Top Half-Marathons in Ireland in 2025

Following on from the post about the top 10-mile races in Ireland in 2025, this post is about the top half-marathons in Ireland in 2025. First up, the top 30...

a) There were approximately 130 half-marathons in Ireland in 2025 and to get into the top 30 required getting about 1000 finishers or more.

If I add up all the finishers for all the half-marathons in Ireland in 2025, the figure is just over 100,000!

b) The ratio of half-marathons to 10-milers in Ireland is about 3:1. In Cork, it's just over 1:1 with just a handful more half-marathons.

c) While the numbers at short distance races seems to have levelled off, there seems to be very strong growth in the numbers at half-marathons. In 2024, I was only able to find about 100 half-marathons whereas I found about 130 in 2025.

An event needed about 700 finishers to get on the top 30 list in 2024 whereas in 2025, it's about 1000.

d) The organisers of the Dublin City Marathon decided to hold their own half-marathon version in March of 2025 and the response was huge with over 11,800 finishers. As the chart shows, this new half-marathon jumps straight into first place and is the largest half in Ireland by far.

e) The traditional Dublin half in September saw an increase in numbers in 2025 and is now in 2nd place.

f) Belfast saw a 15% increase in numbers in 2025 and the gap to Dublin (Sep) closed from almost 1000 to about 550.

g) The Cork City Half-Marathon on the June bank holiday weekend saw an increase of just over 8% in the number of finishers but it dropped from 3rd to 7th place.

While the organisers say they are 'sold out', the reality is that they are restricting the numbers and are not taking advantage of the growth in demand for half-marathon races. This represents an opportunity cost for the city in terms of lost revenue not spent in the hospitality sector.

h) In contrast, the Great Limerick Run Half-Marathon grew by about 40% in 2025 and jumps from 5th to 4th place.

i) The Waterford AC half-marathon in November saw a slight drop in numbers in 2025 and now drops from 9th to 11th.

j) Some events have their numbers limited due to nature of the course. The Dingle Half sells out about a year in advance and could easily stay in the top 10 if they could handle more runners. Despite an increase in numbers in 2025, they drop from 10th to 13th.

k) Charleville is the second largest half in Cork and despite a small increase in numbers, they drop from 13th to 15th.

l) The Waterford Viking Half in June seems to be doing well with an 18% rise in 2025 and they move from 20th to 18th.

m) The Run Killarney and its sister Run Kilkee events both saw their numbers increase and they move from 23rd & 27th to 22nd & 26th respectively.

Second Tier... The chart below shows the second tier of half-marathons in Ireland going from 31st to 60th. Note that these are still in the top half of all the half-marathons in Ireland.

n) The Youghal Half-Marathon grew 15% in 2025 and yet, it still dropped from 29th to 33rd. It just gives an idea of how much some of the other half-marathons in Ireland have grown in 2025. Youghal was also the third largest half in Cork.

o) The Waterford Greenway Half-Marathon at the end of August is one of those half-marathons that is limited in numbers due to the width of the course. It had almost the same number of finishers in 2025 compared to 2024 and it dropped 5 places from 31st to 36th place.

p) Here are a few of the other half-marathons in Munster... the Border Half in Limerick dropped 6 places to 40th, Clonmel dropped 13 places to 50th, Stone Mad in Blarney dropped 8 places to 52nd and the Run Skibb Half dropped 3 places to 56th.

In conclusion... While the numbers at shorter distance road races has seems to have levelled off, there seems to be growing interest in events like 10-milers and half-marathons.

Considering how strong the growth was in 2025, it seems likely that 2026 will be another good year for half-marathons in Ireland.