THIS YEAR’S DUBLIN Marathon has sold out with the overall entry of the race increasing to another record high — but thousands have been left disappointed after technical difficulties compromised this morning’s final sale of entries. 

After all 20,000 entries for the 2019 edition of the race — to be staged on Sunday 27 October — sold out in record time back in December, organisers released an additional 2,500 spots on Monday morning.

But with over 8,000 people vying for the remaining places at the 9am release time, unprecedented demand and huge volumes of traffic on the Dublin Marathon website led to the Eventmaster database crashing.

Many users reported that the website crashed once they reached the payment screen, meaning they lost their place in the queue and subsequently a chance at getting an entry for the 40th edition of the Dublin Marathon. 

Additionally, organisers say ‘a handful of entrants’ were able to register for the hugely-popular race on Sunday night ahead of the advertised sale time because of ‘an error during testing’. 

In a statement to The42, race director Jim Aughney said: “The KBC Dublin Marathon is now sold out with a record number of 22,500 entries, we look forward to celebrating our 40th Year Anniversary with all the runners entered.

We know that many runners were disappointed not to have secured an entry. We had over 8,000 vying for 2,500 entries. This demand led to some technical difficulties with the Eventmaster website often encountered during peak demand.

“We thank all runners for their continued support and interest. 

“We also experienced an error during testing yesterday evening that allowed a handful of entrants to be made, this error was rectified very quickly.”

The Dublin Marathon is now the fifth largest in Europe, and is this year beginning a three-year sponsorship deal with KBC, who have taken over as title sponsor from SSE Airtricity. 

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