Belfast City Marathon marred by tragedy after man dies

The highly successful Belfast City Marathon was marred by tragedy yesterday after a man in his early 50s died after collapsing during the race.
The mass of Marathon runners make their way along Holywood Road during the 2018 Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon. 

Picture by Brian LittleThe mass of Marathon runners make their way along Holywood Road during the 2018 Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon. 

Picture by Brian Little
The mass of Marathon runners make their way along Holywood Road during the 2018 Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon. Picture by Brian Little

The man, who is from Northern Ireland, is understood to have been running his first marathon, although he was described as having been “fit” and a regular runner.

The race started at 9am at City Hall and, at 9.55am, an emergency 999 call was made after the man collapsed at the Sydenham Bypass, around six miles in.

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The ambulance service were on the scene within four minutes and the man was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital but, sadly, he passed away.

Former Lord Mayor of Belfast, Alderman Brian Kingston, is a regular marathon runner and a member of Albertville Harriers.

After speaking with the race organisers, Mr Kingston said: “The man was into fitness and doing shorter runs. It is rare for someone to die in a marathon. It is over 25 years since we have anything like this in Belfast.”

He continued: “I’d like to express my deepest sympathies to the family on behalf of everyone associated with running. It puts everything into perspective. For someone to lose their life is deeply tragic.”

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The former Lord Mayor added: “I’d like to express shock and to say that the family are very much in all of our thoughts and prayers.”

The race organisers say they visited the man’s family in hospital to “pass on their condolences”.

The police said a post mortem will be carried out in due course but confirmed that the man’s death is not being treated as suspicious.

Around 17,000 people took part in the highly successful race yesterday, which was won by Kenyan Eric Koech.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the marathon committee, David Seaton, says that a new law requiring them to pay for their own policing could spell the end of the event.