Cork's Fearghal Curtin smashes Irish marathon record in South Korea

They say that records are made to be broken. 

But rarely in the history of Irish athletics has a national mark suffered such annihilation as that inflicted by Youghal athlete Fearghal Curtin when winning the Gyeongju International Marathon in South Korea at the weekend.

On a course not noted for fast times, the 27-year-old took the lead shortly after the start and proceeded to run the remainder of the race on his own, crossing the line in a time of 2:07:54 which knocked one minute and 42 seconds off of the previous Irish mark of 2:09:36 which Peter Lynch set last April.

Curtin’s time also saw the biggest improvement on the Irish marathon record for 40 years. 

He is now the fastest Irishman ever over both the half and full distance, following on from his 60:22 last month in the Copenhagen Half-Marathon When Lynch set his mark in Dusseldorf – a race where Curtin finished fourth in 2:11:35 – the Kilkenny man only improved on Tonosa Hiko’s time by just six seconds and in turn Hiko had only made a seven-second dent on Stephen Scullion time which had stood since 2020.

An indication that the course was not an easy one and putting Curtin’s performance into perspective, Antenayehu Dagnachew Yisma from Ethiopia who finished second in 2:10:33 has a PB of 2:06:55, while Stanley Kiprotich Bett from Kenya, third in 2:11:07, was all of four minutes outside his best.

Up to now, Fearghal’s running career has been somewhat under the radar but in an article in the Examiner, the day before, he spoke to PJ Browne about his plans and ambitions.

“This week, it’s realistic for me in Korea. It’s definitely the best shape I’ve ever been in, but my goal within the next three years is to get down to 2:05, 2:06, because that’s Olympic standard.

“I’ve never trained as much as before,” he stated, describing sessions at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona, which proved a huge confidence boost. 

“I linked up with a coach called Jon Greene and trained with some Canadians and American professional runners and if you’re not ready to push yourself in a session, you get dropped; you treat every workout like it’s a race.” 

As the Killeagh native reached the finish with little sign of distress, there to greet him with a huge smile on his face was his father, Noel. 

It was a fitting reward as Noel, who along with Ferghal’s mother Geraldine and sister Trish – all with a long involvement in sport - have been with him all the way since he started out in the U8 age-group at East Cork level almost 20 years ago.

“The event was aired live on national TV in Korea,” explained Noel. 

“I was speaking to one of the Korean journalists after the race and she said the commentators didn't know anything about him, but they Googled his name and found the Examiner piece and the content of that article kept them going. 

"The Examiner now has millions of new followers in Korea, as does Fearghal!” 

On the many congratulations and comments on social media, a recurring theme was the fact that Fearghal ran in his Youghal AC colours. 

Such a sight nowadays is rarely seen, usually the top performers are attired in the vests of whatever shoe company they are under contract to.

The race also proved to be a huge pay-day for Curtin as it came with a first prize of $50,000. 

But for this quietly-spoken and most modest of sportspeople, it never has been about the money. 

“I want to win medals and compete at global championships; running at elite level is pointless unless you’re going to be as ambitious as possible.” “Fearghal is now planning to do back to back marathons with Singapore next up in early December," said Noel. 

“There won't be any records there because it's hot, humid, and hilly.

“It's all part of his plan to run on technically difficult courses so that when he eventually gets his chance in a global championship, he can actually compete rather than being just happy to qualify.”