{"id":105570,"date":"2025-10-26T21:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T21:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/105570\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T21:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T21:16:09","slug":"love-amid-the-chaos-at-dublin-marathon-finish-line-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/105570\/","title":{"rendered":"Love amid the chaos at Dublin Marathon finish line \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

About two hours after Dublin Marathon<\/a> participants started their 42.2km journey from Leeson Street Lower, wheelchairs were brought to the finish line as a precaution, alongside a stretcher flanked by medical staff.<\/p>\n

Amid the chaos at the finish line, staff frantically urged those waiting just beyond the crossing on Mount Street Upper to move back to make way for the runners about to arrive.<\/p>\n

Within minutes, American Daniel Mesfin jolted past the finish line. He proceeded to wobble and became the first of countless participants to vomit after achieving their goal.<\/p>\n

Soon after, he he said he had achieved his personal best time (2:08.51), despite the weather being \u201cvery windy\u201d and \u201ccold\u201d.<\/p>\n

The remaining participants of the 44th Irish Life Dublin Marathon, in which a record-breaking 18,486 crossed the finish line, came in thick and fast after that point. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Limerick teenager Ava Crean becomes youngest ever winner of women\u2019s national title at Dublin MarathonOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Medical personnel whizzed the wheelchairs around in unison, catching people as they slowly buckled. At one point, a woman was wheeling a runner off to the side before having to let go to catch another man as he fell on to nearby fencing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s carnage,\u201d one staff member could be heard telling another.<\/p>\n

In the middle of the chaos, and within seconds of crossing the finish line, Berta Qui\u00f1onero unfurled her sleeve and detached a ring from a bracelet on her wrist.<\/p>\n

She proceeded to collect her medal calmly with the ring in her hand, before spotting her partner, Kahumburuka Tuahuku, a 31-year-old originally from Makunda, Botswana, waiting for her.<\/p>\n

Having finished the marathon about an hour or so earlier, he smiled on seeing her emerge from the crowd of participants.<\/p>\n

On reaching him, Qui\u00f1onero, a 27-year-old originally from Barcelona, Spain, got down on one knee and proposed. He said yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I stopped caring about the race halfway through. I just wanted to get to the finish line,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just worried I was not going to make it because I was struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n

She denied being nervous in the lead-up to the proposal, saying: \u201cI had 42 kilometres to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuahuku, meanwhile, now wearing a ring on his finger, said he was \u201cspeechless\u201d but \u201chappy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Qui\u00f1onero first met her now-fiance in 2023 through the Sanctuary Runners, a group that aims to bring asylum seekers, migrants and members of the wider Irish public together through sport.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s journeys to Ireland \u201ccouldn\u2019t have been more different\u201d, she said, as an EU citizen.<\/p>\n

Tuahuku sought international protection in Ireland over safety concerns, and faced a \u201clong, stressful, and uncertain\u201d asylum process, Qui\u00f1onero said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKahumburuka never gave up on his case,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cHe chose to secure his protection on his own terms, with hope and patience. And he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the background, men and women in visible pain held each other up as they hobbled, while one woman cried silently as she walked alone to collect her medal.<\/p>\n

One runner shouted \u201cI f***ing did it\u201d on reaching the finish line, grabbing and hugging a volunteer unknown to him, while babies were pushed to the railings to receive kisses from their exhausted mothers.<\/p>\n

\"SarahSarah Dinneen from Galway with her husband Ryan McEnaney and their son Ted. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

Dearbhla O\u2019Moore, a 25-year-old originally from Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, burst into tears seconds after crossing the finish line just before 12.30pm.<\/p>\n

She was hit by a car in Mount Merrion about five years ago while out running \u2013 and had just a short while earlier passed the site where it happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was told I would never run again,\u201d she said, showing her emotion, adding: \u201cThere are no words.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I had my accident, running was like my identity,\u201d O\u2019Moore said, adding that her parents \u201cgot me through it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Her father, who died two years ago, inspired and motivated her in the aftermath. \u201cI did it for my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearby, crowds filled footpaths and steps and hung off railings in the hope of catching a glimpse of a loved one as they finally reached the finish line. Young children sitting on the shoulders of their parents rang bells which had been handed out.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Riain: \u2018We want to say the Dublin Marathon owns the city on the October bank holiday\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

On surrounding streets, people hoping to enter the city centre on foot for non-marathon related reasons remonstrated with staff who had refused them entry.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s letting me go anywhere,\u201d said a frustrated woman carrying an umbrella on its last legs.<\/p>\n

On Mount Street Upper, a woman cyclist attempted to push her way through a cordoned-off area, telling security staff that she had been \u201cstopped everywhere else\u201d, as others simply barged past the distracted security.<\/p>\n

Hours later, friends and family still lined the streets of the city centre in the rain, shivering, as they waited for their loved ones to reach them.<\/p>\n

Among them was a woman who saw her son emerge from the crowds before she shouted his name several times. He slowly made his way to the fence before he was pulled to his mother, who kissed his cheek several times through the metal as he cried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About two hours after Dublin Marathon participants started their 42.2km journey from Leeson Street Lower, wheelchairs were brought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[45574,61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-105570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-dublin-marathon","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}