Michael Harty of East Cork AC sets new M45 national record at the Coillte 10k

The Coillte 10k road race near Cashel in Co Tipperary is one of the flattest and fastest 10k courses in Munster and the 2026 edition of the race was held on Wednesday the 1st of July 2026.

It looks as if Michael Harty of East Cork AC may have set a new National M45 10k record with a time of  30m 00s (subject to ratification).

The previous record of 30m 56s was set by Declan Reed (City of Derry) back in 2018.

Top 5 men & women...
1 William MAUNSELL #5201 29:58 M M40 Clonmel A.C. 
2 Billy COOGAN #5052 29:59 M MS Kilkenny City Harriers A.C.
3 Michael HARTY #5129 30:00 M M45 East Cork A.C. 
4 Josh BURGESS #20 30:29 M MS
5 David MEEHAN #5229 30:45 M MS Tulla A.C.
1 Niamh O'MAHONY #5281 34:41 F FS 
2 Hannah STEEDS #5361 35:51 F FS Leevale A.C.
3 Dee GRADY #5121 36:16 F FS Ennis Track A.C.
4 Amy MURPHY #5249 37:50 F FS West Limerick A.C.
5 April QUINN #5310 38:17 F FS Togher A.C.

Full results HERE

Niamh O'Mahony from Kerry was the first woman

Donal O'Donoghue sends on the following info...

Several other good performances from Cork athletes, incl
2nd F - Hannah Steeds, Leevale
1st F40 Olive McCarthy, St Nicholas
2nd F40 Clare Madden, Togher AC
1st F45 Katie Hickson, St Finbarr's
3rd F45 Irene Eighan, St Finbarr's
1st F50 Lisa Crowley, Watergrasshill AC
2nd F50 Gwen Conroy, Watergrasshill AC
3rd M40 Padraig Sheehan, Eagle AC
1st M45 was Michael Harty, and 2nd was Michael Herlihy, North Cork AC
3rd M45 Garrett Lordan, Cork Track Club
1st M50 Kieran McKeown, Grange Fermoy AC
3rd M65 Sean Powell, Mallow AC

Record number of finishers in 2026

Members of Watergrasshill AC at the Coillte 10k

Notice: West Waterford Greenway Half-Marathon - Sat 29th Aug 2026

The West Waterford Greenway Half-Marathon is coming up this year on Saturday the 29th of August 2026 at 9am. This scenic half has a limit of 750 entries so I would advise anyone that is interested to enter asap.

Entry fee includes a specially commissioned  Greenway dry-fit t-shirt !

ENTRIES HERE

Entries open Wed 1st July at 9am

More info here... https://munsterrunning.blogspot.com/2026/06/notice-west-waterford-greenway-half.html

Please note this is a point to point race starting near the Coachhouse Kilmacthomas and finishing near Ballinroad, Dungarvan. Entry fee includes bus from Ballinroad to the start line near Kilmacthomas.

Notice: Coillte 10k nr Cashel coming up on Wed 1st July 2026

The Coillte 10k in Dundrum near Cashel in Co. Tipperary is one of the fastest 10k courses in the country as it's pretty much dead flat. It is coming up on Wednesday the 1st of July 2026 at 8pm. 

More info HERE 

Incident at the Poppintree parkrun in Dublin

There was an incident at the Poppintree 5k pakrun in Dublin last weekend when some of the participants were assaulted. Sanctuary Runners Ireland released the following statement.

 Story... https://www.thejournal.ie/ballymun-park-assault-poppintree-7084858-Jun2026/

Notice: Kinsale Regatta 5 Mile - Fri 31st July 2026

The annual Kinsale Regatta 5-mile road race is coming up this year on Friday 31st of July 2026 with a start time of 7:30pm.

You can enter HERE

This event is a fundraiser for Sailability Ireland which helps people with disabilities experience sailing.

Notice: Tracton 4-mile road race - Fri 10th July 2026

Tracton AC are holding their Tracton 4-mile road race on Friday the 10th of July 2026 at 8pm.

You can pre-enter online HERE

Info from Tracton AC... "Tracton AC are hosting a 4-mile road race on Friday 10th July 2026 at 8pm in beautiful Minane Bridge (near Carrigaline, and 20km south of Cork city). 

Notice: Youghal Bay Half-Marathon & 10k - Sun 9th Aug 2026

The Youghal Bay Half-Marathon & 10k in east Cork is coming up this year on Sunday the 9th of August 2026. 

The Half-Marathon race will start at 9:30am while the 10km will start at the later time of 11:30am.

Entries HERE

Photos of the John Hayes Memorial 5k in Innishannon - Sun 28th June 2026

The John Hayes Memorial 5k in Innishannon was held on Sunday the 28th of June 2026. This was a charity fundraiser for Cancer Connect.

While this wasn't a race and there are no results, there are some photos from the event.

1) Mick Dooley has a gallery HERE

Guest Post: Holy Grail... by Pat Walsh

* The Holy Grail *

The search for eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance or any elusive object or goal of great significance.

Bere Island parkrun today was on the cards for a while. 11 parkruns in Cork to be done in 2026 was the goal and this was the Big One. 184 miles round trip. Left home at 5.55am to make the ferry to the Island.

The weather was dull and overcast but we didn’t get wet and in Ireland that is always something to be grateful for. I had the best of company to lift spirits and make the day special.

The Island had a mystical, magical aura to it today and the openness and genuine welcome from the locals was fantastic. It is easy going, slow it down a bit, everything will be grand kind of a feel. Maybe what we need more of in today’s society. There is no doubt on a bright sunny day the views would be more spectacular, but if you can impress on a dull day then you are going well. This is an Island loaded with its own history and so many stories. I was in awe today.

We left the ferry ( great pilot and solid Beara GAA man, = safe hands)... sorted.  Entered the island through the non-Schengen zone for oversea travellers and made a procession of runners to the local GAA field as the the base for the run. We waited for the minibus from the other ferry, on other side of the Island to arrive before we commenced. All in good time, it will happen, no panic, don’t be getting excited. It started at 9.30am West Cork time….

Parkrun number 551 today. They have it sorted. Low key briefings, enjoy the day and away you go. Undulating, scenic are two beautiful adjectives to describe the course. Every runner worth their salt knows that means hills. We survived, completed, smiled, hugged, posed for the requisite pics and selfies and congratulated ourselves on a job well done. 

Famous scientists for years worked on space-time continuum that continues to baffles the worlds greatest minds. Maybe they never went to Bere Island parkrun.

What can I say. Parkruns the country wide are brilliant and each with their own special feel to them. Taking the time to find them and understanding and appreciating them for what they are worth is what is important. It is local people doing their best to help their own area. Appreciate them and never ever go home without saying thanks to someone involved. 

You can pay huge money to run a race or you can go to Bere Island and run for nothing and have a memorable experience. Annabel, Liam, Anna, Heike, Danielle, Jack thanks so much for your company today. We laughed and that is important.

Due to personal domestic circumstances I have been missing my weekly missives. You need to 105% and have a little left over to be able to lift and inspire people. Hopefully today has restored the equilibrium in my favour. 

#pwr

Results of the 5k parkruns in Cork - Sat 27th Jun 2026

Results of the 5k parkruns around the county on Saturday 27th June 2026. Approximately 929 runners and walkers took part in the 11 events in Co Cork.

Report... The damp conditions this Saturday put off a few people and the number dropped below the 1000 mark.

Most parkruns... The person with the most parkruns this week is Niamh O'Daly from Dublin who completed her 542nd parkrun this weekend in Macroom.

Tramore Valley... Bernard Sisk reached 100 parkruns today at the Tramore Valley parkrun. Bernard is an ever present at the BHAA races.

No fewer than three people reached the 200 mark at the Tramore Valley parkrun this weekend... Paula Mulcahy, Beezer Dowling & Camelia Shanahan.

Ballincollig... Well done to Michael Comyns who completed his 300th parkrun in Ballincollig this weekend! 267 of these were at the Ballincollig event.

Well done to the one and only Joe Murphy who earned his 200th volunteer credit at the Ballincollig parkrun this weekend!

Glen River... Lee Stott, a visitor from the UK completed his 200th parkrun at the Glen River event this weekend.

Glengarriff... Claire Kingston completed her 200th 5k parkrun in Glengarriff this weekend and 188 of those were at this event.

If I missed anyone who passed a notable milestone like 100, 200, 250 or above parkruns then let me know.

Upcoming milestones....

***

Ballincollig Regional Park:  243 this week, 339 last week.

Ballincollig results... https://www.parkrun.ie/ballincollig/results/430/

Tramore Valley Park: 198 this week, 251 last week.

Tramore Valley Park results... https://www.parkrun.ie/tramorevalley/results/208/

Glen River: 38 this week, 63 last week.

Glen River results... https://www.parkrun.ie/glenriver/results/317/

Midleton Greenway: 103 this week, 156 last week.

Midleton Greenway... https://www.parkrun.ie/midletongreenway/results/72/

Mallow Castle: 61 this week, 95 last week.

Mallow results... https://www.parkrun.ie/mallowcastle/results/235/

Youghal (Pobalscoil na Tríonóide) : 23 this week, 39 last week.

Youghal results... https://www.parkrun.ie/pobalscoilnatrionoide/results/216/

Macroom Castle Demense: 56 this week, 49 last week.

Macroom results... https://www.parkrun.ie/macroomcastledemesne/results/583/

Clonakilty: 36 this week, 59 last week. 

Clonakilty results... https://www.parkrun.ie/clonakilty/results/537/

Glengarriff Woods: 66 this week, 76 last week.

Glengarriff results... https://www.parkrun.ie/glengarriff/results/460/

Bere Island: 76 this week, 51 last week. 

Bere Island results... https://www.parkrun.ie/bereisland/results/551/

Castlehaven (Rineen Woods): 29 finishers this week, 12 last week.

Castlehaven results... https://www.parkrun.ie/castlehaven/results/471/

For more information about the weekly 5k parkruns in Co Cork, go to this page HERE.

Results of the Courtmacsherry 10k - Fri 26th June 2026

The Courtmacsherry 10k was held on Friday the 26th of June 2026 and there were 368 finishers. While this is a drop of about 8%, it's coming off a record high in 2025.

Top 3 men & women...
1 35-39 Sean Davin (#268) St Finbarrs AC 31:47
2 Sen Colm Deasy (#240) Leevale AC 33:04
3 40-44 Simon Nolan (#458) Bandon AC 33:33
1 40-44 Sinead O'Connor (#446) Leevale AC 34:42
2 35-39 Marie Howard (#233) Leevale AC 38:58 
3 45-49 Katie Hickson (#428) St Finbarrs AC 41:26

Full results HERE

Michael Harty runs 14m 13s for a 5k in Kildare

Report from John Walshe of Ballycotton... "Another amazing performance by Michael Harty on this Friday evening at the St Cocas 5km at Kilcock in Co Kildare.

The East Cork man finished a brilliant third overall in a time of 14:13 – this was all of 18 seconds inside Decan Reid’s M45 Irish record of 14:31 which has stood since 2019.

It was also faster than Michael’s M40 Irish record of 14:20, although this went tonight as the runner-up, Colm Rooney of Clonliffe (who is over 40), ran 14:10*.

The race was won by Jonas Stafford (UCD) in 14:09. First woman was Danielle Donegan (Tullamore) in 15:45."

Results on MyRunResults

Addendum 1: *Colm Rooney had broken Michael's M40 record back in May when he ran 13:48 at Enfield.

Addendum 2: It looks as if the course has a net downhill so it won't count for national records.

Results of the Millstreet 5-mile road race - Fri 26th June 2026

The 2026 edition of the Millstreet 5-mile road race was held on Friday 26th of June. There were 203 finishers whish is down just over 5% on last year.

Top 3 men & women...
1 Mark Walsh Leevale AC     26:04 SM 567
2 Brian Murphy Iveragh AC     26:49 MS 476
3 Sean Russell Leevale AC     27:44 MS 572
4 Niamh O'Mahony Tralee     27:53 FS 512
20 Carol Finn Leevale AC     30:45 F35 564
21 Martina Kiely St. Finbarrs     31:02 F40 552

Full results HERE

Results of the Cork BHAA J&J MedTech 4 Mile Road Race - Wed 24th June 2026

Damian Murphy takes first place

The Cork BHAA J&J Medtech 4-mile was held on Wed 25th of June 2026 on what was one of the warmest evenings of the year.

There were 260 finishers this year which is down about 28% on last year which seems a lot. The recent Apple 5k was also down by a similar amount.

Top 3 men & women...
1 Damian Murphy M1 21:17 Knockam Farm Ltd
2 Michael Corbett 0/50M M2 21:56 Flex
3 Shane Healy M3 21:59 Eli Lilly
14 Michelle Kenny 0/45F F1 23:26 Dept of Ed
17 Sharon Rynne 0/35F F2 23:47 Kepak
27 Breda Gaffney 0/50F F3 25:35 Avondhu M

Full results HERE

The chart above shows the historical numbers at this particular race and as you can see, 2026 saw a return to the levels before 2024.

Doing a quick check of the Cork BHAA races so far in 2026, three were up and seven were down which suggests an easing back of the BHAA race numbers this year.

Record numbers take part in Waterford Viking Marathon event

The Waterford Viking Marathon event was held this year on Sunday the 21st of June 2026 on what was a lovely sunny day.

The number of finishers in each event were...
Marathon - 600
Half-Marathon - 1727
Quarter-Marathon - 1487
Disability Friendly Run - 46
Relay - 26 (13 teams of 2)

That gives a grand total of 3886 participants which was a record number.

Full results... https://my.raceresult.com/402206/results

You can see from the chart that there was strong growth in the half-marathon. Entries for the various races closed around late May so it's not like it was sold out months in advance.

Real numbers... The real number of participants however is about 25% less than the claimed number.

Here are a few extracts from media sources...

Organisers on Facebook... " Join 5,000+ participants on Sunday 21st June and experience the atmosphere of Ireland's biggest running festival."

Waterford & Star News... "On the longest day of the year, Waterford basked in the heat and an atmosphere of celebration, achievement and community spirit at the weekend as a record-breaking 5,200 participants took part in the largest WLR Waterford Viking Marathon in the event’s history."

WLRFM... "The 2026 WLR Waterford Viking Marathon took place this morning with 5200 competitors from 33 countries taking part in this years event."

Irish Independent... "Over 5,200 athletes bring streets of Waterford city alive in largest ever Viking Marathon"

It's likely that they are just requoting the numbers in a press release. The 5200 number may refer to the number of people that entered the event? Were there 25% no-shows on the day?

There seems to be a trend of overstating the numbers taking part. The same happened in the Cork marathon event where they were claiming over 12,000 but the number of finishers never broke 10,000.