The winner of the 2012 Cork City Marathon was Freddy Keron from Kenya in a time of 2:22:11 beating the official Cork City Marathon record by over three minutes. Last years winner Sergui Ciobanu finished in second place in 2:22:55 – over two minutes faster than his 2011 time. Huw Lobb was third in a time of 2:28:37.
The first Corkman home was Cillian O’Leary who finished fourth in his first ever marathon. Cillian finished in a time of 2:29:52. Completing the top five was Brian Leahy in a time of 2:33:14.
In the women’s marathon, Clonmel athlete Angela McCann successfully defended her title, finishing comfortably in a time of 2:53:02, cutting almost half a minute off the winning time she set in last year’s race. Anne Curley of Donore Harriers finished in second place in a time of 2:54:35. Next home was Mary O'Leary in a time of 2:59:46, followed closely by Ann Marie Holland of Eagle AC in 2:59:54. Helen Leonard completed the top five in a time of 3:00:52.
Top 10 women.......
1F Angela McCann Clonmel F40
2:53:02,
2F Anne Curley Donore Harriers F40
2:54:37,
3F Mary O'Leary FC Perlach F45
2:59:46,
4F Ann Marie Holland Eagle AC F35
2:59:55
5F Helen Leonard Rathfarnham WSAF AC F40
3:00:54
6F Tracy Guilfoyle Kilnaboy AC F45
3:04:21
7F Maura Regan Eagle AC FO
3:11:07
8F Mary Sweeney St Finbarr's AC F50
3:11:42
9F Col Conway St Finbarr's AC F40
3:12:52
10F Orla Crosbie St Finbarr's AC F45
3:17:23
The Half-Marathon title went to Gary O’Hanlon of Clonliffe Harriers who finished in a time of 1:09:15. It was neck-and-neck in the battle for second place, with John Meade of St.Finbarr's AC eventually pipping Paul Buckley by a mere second, finishing in a time of 1:12:37 from Paul’s 1:12:38.
The first woman home in the half marathon was defending champion Lizzie Lee who finished in a time of 1:20:34. Emma Murphy of St Finbarr's AC was second in 1:22:27 while Carmel Crowley of Bandon AC was third in 1:24:17.
Jerry Forde completed his 211th wheelchair marathon in a time of 4:12:35.
The first relay team to cross the line was the
Mammoths are Back!!! relay team who recorded a finish time of 2:21:30. The team was made up of Raivis Zakis and Sandis Bralitis (West Waterford AC), Philip Harty (Donore Harriers) and Brian Murphy (Carrick AC). The Garda AC won the inaugural Inter-Services Championships Team Relay, finishing in a time of 2:30:25.
The
C Team of Cancer Survivors finished in 48th place, 3:26:37, from 570 finishing teams.
Results....(Provisional!)
The results of the full Marathon are
HERE
The results of the Half-Marathon are
HERE
The results of the Relay are
HERE
Postscript.....(Thurs 7th June 2012)......
Now that a lot of the comments are in (70+), we can get a good feel for how the 2012 Cork City Marathon went. It seems as if the new Half-Marathon start was a success. That start 30 minutes earlier meant the Half runners melded with the Marathon and Relay field rather than running into the back of a load of slower runners as happened in 2011. Some people may argue for a 10:30am start but if it was still a real issue, a lot of people would have complained.
Bikes........In 2011, a lot more people seemed to complain about bicycles out along the course. It seemed to be less of an issue this year.
Bottles V Cups.......This debate could run and run. Most runners would argue for bottles but they can be a nightmare for organisers. From where I was in the Marathon, I saw people throwing bottles into the river, into ditches and into fields. Obviously, these will never get picked up after the race. Increase the number of bottles and they end up doing a lot more cleaning. Someone suggested to me that they should place large bins maybe 100 metres or so after the water stations so that there is an obvious place for runners to throw the bottles. Sounds like a good idea.
Water.......The most serious problem during the race was probably the lack of water for slower runners during the first 10 miles of the race. As I went around the course with the 3:45 group, all of the water stations seemed full. It was a different experience for the 4 hour group behind as they came across stations with no water. For those running even slower, I presume they got nothing. Whatever about bottles or sports drinks, there should be at least cups of water for every runner.
Overall......On balance, the 2012 Cork City Marathon was a success. Looking at some of the issues that arise at other races around the country, any problems at the Cork City Marathon are really minor in comparison. It's a credit to the City Council, the local athletics clubs and all of the volunteers that they put on something as complex as this in one of the major cities in the country.
Comments....??
In the meantime, any comments on the race? How it went? Any issues? From
where I was, it seemed to go pretty smoothly but might have been
different elsewhere.
Photos......(Updated Mon 11th June @11:00am)
1) Doug Minihane has a gallery of 2000+ photos
HERE
2) Gearoid O'Laoi has a big gallery
HERE
3) Peter Mooney has a gallery
HERE
4) Darren Spring has 576 photos on his RacePix website
HERE
5) John Quigley has several photo slideshows...
a) Near the 1 mile Marathon mark
HERE
b) Start on Particks Street
HERE
c) At the 1.75 mile mark
HERE
d) At the 3.5 mile mark
HERE
e) At the 26 mile mark
HERE
6) Joe Murphy has a large slideshow of photos
HERE
7) Noel Kelleher has almost 800 photos
HERE
8) Donal O'Chaoimh has a gallery of 115 photos
HERE
9) Keith O'Driscoll has 156 photos
HERE
10) Richard ??? has a gallery of 100 photos
HERE
11) Martin Cunningham has a huge gallery of over 2,000 photos
HERE
12) Pete ??? has 370 photos
HERE
13) Iain Shaw has ~300 photos
HERE
By the way, if you have trouble finding yourself in the big photo galleries, just scan through them quickly to see the Pink pacer balloons and then search accordingly.
Video...
...
Gerry Forde from Blarney completed his second Marathon in as many days
Newry on the Sunday (4:35) and Cork on the Monday (4:14)
The 3:45 Marathon pacer Paul Brunnock from West Waterford AC. Paul was using the Cork City Marathon (42.2 kms) as a training run for an upcoming 100km Ultra-Marathon in Portumna.
One of the many water stations staffed by volunteers...
Start of the 2012 Cork City Marathon...
There's always time for a quick chat during a Marathon ;o)
With thanks to Doug Minihane, Gearoid O'Laoi, Stephen Murphy and Joe Murphy for the above images...
