THE 2021 DUBLIN Marathon has been cancelled, organisers confirmed today. 

Thousands of runners were due to hit the streets on the October Bank Holiday weekend after last year’s event didn’t take place due to Covid-19 restrictions. 

However, there were concerns that the race would have to be postponed for a second year running, with the final decision pushed out from late June to mid-July. 

This morning, those fears were realised.

“It is with great regret that we are cancelling the KBC Dublin Marathon for the second year in a row,” said race director Jim Aughney.

“Despite vigorous evaluations, there are still too many unknowns to be confident that we could provide a safe event given the pure scale of the marathon.

We have a duty of care to the runners, volunteers, suppliers and supporters. This will be extremely disappointing news for all participants entered. We want to thank them for their continued support.”

He added: “We have come to a critical point in our event planning when a final decision needed to be made.

“We took into consideration the recent updates on modelling around Covid-19 and the immense challenges of creating a controlled, safe environment for the KBC Dublin Marathon which has a footprint of 26.2 miles with 25,000 runners and 200,000 supporters who line the streets to cheer them on.”

All entries are valid for the 2022 race and a full refund will be available for those who do not wish to avail of that. A Virtual Dublin Marathon will take place on 23, 24 and 25 October.