Around 8,000 competitors from at least 30 countries were due to take part in the race through Dublin, which will pass through the city’s Phoenix Park for the first time in recent years.

A spokeswoman for the event organisers said efforts were being made to bring competitors across the Irish Sea in time to register this afternoon.

“A few hundred people are stuck in the UK due to ferries and flights being delayed, but we are in the process of trying to make contingency plans,” she said.

She said that many people were trying to travel from Manchester and ferry ports across the UK.

This year’s revised race route will start at 9am in Nassau Street, travelling through Phoenix Park, O’Connell Street and O’Connell Bridge on its way to the finish line at Merrion Square.

Music stands will support competitors at regular intervals along the route for the first year in the event’s history.

A top prize of €15,000 euros is available for both male and female winners, with extra bonuses offered to Irish winners in a bid to encourage home talent.

Last year’s winner Africa’s Zacharia Mpolokeng is among a number of top class international athletes taking part in the event.

He achieved a personal best of 02:14:03 in the 2001 event, the fastest time the Dublin course had seen in 16 years.

The highest number of competitors was seen in 1982, when 11,076 people enterd, with Jerry Kiernan setting the standing course record of 2:13:45.

When the race began in 1980 just 1,420 competitors out of 2,100 completed the course.