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.
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).
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
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
* 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
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.
Full results HERE
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
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.
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| Damian Murphy takes first place |
The Waterford Viking Marathon event was held this year on Sunday the 21st of June 2026 on what was a lovely sunny day.
That gives a grand total of 3886 participants which was a record number.
Full results... https://my.raceresult.com/402206/results
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.
‘I SUPPOSE YOU’VE NOT BEEN TO DROMCOLLOGHER?’ ... By John Walshe
The songs of Percy French (1854-1920) are still fondly remembered, especially such ditties as ‘Are You Right There, Michael’, ‘The Mountains of Mourne’ and ‘Phil The Fluther’s Ball’. Another of the Roscommon-born compositions celebrated the town of Dromcollogher, with one of the lines going ‘I Suppose You’ve Not Been To Dromcollogher?’
Well, for this writer its all of 48 years since his first ‘Been To Dromcollogher’, making the trip on that occasion in the company of Midleton club-mate Liam O’Brien. This was probably the first edition of the now long-standing road race, which over the years has attained a certain allure which somehow attracts one back year after year.
The previous day in 1978 Liam had won the first of his 11 national 3000m steeplechase titles and no doubt it was out of loyalty to Fr Liam Kelleher (who had moved from Midleton to Tullylease the previous autumn) that he traveled in support of this new event.
The race was founded by local shopkeeper Christy Brosnan, along with Joe Quaid of the North Cork club, which Fr Kelleher had founded. The course then was one complete lap with the finish in the main square making the distance around four-and-a-quarter miles. Now, it’s a measured four-miler.
Two things mark out this race as unique. One, it always takes place on a Monday evening, and secondly its part of an annual carnival which is one of the oldest in the country, having commenced back in the 1940s. Along with Liam O’Brien, over the years such well-known names such as John Lenihan, John Griffin, Desmond O’Connor and Lizzie Lee have graced these roads around Dromcollogher.
The race headquarters are now in the excellent Dromcollogher-Broadford GAA complex adjacent to the start. In a throwback to the past, there is no chip timing. Just the efficient Racemaster result system operated by Clare couple James and Sally Sexton. Entry fee was only €10 with a fine array of prizes presented in a variety of categories in the local hall afterwards.
Despite the 8pm start, the sun was still high in the sky on one of the warmest days of the year as the 100 or so runners lined up with the first mile straight out the Newcastle West road. The humid conditions certainly didn’t hinder winner Karl Fitzmaurice as he took command from the start, going on to cross the line in 19:56 which was not too far outside Sean Doyle’s course record of 19:38.
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| Winner Karl Fitzmaurice receiving the Christy Brosnan Memorial Cup from Dan Horan |
A member of Shannon AC, Fitzmaurice is a former scholarship attendee at McNeese State University in Louisiana. He has a 10,000m best of 30:45.23 and last November notched up a significant victory when winning the Brooklyn Half-Marathon in a time of 70:59.
It was a similar name that dominated the women’s race as Carol Finn made it three wins in a row – and six victories in all – when coming home in sixth place overall with her time of 24:54.
Local man Eugene Noonan is now the main organiser, with help from West Limerick AC. Amongst those representing the club on the night were two great stalwarts of the sport, Mike MacDomhnaill – who won the race in 1985 - and Seamus Cawley.
Mike, along with his wife Carmel, has been the mainstay of athletics in the region for many years. Their daughter, Sorcha, was a member of the Irish team (along with Niamh Allen and Fiona Everard) that finished second at the recent European 10,000m Cup in Italy.
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| Carol Finn receiving her prize from Dan Horan |
Seamus Cawley has also etched his place in running folklore as one of only nine runners to have completed every Dublin Marathon since the event commenced in 1980.
Percy French’s tribute and the long-running carnival and road race are two of the happiest occurrences associated with Dromcollogher. But there is also sadly a heartbreaking story which will be commemorated this coming September, 100 years after its tragic occurrence.
On September 5th, 1926, 48 people – many of them children - died when a candle ignited a highly flammable nitrate film in an upstairs cinema in the town. It wiped out a tenth of Dromcollogher's population and remains one of the deadliest fires in Irish history.
The 48 lives lost that night constituted the worst single disaster in the new Irish state until the fire at Whiddy Island in Bantry in 1979, in which 50 people died. Two years later, 48 people also perished in the Stardust tragedy in Dublin.
A national commemorative postage stamp will be issued in September, featuring an image of a funeral procession through Dromcollogher as part of the commemorations. The full story of that ill-fated night can be currently seen on the Echo Live website – https://www.echolive.ie/nostalgia/arid-41865438.html - written by John Dolan.
***
The annual Dunmanway 10k in west Cork was held this year on Sunday 21st of June on a sunny summers day.
There were 303 finishers this year which is up 7% on last year. It was also the first time since 2013 that this event has broken the 300 mark.
Full results HERE
Photos...
1) Joe Murphy has loads of photos...
The Dromcollogher Carnival 4-mile road race in Co Limerick is coming up this year on Monday 22nd of June 2026 with a start time of 8pm.
This race is a popular one with runners from the north Cork area as well as Co Limerick of course.
More info HERE
The Cork Grocers 5k & 10k Run was held on Mallow Racecourse on Saturday the 20th of June on a lovely sunny day. While the Dublin version of this race has been running for quite a while, this was the third year of the Cork edition.
As can be seen from the chart above, the numbers seem to be growing.