A thoughtful post and constructive opinions are welcomed.
When I was younger and a bit quicker I concentrated on short, fast races. As I aged and slowed, I moved to longer distances to compensate and give myself a challenge. We will age and we will slow down, so is it a search for validation and achievement.?
But have I got it all wrong.?
Should I have done the longer stuff when I was younger and my body had the strength and resilience to cope with the mileage needed.
And then as I aged, to cut back on distance and try to keep some speed with a reduced overall mileage.
5 men in Ireland have broken 2.10 for the marathon in the last 18 months and none are old. New era in Irish running. Top 5 in the record list. They haven’t gone through the…. I’m aging, I’m slowing so I better do a marathon. They are young and going for it.
Best of luck Fearghal, our Marathon record holder in Tokyo on Sunday..
We are all different, with varying ideas of what is right and wrong for ourselves.
No two bodies are the same and some have to ability to continually put up big mileage while others get injured if they train 3 times a week.
How many 50+ pick up some injury that threatens their running future while the same thing at 30 would be a rub of deep heat and away we go.
If we run longer we need to recover and our ability to do that lessens with age.
I got injured as I got older because my body could no longer handle the weekly totals.
Why was I doing it? I was slowing down anyway.
My fastest marathon was as a 25 year old on a whim, with nothing better to do and a few weeks training.
My last marathon a few years ago, was 30 years after the first one. It was my slowest and I was preparing for 5 months for it.
Did I fixate on weekly mileage while ignoring strength and flexibility? I was slowing, so slogging out extra slow miles was actually counter-productive to my overall ability to run.
I’m asking questions and not offering definite opinions. I have had a fantastic time running and met so many lovely people and made beautiful memories. Things I would never change, but it never hurts us to just ask questions about what is best for ME.
On a lighter note, I may be getting wiser in my old age and will be available with my free travel pass in a few years to come and lecture you.
Have a lovely week and for the benefit of your running future… ignore me.
#pwr
Entries HERE
Bandon AC have built a full size 400m athletics track and all proceeds from the race go towards this project.
Info from the organisers: "Start line: Colaiste Na Toirbhirte, the race will start at 7:30pm SHARP. Finish line: Mart / Old Still
Race route: The race will start adjacent to Colaiste Na Toirbhirte and run up in the direction of Kilbrittain Rd (The race will not be turning onto any part of the bypass), the race will turn left once on the Kilbrittain Road for approx. 500m and will stay on the left hand side of that road, it will then take another left off the main road to Curraveda East, it will go through crossroads here and again between the Monarone / Tullyland road, it will turn left onto the Mill road and will finish before reaching the junction by the Old Still and the Mart.
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| Artists impression of the new athletics track |
Course... The race start just off the Bandon Relief Road and the first 500m is downhill to a junction with the Kilbrittan Road, a very fast start. Then there is a short 500m gradual climb until you turn off left after the 1km mark and onto a quiet country road.
From the 1km mark, it's reasonably flat for the next km. Just after the 3km mark, there's a turn left and then it's very gradual downhill through a glen to the finish line. Despite what the profile above might suggest, you're following a stream all the way down a glen for the last 2k so there is no climbing here.
It's probably one of the fastest finishes of any race as you don't lose that height advantage in one burst, it's more of a gradual 2km downhill stretch which is ideal.
Overall, a nice fast 5k course on quiet country roads to the south of Bandon.
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.
The Cork BHAA MTU 5k in Bishopstown is coming up on Sunday the 1st of March 2026 at 10am.
The entry fee is just €5 for registered BHAA runners and €10 for non-registered. You enter on the morning of the race.
There will also be a free waterproof technical running cap with the MTU logo for the first 400 to enter on the day.
The annual Adare 10k organised by West Limerick AC was held on Sun 22nd Feb 2026. The first man and woman home were Cork runners Paul Moloney of Mallow AC and Sinead O'Connor of Leevale AC.
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| Tom Keane and Denis O'Reilly with winner of the Nenagh Half Marathon, Ava Crean |
Sunday the 22nd of February 2026 was a busy day for races in Munster with the Kinsale 10-mile, the Adare 10k and the Nenagh Half-Marathon & 10k.
The numbers in Nenagh were really quite exceptional this year. The Nenagh Half is a relatively new event and in 2025, it had 304 finishers in the half... a modest number of finishers which put it in 62nd place for the top half marathons in Ireland in 2025.
The 2026 event saw the numbers surge to 711 finishers, well over double the numbers for the previous year. This puts it on track to be the largest half-marathon in Tipperary by years end.
The 10k also saw a substantial surge with a 44% jump from 311 to 448 finishers.
I suspect one of the main reasons for the surge is the apparent rise in the number of runners in Limerick with more events appearing on the calendar.
It's all the more appropriate that the first woman in the half was 19-year old Ava Crean from Limerick with a time of 74m 16s. Ava is the current Irish national marathon champion after taking the title at the Dublin marathon last October.
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| Niamh Allen of Leevale AC is the first woman home with a new course record time of 53m 59s |
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| Déise Abú... first place finish for Evan Fitzgerald of West Waterford AC |
You can view it HERE
Here are a few observations...
1) Doing a quick search, it has 166 5k runs, 114 10k runs, 27 10-milers and about 80 half-marathons.
2) Despite the fact there is a city the size of Limerick and the huge numbers attending the Great Limerick Run on the May Bank Holiday weekend, there was a major lack of regular races there in the past. There seems to be a gradual increase in the number of events appearing there.
3) Waterford seems to be as lopsided as ever. While West Waterford AC are as busy as ever organising events in the west of the county, there is a serious lack of running events in Waterford city.
4) The running scene in Dublin seems to be as hectic as in Cork. Not a weekend goes by without some event happening in the capital. The adjacent counties seem to very busy as well.
* Memories *
My friend Graham (thanks) sent some pictures to me on the day. He had captured these at various events over the last few years. Beautiful memories filled with lovely people. Some of the races I have no idea of how I ran or what time, I just remember being there on the day, taking part or supporting and meeting fellow runners. Yes I admit, I did steal his bike one time. Memories to cherish.
If we never went out and took part then how can we have anything to look back on and make us smile. You won’t remember the day you sat on the couch doing nothing, only staring idly at at some rubbish on a screen. But you can reminisce about a race, a run, a cuppa when the picture pops up again in memories. It can bring a warm glow.
So as we near the end of February and 2 months of 2026 will have slipped by, what have you done to make this a memorable year? You will get the t-shirt and the medals and while some people aren’t fans or collectors, I personally love looking back at whatever token I have from old events. I did it, I was there, I took part, I finished.
Always look forward to the next event, next race, next gathering and never be afraid to get out there. I’m slowing down, that is inevitable, but it shouldn’t stop me just because of some clock. If you are always looking back and comparing then you are on a slippery slope. The next memory to be made awaits you.
I’m going to do different parkruns that I haven’t done yet.
I’m going to attend some new races and make a few road trips.
I will look at my watch for distance and heart rate, not pace.
I will to cycle more to lessen the pounding on my body from running.
I will stick to agreed weekly and monthly guidelines for total mileage.
I will accept the aging process and rejoice any day I can be active.
- Make your own kind of music, sing your own special song -(S McC)
On the morning of my birthday I got up early and ran 4 miles alone as the sun was rising. It was fab. To think this time last year I was in rehab for a serious injury and a few months of no running ahead of me. So I celebrated a year of progress. I can honestly say I’m better than a year ago. As I ran, I listened to some music and a song from Katy Perry came on. I won’t say what age I am, but my Spotify age is 31. That really is grasping at straws and delusional.
Take care and just get out there and do something that you will remember.
#pwr
While it doesn't go into fine detail, it does show locations that are safe for cycling, walking and running.
It's interesting to see the big picture as to how the greenway network is being developed across the country.
You can find the map HERE
For this weeks online jigsaw, we have a photo of the Eagle AC Quality Control Department busy at work checking out the refreshments for the Carrigaline 5-mile road race last weekend.
It has 120-pieces and you can find it HERE
I've been keeping a tab on all of the 10-mile races in Ireland in 2025 and I finally got around to compiling a list of the top 20.
1) The Frank Duffy 10-mile in Dublin is the top 10-miler in the country with over 3,600 finishers. It was also the top race in 2024 and is not only a reflection of the event itself but the huge pool of runners in the capital.
2) The largest 10-miler in Munster is the John Treacy Dungarvan 10-mile and it's also the second largest 10-mile race in Ireland. It was also in second place in 2024.
3) The Derry Walled City 10-mile saw a huge jump in numbers in 2025 and jumped from 6th to 3rd place. It had around 500 extra finishers in 2025 which was a jump of about 30% on the previous year.
4) Seven 10-mile races managed to attract more than 1000 runners in 2025, the same as 2024.
5) Five of the top twenty 10-milers were in Co Cork. Three of the top 10 were in Cork.
6) In 2024, the average number of finishers for the top 20 races was 1025. In 2025, that had risen to 1112 which is an increase of about 8.5%.
7) It's worth noting that some events have their numbers capped so they have a limit of how many people can take part.
8) I managed to find about 44 10-mile events in 2025. 16 of these were in Munster.
9) In terms of Munster races, Mallow stayed at number 7. Kinsale and Cobh swapped places with Kinsale dropping to 9th and Cobh going up to 8th. 2025 was the inaugural year for the Midleton Greenway 10m and they jumped straight into 13th place.
Kilkishen in Co Clare dropped from 14th to 18th while Churchtown in Cork went up a place from 15th to 14th. The Beat the Train 10-mile in Co Waterford dropped from 20th down to 21st even though their numbers actually increased.
Further down the list for 2025, Dooneen in Limerick was 28th, Tralee and the Gap of Dunloe were 29th and 30th respectively and Kilsheelan & Mooreabbey in Tipp were 35th & 36th.
10) I found three events that were held in 2024 but were missing in 2025.
In conclusion... That is a broad overview of the 10-mile races in Ireland. Even though there are a lot more half-marathons on the calendar, the 10-mile distance still remains a firm favourite with many.
The Cork City Marathon is coming up on Sunday 30th May 2026. I have a standard 14-week training programme starting on the 23rd of February which costs €112.
The weekly programme is tailored for each individual and requires weekly feedback by email. It's suitable for anyone looking to do their first marathon or for someone who wants to improve their times.
Cork Sports Partnership in association with MTU are holding a strength and conditioning workshop for female athletes on Tues 3rd March 2026 at 6:30pm.
Strength and conditioning is something that a lot of runners neglect but it can play an important part in running form and in injury prevention. Considering the class only costs €5.30, it's for nothing.
Tues 17th Feb 2026: - Just a quick post to note that Bandon AC are holding their first training session this evening at the new 400m athletics track to the south of the town.
Work is still ongoing on its development but the track itself is finished and ready for use.
A higher resolution version of the image above can be seen on the Running in Cork Facebook page.
Some photos of the track can also be seen in this previous post from January 2026... Work continues on the new athletics track in Bandon
The Bandon AC 5k is coming up on Thurs 30th of Apr 2026 and the proceeds from the race go towards the development of the athletics track.
The 2026 Carrigaline 5-mile road race was held this year on Sunday 15th of July on what turned out to be a dry sunny morning. There was 282 finishers which is almost the exact same as last year.
Full results HERE
Photos...
1) There are 250 photos up on the Running in Cork Facebook page. All photos were taken at Coolmore Cross which was about the 3.5-mile mark.
a) Album 1 b) Album 2 c) Album 3 d) Album 4
2) Mick Dooley has some post race photos HERE
3 Joe Murphy has loads of photos... a) Album 1 b) Album 2 c) Album 3 d) Album 4 e) Album 5 f) Album 6 g) Album 7
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| First 5 men (L-R)... Gavin O'Rourke 2nd, Nathan O'Leary 1st, Colm Turner 3rd, Aidan Noone 4th & John Meade 5th |
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| First women... Michelle Finn of Leevale AC |
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| First man... Nathan O'Leary |