Brendan Hackett: The 'accidental coach' still getting the buzz

Running coach Brendan Hackett knows the importance of planning and preparation better than anyone, but if Olympians can come a cropper on the big day, he can appreciate how easy it would be for many of the 20,000 expected to compete in the Irish Life Dublin Marathon to make some elementary mistakes next month.

Hackett has straddled GAA and athletics coaching for more than 40 years. In 2020 he steered Ballymun Kickhams to a Dublin county title, last year he coached Martin Hoare to a national title as he was the first Irishman across the line in Dublin.

At the moment athletics is taking the front seat – he left Kickhams last year and is enjoying the break from football and is a coaching expert for the event on Sunday, 29 October.

He has a range of runners under his wing, from Hoare to a clutch of runners simply hoping to make it around in their maiden 26.2 mile excursion.

"It's about getting things right on the day. It’s amazing how many people do silly things," he tells RTÉ Sport. "You think what you’re are doing is common sense, but quite often it’s not."

Having a plan is crucial, but even that doesn’t allow for human error and anxieties.

Common sense can go out the window on the day

Hackett recalls the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where he worked as a sports psychologist with Team Ireland.

He was on a bus with athletes and fellow bound for the Olympic Stadium for that day’s action, when all of a sudden there were loud shouts from the back.

"We must have been about a mile down the road and the driver stopped up," he recalls. "It turned out the pole vaulter forgot his pole.

"As a sports psychologist you would always say to make a list, make a plan, but then common sense can go out the window on the day."

By his own admission,