Another triumphant year of Belfast's much-loved marathon

Northern Ireland was emerging from the worst of the Troubles and there was a widespread yearning to do normal and happy things.

Marathons were cropping up everywhere, and it might have seemed that marathon running would be one of the 1980s crazes such as roller discos or ice skating, or one of the sports such as snooker that surged in popularity before waning.

But it hasn’t turned out that way. The Belfast race has not only become a fixture in the Province’s leisure and sporting calendar, it has been growing. This year, the 35th event, was the largest ever in terms of the number of participants. Some 17,000 people took part in the main race or an accompanying event. That represents 1% of the population of the whole country. Many more people than that watched and cheered.

The marathon is not only an advertisement for healthier living, which is no bad thing in a time of rampant obesity and physical inactivity, it is also a boon for good causes. Many runners compete on behalf of a charity.

We report today on three striking examples of that: Brendan Rodgers, the former Liverpool manager, ran for the Northern Ireland hospice that cared for his dying father in 2011.

But there were two other notable participants yesterday: Louise James, who emerged from almost unimaginable grief after the Buncrana drowning tragedy that killed five of the people closest to her, to run to raise money for muscular dystrophy, the condition from which her son Evan had suffered.

And Philip Cairnduff, who pulled off the remarkable achievement of being the first liver transplant recipient to run the Belfast marathon. He did so on behalf of the Royal Liver Support Group and in memory of the unknown woman whose liver saved his life.

They were the ultimate ambassadors for an event that symbolises human endurance and will in the face of adversity.