The Glengarriff 5k parkrun in west Cork started back on the 2nd of January 2016 and on the 24th of May 2025, they held their 400th edition. The chart above shows the numbers over the years. It shows the initial surge in numbers, the drop off in 2017 and then the steady rise.
Unlike the parkruns in or near Cork City, the parkruns in West Cork vary quite a bit depending on the time of year.
Glengarrif is fairly remote and the catchment area are locals and runners from the nearest population centres of Bantry and Kenmare. In the Summer months and Bank Holiday weekends, the numbers of tourists or people going home gives a boost to the numbers.
If we look at the average number per event for each year, it gives a better idea of what the change in numbers is like.
This shows the drop in numbers in 2017 which is followed by a gradual rise in 2018 and 2019.
The numbers for 2020 are inflated somewhat as it just shows the start of the year until the start of March. Then of course the pandemic kicked in and there were no more events to bring the average down.
In 2021, the parkrun resumed in September but the numbers were well down as they were for nearly all running events.
2022, 2023 & 2024 showed a gradual recovery which mirrors a lot of other events. 2024 was a good year with an average of 77 finishers per event.
2025 in the chart above is marked with a * because it only covers up to the 7th of June. The average numbers so far for 2025 are down a bit on 2024 but there is still the tourist season to bring up the average. On the flip side, there is also the cold and wet days in the last quarter of the year to bring it back down again.
It does suggest that perhaps the numbers in Glengarriff are going to even off this year? We'll know for sure at the end of the year.
Do numbers matter?... The number of finishers for any 5k parkrun isn't a critical issue. They're not like road races where they need a certain number of runners to pay for the permits, prizes and all the other stuff.
Parkruns are free and it's the same regardless whether there are 20 or 200 taking part. The main benefit however of larger numbers is that there is a larger pool of people available that might volunteer to help out at future events.
