Paul Pollock (born 25 June 1986) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

runner from

Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) * ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. He competed at the

Rio 2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

, finishing the marathon in 32nd position, in a time of 2.16.24. He was the first Irishman home, followed by his teammates Kevin Seaward and

Mick Clohisey Mick Clohisey (born 13 January 1986) is an Irish marathon runner. In 2014, he won the Vienna City Half Marathon and the 2014 Irish national cross country title. In 2016, he finished 32nd in the men's half marathon at the 2016 European Athleti ...

. His time was the third-fastest by an Irish runner at an Olympic game. He also competed in the men's marathon at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

held in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. He first competed in a major championship in 2004 when representing Northern Ireland at the

Commonwealth Youth Games The Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) is an international multi-sport event organized by the Commonwealth Games Federation. The games were held in the years, mid-way between when the Commonwealth Games are held, until 2008. They continued to be held ...

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

, Australia. He finished 4th in the 1500 m. By 2017, he had 15 Irish caps, as well as having represented Northern Ireland on numerous occasions. He has competed on the world stage at each of the major global championships –

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, World Championships, European Championships, and Olympic Games. In 2018, Pollock qualified to run in the Commonwealth Games marathon, but was forced to withdraw due to injury during training in Australia. Following his participation in the

2013 World Athletics Championships The 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (Moscow 2013) () was an international athletics (sport), athletics competition held in Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013. Initially, Russia at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, Russi ...

, he continues to write a monthly blog detailing his races and training. Having originally been a member of Abbey AC ( Newtonabbey, Northern Ireland), he now represents both Annadale Striders (Belfast) and Kent AC (England). He continues to train, coach, and compete, alongside working part-time as an Emergency Medicine doctor.

Championships Record

References

External links

Paul Pollock's Marathon blog
* * * * 1986 births Living people Athletes from Belfast Irish male marathon runners Male long-distance runners from Northern Ireland Male marathon runners from Northern Ireland Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Northern Ireland Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Ireland People from Holywood, County Down {{Ireland-athletics-bio-stub