Sunday marathon is common sense: SDLP

The comments come after DUP Alderman Brian Kingston said his party would have “very strong concerns about the impact on churches”.

From 2019 onwards, organisers are proposing moving the race from the traditional May Day bank holiday Monday to Sunday of the same weekend.

SDLP South Belfast councillor Donal Lyons has welcomed the proposed change of date.

“The marathon is a fantastic event and holding it on a Sunday is a common sense proposal,” he said.

“A move to Sundays would clearly benefit runners, the marathon itself and the wider city.

“These benefits could all be wasted, though, if proposals to change the route aren’t thought through.”

Relegating the starting and finishing point to an outer suburb like Stormont, as organisers propose, will waste much of the potential, he said.

“In the Ormeau Park and surrounding roads cheering on the runners has become a new tradition.

“Families, businesses and churches line the final approach with bouncy castles and barbecues and this shouldn’t be abandoned for a road to nowhere.”