Results & Photos of the Echo Women's 6km mini-marathon - 20th Sept 2026

First place finish for Niamh O'Mahony

The Echo Women's 6km mini-marathon was held on Sunday 20th of Sept 2026 on a dry and overcast day. There 3280 finishers this year which is down about 18% on last year.

As far as I know, there was no increase in entry fee this year and the weather was fine so there's no obvious reason for the large drop.

The first woman home was Niamh O'Mahony of An Ríocht AC who was clear of the rest of the field by 45-seconds. Niamh was also the first woman home in the Ballydesmond 5k on Friday evening, just two days earlier.

The next four finishers all finished with a three second window.

Top 10 women...
1 Niamh O'Mahony An Ríocht AC 20:29
2 Hannah Smith Leevale AC 21:14
3 Sinead O'Connor Leevale AC 21:16
4 Lizzie Lee Leevale AC 4. F F45 21:17
5 Orla Drumm Cork City AC 21:17
6 Evita Volginaite Glanmire AC 21:33
7 Lucy O' Sullivan Millstreet AC 22:27
8 Emma Fitzpatrick Leevale AC 22:33
9 Grainne Murphy Leevale AC 22:35
10 Linda Kelly Watergrasshill AC 10. F 23:20

Full results HERE

Photos...

1) Derek Costello has the following galleries...

part 1   https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658371959625269&type=3
part 2   https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658379599624505&type=3
part 3   https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658386342957164&type=3
part 4   https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658392889623176&type=3
part 5   https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658398372955961&type=3
part 6    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658406062955192&type=3
part 7    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658414129621052&type=3
part 8    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658421619620303&type=3
part 9    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658427452953053&type=3
part 10  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1658432649619200&type=3

2) Joe Murphy has the following...

a) Pre-race b) Start 1 c) 

Results & Photos of the Echo Women's mini-marathon - Sun 21st Sept 2025

Niamh Allen with a lead of about 20 seconds at about the 3.5k mark on the Blackrock Road

The 2025 edition of the Echo Women's 6km mini-marathon in Cork City was held on Sunday 21st of September on what was a cool but sunny day.

As can be seen from the photo below, the winner Niamh Allen had a commanding lead with about 250m to go...

and finished with a time of 19:09.

Just behind, there was a great battle for second place. With some 200m to go, Fiona Everard #1086 was in third place with a roughly 10m gap to Jessica Coyne #1321 in second place.

In the closing strait, she put in a magnificent burst of speed to finish in second place.

First 5 women...

1 Niamh Allen Leevale AC 19:09 
2 Fiona Everard Bandon AC 19:55 
3 Jessica Coyne Leevale AC 20:03 
4 Hannah Steeds Leevale AC 20:31 
5 Sinead O'Connor Leevale AC 20:43

Full results HERE

The numbers this year were about 4.7% up on last year but are still down about a third on the pre-pandemic numbers in 2019. This is most likely because of the very high entry fee of almost €30 for an event where the proceeds don't go to charity.

It's likely that many women are now opting to do the Very Pink Run in Bishopstown instead where all of the entry fee goes to charity.

The Echo is claiming that "more than 4,500" took part but the chip timing results clearly show that it was about 4000.

Photos...

1) There are 7 albums up on the Running in Cork Facebook page.
a) Album 1 of 7
b) Album 2 of 7
c) Album 3 of 7
d) Album 4 of 7
e) Album 5 of 7
f) Album 6 of 7
g) Album 7 of 7

2) Joe Murphy has the following...

a) 1k mark - Album 1 b) 1k mark - Album 2 c) 1k mark - Album 3

d) 5k mark - Album 1 e) 5k mark - Album 2 f) 5k mark - Album 3 g) 5k mark - Album 4 h) 5k mark - Album 5

3) Derek Costello has the following...

part 1   / part 2   / part 3   / part 4   / part 5   / part 6   / part 7   / part 8   / part 9   / part 10   / part 11   / part 12   / part 13   / part 14   / part 15  

Results & photos of the Cork women's mini-marathon - Sun 22nd 2024

The annual Echo women's mini-marathon in Cork City was held this year on Sunday 22nd of September 2024 on what was a overcast but mile day.

Top 5 women...
 1 Sinead O'Connor Leevale AC 17:18
2 Lizzie Lee Leevale AC 17:28
3 Lisa Hegarty Leevale AC 17:32
4 Holly Carroll Blarney Inniscarra AC 17:45
5 Carol Finn Leevale AC 17:56

Full results on the MyRunResults website

Photos to follow...

Reminder: If you did this event then it's really important that you return any sponsorship to your chosen charity. Despite fact that the organisers took in about €100,000 in entries, none of that goes to charity.

The charities really depend on the participants to send on their own sponsorship.

Photos... (Updated Mon 3rd Sept 6am)

1) There are about 800 photos up on the Running in Cork Facebook page.

a) Album 1 of 10

b) Album 2 of 10

c) Album 3 of 10

d) Album 4 of 10

e) Album 5 of 10

f) Album 6 of 10

g) Album 7 of 10

h) Album 8 of 10

i) Album 9 of 10

j) Album 10 of 10

2) Derek Costello has the following photos... 

Part 1  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030906752371796&type=3

Part 2  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030912939037844&type=3

Part 3  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030919252370546&type=3

Part 4  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030925215703283&type=3

Part 5  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030931125702692&type=3

Part 6  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030936302368841&type=3

Part 7  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030942505701554&type=3

Part 8  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030948262367645&type=3

Part 9  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030953249033813&type=3

Part 10 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1030958855699919&type=3

Mini-marathon winner Sinead O'Connor is chased all the way to the finish line

Results & Photos of the Echo Women's mini-marathon - Sun 17th Sept 2023

The Echo women's mini-marathon was held on Sunday 17th Sept 2023 on what was an overcast but dry day. A total of 2664 runners and walkers crossed the finish line this year, a drop of 8% on the figure for 2022.

The first woman was Lizzie Lee pictured above in a time of 17m 19s, just 7-seconds ahead of Hannah Steeds in second place.

Top 5 women...
1 Lizzie LEE Leevale AC 17:19
2 Hannah STEEDS Leevale AC 17:26
3 Amy POLLMANN-DAAMWN An Riocht 17:43
4 Carol FINN Leevale AC 17:44
5 Michelle KENNY Leevale AC 17:48

Full results HERE

Photos...
1) There are 8 albums up on the Running in Cork Facebook page....
a) Album 1 of 8

b) Album 2 of 8

c) Album 3 of 8

d) Album 4 of 8

e) Album 5 of 8

f) Album 6 of 8

g) Album 7 of 8

h) Album 8 of 8

2) The Snapper has several albums at Pairc Ui Chaoimh...

a) Album 1

b) Album 2

c) Album 3

3) Joe Murphy has several albums...

a) Album 1 - Front runners

b) Album 2

c) Album 3

d) Album 4

e) Album 5

Numbers... A post event article in the Echo claimed the following... "The annual Mini-Marathon got underway at 12 noon on Kennedy Quay and between 4,000 and 5,000 people participated in today’s event."

This is way more than the actual number of 2,664 recorded by the chip timing company crossing the finish line.

The numbers for the Echo Women's mini-marathon are shown above and there has been a dramatic drop since 2019.

Not so long ago, the entry fee for this event was down around €10. Now it's €20-€25 which is a lot considering the participants get nothing like a dry fit running top and none of the entry fee goes to charity.

Over the years, the participants of the Echo Women's mini-marathon have generated millions for charity. By contrast, the organisers give nothing to charity.

I suspect a lot of women are questioning the point of paying €20-€25 for an entry fee when they can just do a run for free and give that money to a charity instead.

Organisers of Echo Women's mini-marathon shorten course after huge drop in numbers

In 2022, the numbers taking part in the Echo Women's mini-marathon event dropped a whopping 56%... see this previous post. This year, the organisers have now reduced the course from 6kms to 5kms in length.

The 6k course used to go down the Marina to Blackrock and then back up the Blackrock Rd. The new 5k course stays mostly on the Centre Park Rd and Monahan Rd and in around Pairc Ui Chaoimh which means that the Marina and Blackroad Rd can stay open to other users.

The new 5k course has a number of sharp bends which is usually a bad idea when there are a lot of people taking part but the field should have thinned out by the 2km mark so it shouldn't be an issue.

Note that this is a commercial event and none of the proceeds go to charity. If you're doing it, consider making a donation to your chosen charity.