Paul Pollock coaching project has its Dublin Marathon D-Day on Sunday

Olympian Paul Pollock will sample this year's Dublin Marathon on Sunday from a different angle when he tackles the event as a coach as opposed to a participant.

Pollock made his marathon debut in the Dublin event five years ago when his time of two hours, 16 minutes and 30 seconds left him as the first Irishman over the line in ninth position.

It was the next day when the "marathon novice" learned his time had qualified him for the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

Pollock crossed the line as the second best European in 21st spot on his major championship debut in the Russian capital and since then the Holywood man's career accomplishments have included finishing as the top Irishman at last year's Olympic Marathon in Rio.

Having chipped his personal best down to 2:15.30, a chance conversation with a friend running in this year's London Marathon threw up the discovery that recent years have seen fewer than 100 Northern Ireland runners annually ducking under three hours for the classic 26 miles and 385 yards distance.

This led Pollock to the concept of "giving something back" to his sport as he and friend, nirunning.co.uk chief Ryan Maxwell, came up with the notion of the Olympian coaching a group of athletes to run in this year's Dublin event.

"We saw that there were a lot of people running half marathons that would equate to going sub three hours for the marathon but for whatever reason, people weren't able to do it," Pollock told BBC Sport NI.

Paul Pollock (centre) was the first Irishman over the line in his debut marathon in Dublin five years ago

"So we decided we would set up the scheme aimed at this year's Dublin Marathon where we would advertise to pick 10 athletes from Northern Ireland who had never broken the three-hour barrier but who we believed had to the potential to achieve it."

That was back in April, and while there were a couple of inevitable drop-outs along the way, eight of Pollock's Dream Run Dublin 17 pupils will take to the startline in the Irish capital on Sunday morning.

London-based Paul has been meeting up with the group once a month since then to supervise training programmes and offer advice and support while the setting up of a WhatsApp group has made the Olympian available on an almost daily basis to his pupils.

Pollock approach one of 'encouragement'

Enniskillen-based Tara Malone says training under Pollock's direction, while appearing a daunting prospect at first, has been a "tremendous experience".

Tara has a marathon personal best of 3:06 while her running pedigree includes running a 100-mile event in her native Fermanagh this year, in addition to a number of ultra marathon outings.

"In spite of all that, I've probably lacked a bit of confidence in my running but Paul has been so encouraging all the way through the programme. There has been no criticism, only encouragement and it has been just so cool being able to run with an Olympic athlete," she adds.

Belfast man Barry Reid, the quickest of the group with a personal best of 3:02, says Pollock's advice on how to handle the mental battle during those periods when the body really starts to hurt during a marathon has been invaluable.

"You get to 22 miles and a little demon on your shoulder says 'stop'.

"Paul has spoken to me a lot about how I'm going to get through that in Dublin."

Tyrone native Paul Gorman (left) and Belfast man Barry Reid are among the hopefuls being guided by Pollock

Tyrone native Paul Gorman jokes that he was the only forward in GAA history never to score a goal when he played for Fintona Pearses before he made his way to the big smoke in Belfast.

Now Glengormley-based, Paul only took up running two years "as a way to lose a bit of weight" but he has already got his marathon best down to a very respectable 3:12.

Like all the eight hopefuls, the Fintona man will be cheered on by a large family contingent in Dublin, including his wife and children.

Dundrod man David Conliffe says Pollock's input has been "like a godsend" over the last five months.

"When I saw the advertisement, I couldn't believe it because I had already planned to run Dublin and I knew quite a bit about Paul's pedigree from following the athletics scene," continues David.

Belfast men Neil Curran and Paul Curley will have family and friends cheering them on in Dublin on Sunday

Another of the Belfast contingent, Neil Curran says the "pure intensity" of the work has been the big difference from his previous running.

"I would have done 8:30 mile pace but now I'm doing seven-minute pace or even 6:50. It is actually surprising how quickly your body does adjust to it. Before this, I would have though there was no way that I could have coped with running at that pace."

North Belfast Harrier Paul Curley is optimistic that Pollock's input will help him breach the three-hour barrier after six previous marathons.

Sunday switch has boosted Dublin event

Paul competed in last year's Dublin event and he says that the change from the Bank Holiday Monday date to the Sunday slot has been a huge boost to the event.

"Last year was just a brilliant day on the first Sunday staging of the event," says Curley, who ran his personal best of 3:03 in London two years ago.

"The weather was brilliant and you had 20,000 people running and Dublin really has become one of the best marathons in Europe."

Stephen Smartt is optimistic that Pollock's input will help him chunk off the 17 minutes plus that he needs to achieve a sub-three hour marathon.

"My times in training suggest that I'm going to be there or thereabouts.

"I did Dublin two years ago and it went OK and I ran 3:17. At that stage, if somebody had told me that I'd have a chance of going under three hours one day, I wouldn't have believed them.

"But that's what Paul has done. He's given all of us a bit of confidence."

Mother-of-two Denise Logue will be competing in her first marathon in Dublin

Denise only marathon newcomer in group

Bangor woman Denise Logue is the only member of the group who will be making her marathon debut.

"I ran when I was in school and at university but then took a wee bit of a break," laughs the mother of two.

"After I got back into it, everybody was saying to me that I had got to try a marathon so I saw the advertisement and I thought, 'This is the time...just go for it'."

Five months on, Denise has no regrets despite a few difficult moments during the programme

"It has all been great fun. When this is all over, we will remain friends. At times we have had to lean on each other for support but we all wanted to keep going so that we didn't let Paul down.

"But come Sunday night, I'm sure we'll all be out together in Dublin and I will be looking forward to that glass of Prosecco."