The Albie Thomas Memorial 5000 celebrates the life and achievements of the legendary Australian distance runner. In 1958 Albie Thomas set a world 3 mile record in Santry Stadium, a month later he not only ran sub 4 in that original dream mile, but the following day he ran a world 2 mile record. Albie was a great friend to Santry and Morton Games. In July 2008 he and his wife Nola came to Santry for a visit on what was the 50th anniversary of his 3 mile record and Albie ran a lap of the Santry track, and believe it or not he wore his 1958 racing vest!
This year's race, kindly sponsored by Dublin Athletics and the Albie Thomas family, will be a fitting tribute to Albie with an extraordinarily talented field put together. The race will feature the cream of Irish distance running led by national record holder, 3 time National track champion and 2025 national cross country champion Brian Fay. Fay's national record stands at 13.01.40. European U/23 cross country gold medallist 2025 and 5000 silver medallist Nick Griggs has been in superb form this season, Griggs holds a best of 13.05.75. Darragh McElhinney is a superb competitor, twice National 5000 champion, twice National indoor 3000 champion and 4th place finisher at the European indoors in 2023, with a 13.02.06 PB. Then there's Jack O'Leary, PB 13.22.67 who really announced himself on the national stage at last year's Morton Games when he finished 4th with a huge PB, since then the Mullingar Harrier has gone on to finish 5th in the European cross-country in December and leading the Irish senior men to an historic team silver. The Irish challenge is completed by Callum Morgan PB 13.23.37, Cormac Dalton PB 13.26.48 and Shay McEvoy, PB 13.40.30.
Ethiopia's Yismaw Dillu comes to Ireland for the first time, he has never raced 5000 on the track but has a 5 K road PB of 13.00 and a 10,000 best of 27.08.85. Aron Gebramariam represents the Athlete Refugee Team, he recently ran 13.26.80 and will look to go substantially faster on Friday.
Scott Beattie (GBR) on his last visit to Morton Games in 2023 took 1st place in the Albie Thomas 5000, since then he has clocked a best of 13.04.99. Also returning is Jonas Raess, holder of the Swiss national record at 13.07.96, World University gold in 2019 and 7 time national champion, Per Selva (NOR) who ran his PB of 13.18.61 on his last visit here in 2024 and fellow Norwegian Sondre Moen, PB 13.18.97, a former European marathon record who earlier in the spring clocked a time of 2:06.52 in the Boston Marathon.
Albie Thomas' legacy is well represented with a couple of quality Aussies: Jude Thomas, the national road mile champion in 2025, holder of a 3.50.20 mile and a 5000 best of 13.09.36 and Toby Gillen PB 13.16.71.
The field is completed by the Icelandic national record holder at 13.20.34 and 5 time national 1500 champion, Baldvin Magnusson, 2024 Finnish national 5000 champion Mustafe Muuse, PB 13.24.80, Julien Rebeck (FRA) PB 13.32.59 and the Wheeler brothers from Great Britain, Charlie with a 13.20.17 PB who ran 3.56.19 in last year's Morton mile and George, PB, set in last year's Albie Thomas 5000, of 13.37.22.
This will be a fast one. The Stadium record stands at 13.12.44 set by Amos Langat (KEN) at the 2024 meet. The target is to better that mark by at least 12.44 seconds!