and cajole and emotionally bully their families into parting with them in their early teens. Most are discarded and sent home from these football clubs when all chance of any ordinary education has long gone, with the remaining chosen few turned into a spoilt generation of sportsmen whose general character was recently summed up, pithily and perceptively by Mircea Sandu, president of the Romanian FA, as "d***heads who earn lots of money and believe they can do anything."
It was therefore a pleasure to read your article by Ian O'Riordan (Oct 23rd) applauding Mary Nolan Hickey who is among the elite band of genuine sportspeople who have completed all 24 previous Dublin City Marathons.
I hope the others among that special pantheon of runners will not mind if I single out another of their number, Dominic Gallagher, the Drumcondra masseur, for not only finishing every Dublin Marathon, but actually completing the entire 1989 marathon on crutches, not long after being helicoptered to hospital off the Wicklow mountains following a climbing accident where he dislocated his hip. Unlike Mr Mutu and co, Mr Gallagher's efforts have been fuelled by nothing more than his own homemade bread, unless there is perhaps some leakage of energy from the batteries powering the hand-held radio with which he can be seen listening to Morning Ireland most mornings, rain or sun, while training in Griffith Park in Drumcondra. Like all his 33 unsung marathon compatriots, such people epitomise the meaning of true sportsmanship. - Yours, etc.,
DERMOT BOLGER, Ferguson Road, Dublin 9.
Madam, - Jim Aughney, the director of the Dublin City Marathon, bewails the fact that the citizens of Dublin do not "embrace" this event (Irish Times, October 25th).
The reason, my dear Mr Aughney, is simple - most Dubliners regard this annual carnival as nothing more than a damn nuisance.
Such an outing is totally unsuitable for a small city of the size of Dublin.
Whereas larger metropolises such as London or New York can absorb a road race comfortably, our own capital city, as can be seen from the map, is effectively paralysed for the duration of this circus.
As I waited in traffic on Monday morning in order to get to work, watching these masochists (not one of whom appeared to be enjoying themselves) struggling to get to the finish, I thought to myself, yes, the inmates have finally taken over the asylum. - Yours, etc.,
D. K. HENDERSON, Castle Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3
Madam, - I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Eamonn Coughlan for all the advice he has given to novice runners in this year's Dublin City Marathon through his articles in your paper for the last number of weeks.
As a first-time runner in this year's event, I have no doubt that without having gained Eamonn's knowledge, I might not have completed my goal.
It was an unbelievable experience.
The support and encouragement from all spectators along the route was exceptional, especially along the horrific final few miles. - Yours, etc.,
STEPHEN McELWEE, Walkinstown Road, Dublin 12.