Before the Spring 2025 season of 10-milers gets going, let's have a look back at the most popular 10-mile road races in Ireland in 2024.
During the year, I've been tracking all of the 10-mile races in Ireland and I think I've got most if not all of them. As far as I can tell, there were about thirty-seven 10-mile races in Ireland in 2024.
The top 10 races by size are shown above and two races stick out above the rest. The Frank Duffy 10-mile in Dublin is an autumn race and with nearly 3,300 finishers is the largest one in the country. The John Treacy Dungarvan 10-mile in Co Waterford is the largest spring 10-mile road race with just over 2,800 finishers.
The Irish Runner 10-mile in Dublin was another autumnal race with almost 1800 finishers and heads up a long list of events that gradually taper off in terms of numbers.
It's interesting to note that the Trim 10-mile at #4 was actually held on the same day as the Dungarvan 10m race.
Three Cork races made it into the top 10... Mallow was 7th, Kinsale was 8th and Cobh was 9th. Other notable 10-mile races in Cork & Munster making it into the top half were the Kilkishen 10m in Co Clare at #14 and the Churchtown 10-mile in north Cork at #15.
In the lower half, we have the Beat the Train 10m in Kilmeadan at #19, the Michal Rejmer 10m organised by Dooneen AC in Limerick at #21, the Gap of Dunloe 10m at #23, Tralee 10m at #25, Kilsheelan in Co Tipperary at #31 and the Mooreabbey 10m at #33.
If we go back a decade or so, the pecking order for top 10-mile races in Cork was as follows... Ballycotton #1, Dungarvan #2 and Mallow was a clear #3. If we look at 2024, the gap between the Mallow, Kinsale & Cobh is much smaller and it's no longer obvious which one might the top 10-miler in Cork in 2025.
Top spring 10-milers in Cork... The chart below shows the recent history of the top spring 10-milers in Co Cork.
Mallow... With the demise of the Ballycotton 10m, the Mallow race got a boost in numbers and was promoted to being the largest Spring 10-mile road race in Co Cork. It reached a peak in 2019 but unlike others, it never recovered post pandemic. The 2024 numbers were down about a third on the peak of 2019 and it's now just ahead of Kinsale and Cobh.
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