Graham knew Noel was a good runner so when Cork City Marathon Director Eamon Hayes was looking for someone to act as a pacer, he didn’t hesitate to nominate Noel. “I have done Half Marathons before, many, many, times – I know some people found today hot out there but for me, this one was very, very, comfortable and the weather was really in my favour.” Originally arriving in the UK on a fishing contract, Noel found himself being transported to Northern Ireland before coming south to the Republic where he is allowed stay on humanitarian grounds.
“We were set up initially to introduce asylum seekers to running but now we use running to build sustainable bridges between communities and to show that we are all equal,” he said.Īmong those participating under the Sanctuary Runners banner was Noel Adabblah (36) originally from the Volta region of Ghana but now living in Dublin from where he travelled to Cork for the race.
Organiser Graham Clifford explained that Sanctuary Runners was set up four years ago to bring people, especially migrants, asylum seekers and refugees together to foster friendship, positivity and respect. This year’s Cork City Marathon had the largest ever number of Sanctuary Runners with over 600 members of the group from over 40 nationalities competing in all three events. Sanctuary runners at Cork City Marathon: Thembi Tshuma, Noel Addablah and Sikyhanyiso Mpofu. “We have nurses, advanced paramedics, critical care paramedics, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, first responders – we had over 100 people around the course so it’s a big team.” He said that the medical team at the race were well experienced with over 100 personnel drawn from St John’s Ambulance, Order of Malta, Civil Defence, the Irish Red Cross as well as the HSE. “But to be fair, given the temperatures we had and the number of runners we had between the 10k, the Half Marathon and the Full Marathon, we still had very few people requiring medical assistance.”ĭr van der Velde said that only four of the 59 runners, who were seen by the medical team at the finish line, ended up being taken by ambulance to hospital and all were doing fine. “Some people experienced Exercise Associated Hyperthermia which is a rapid rise in temperature – it’s relatively common on a hot day like today so it’s totally expected,” he said. Cork City Marathon has passed off safely with a senior medic reporting less than 60 people from the 12,000 plus competitors requiring any medical treatment despite the warm temperatures.Ĭonsultant in Emergency Medicine, Dr Jason van der Velde said that 59 people needed medical treatment including some who were treated for exercise associated hyperthermia.
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