VETERAN athlete Stephen Griffin enjoyed a happy 58th birthday on Monday when he came first in the Over 55s category in the Dublin City Marathon.

And the Blennerville man dedicated his feat to his late friend and St Pat’s GAA stalwart, Tony O’Donoghue, who died last month.

Stephen beat hundreds of other competitors in that category to complete the marathon in two hours, 49 minutes and 58 seconds (2:49:58). This was only his second marathon after competing in the Dingle race back in 2009.

“I’ve been trying to get to the Dublin Marathon for 30 years but something always got in the way, picking up injuries and so on. It was always in the back of my mid to run it and time was running out, so I decided in May to go for it. I got there at last anyway,” he said.

Stephen, brother of renowned local athlete John Griffin, has been competing for over 40 years and has won Munster titles in the one mile, 3,000m, 5,000m and Munster Cross Country honours over the decades. He said he felt comfortable during the race on Monday.

“My brothers were tracking me while I was running and they told me after that I ran the last 10k faster than the rest of the race. I was pretty good for time,” he said.

Stephen wrote notes to pace himself, pulling them out from his running shorts at various points on the route. Remarkably, before the race, he predicted in his notes that he would finish in 2:49:59, just one second off his actual finish time.

The Tralee Harriers club man wanted to thank physio Una Lynch for her invaluable help in preparing him for the race, which he dedicated after to Tony O’Donoghue, who died in September.

“He was a great neighbour and we were great friends. His wife and daughter gave me his cross and chain to wear around my neck during the race and I was honoured to have it. I was a bit emotional after to be honest,” said Stephen.