Big jump in numbers for the 2025 Limerick Marathon event...

The 2025 edition of the Great Limerick Run was held on Sunday 4th of May and it saw a  remarkable jump in numbers. Between all the different events, approximately 14,000 people took part.

If you factor in accommodation, meals and drinks, it's a big boost to the hospitality sector in the city.

Marathon... The full marathon saw 1554 participants cross the finish line, a jump of 34% on the figure for 2024.

While it might be normal to see a small number jump 34%, it's remarkable to see a well established race with over 1000 runners jump  by that much.

Half-Marathon... The Half was even more impressive with 4586 finishers, a jump of 40%!

With those kind of numbers, Limerick is now one of the premier half-marathons in the country.

6-Mile... The numbers for the 6-mile are always amazing and are a real cash cow for an event like this. This year, it had 7441 finishers, a jump of 24% on last year.

There was also a marathon relay event with 129 teams which added another few hundred to the numbers.

In conclusion... It's my understanding that the Great Limerick Run is organised by a commercial company on behalf of Limerick City Council. Looking at the numbers, they're doing a great job of attracting visitors to the Treaty City.

The full results of the 2025 Great Limerick Run can be found HERE

Cork is the largest half-marathon in Ireland for the first half of 2024...

The 2024 Cork City Half-Marathon was the largest half-marathon in Ireland for the first six months of the year.

The chart above shows the half-marathons with over 1000 finishers and Cork is in first place with 3500. The Great Limerick Run Half-Marathon is just behind with 3277 finishers. 

The only other half-marathons in Munster that broke the 1000 mark are the Waterford Viking Half-Marathon with 1224 finishers and the Run Killarney Half-Marathon with 1151 finishers.

There were at least 53 half-marathons in Ireland for the first half of 2024 and the distribution is shown above. As can be seen, most have reasonably small numbers with 30 of the 53 with fewer than 300 finishers. 15 of those had less than 120 finishers which would have meant a lot of big gaps between the runners.

Cork V Limerick... I thought it was a little surprising how relatively close the Limerick numbers were to Cork considering that the population for Cork City is over twice that of Limerick city.

The chart above shows the numbers for the Cork and Limerick half-marathons since 2013.

From 2013 to 2015, the numbers for both events were pretty similar despite the difference in population. After 2016, Cork began to pull away as the number of finishers grew.

It was only in 2024 that Limerick has begun to close the gap again.

The second half of 2024... One of the most important and biggest running events in Ireland is of course the Dublin marathon and many people use a half-marathon race as part of the build up to it.

There are plenty more big half-marathons coming down the line and it'll be interesting to see how Cork and Limerick fare by comparison by the end of the year.

Results & Photos of the Great Limerick Run Marathon, Half-Marathon & 6-mile - Sun 30th Apr 2023

Shona Heaslip from Kerry was the first woman in the 6-mile

The big running event in Munster over the bank holiday weekend was of course the Great Limerick Run. This event really does get some impressive numbers... 807 in the full marathon, 2432 in the half-marathon and a whopping 4277 in the 6-mile race.

With such a large race, there were a lot of runners from Cork taking part with Catherine Murphy of Eagle AC finishing 2nd in the Half-Marathon.

Marathon - Top 5 men & women...
1303 Tudor Mircea M1 ( M35+ ) Clonliffe Harriers A.C. 2:25:16 --  
1606 Dermot Gorman M2 ( M35+ ) Carrick-on-Suir A.C. 2:31:35
1869 John Weldon M3 ( M35+ ) Newbridge A.C. 2:35:43
1450 Barry Whelan M4 ( MSEN ) 2:37:24
1129 Liam Fergus M5 ( M35+ ) North East Runners A.C. 2:39:29 5
1781 Yuliya Tarasova F1 ( F35+ ) Clonliffe Harriers A.C. 2:59:15 
1147 Joan Flynn F2 ( F35+ ) Mullingar Harriers A.C. 3:03:27 
1268 Olivia Martin F3 ( F45+ ) Bohermeen A.C. 3:04:56 
1153 Deirdre Gibbons F4 ( F35+ ) 3:05:00 
1481 Anne Marie Halpin F5 ( F45+ ) Clonmel A.C. 3:07:10
 

Full Marathon results... https://my.raceresult.com/241210/#0_A6348D

Half Marathon - Top 5 men & women
6568 William Maunsell M1 ( M35+ ) Clonmel A.C. 1:09:19 
5282 Peter Brandon Somba M2 ( MSEN ) Dunboyne A.C. 1:09:25 
6303 Matthew Mc Meekin M3 ( MSEN ) Sligo A.C. 1:11:05  
6011 Chris Jeuken M4 ( MSEN ) Derg A.C. 1:11:45 
6397 Michael Mc Mahon M5 ( M35+ ) North Cork A.C. 1:11:56 
6055 Sinead Lynch F1 ( F45+ ) 1:20:04 
6494 Catherine Murphy F2 ( F45+ ) Eagle A.C. 1:25:30 
5112 Jean Lucey F3 ( F35+ ) 1:26:08 
7043 Nollaigh O Neill F4 ( F45+ ) 1:27:13 
6337 Grzegorz Kozimala F5 ( F35+ ) Mallow A.C. 1:28:44 
 

Half-Marathon results... https://my.raceresult.com/241210/#0_44B806

6 Miles - Top 3 men & women...
10565 Jose Ignacio Giménez Pérez M1 ( MSEN ) 29:14 
14461 Jake O Regan M2 ( MSEN ) St. John's A.C. 30:15 
12865 Declan Moore M3 ( MSEN ) Bilboa A.C. 30:29 
12766 Shona Heaslip F1 ( FSEN ) An Ríocht A.C. 31:43 
11582 Cliona Murphy F2 ( FSEN ) Dublin City Harriers A.C. 35:11 
14463 Eimear O'Brien F3 ( F35+ ) Sligo A.C. 36:54 

6-mile results... https://my.raceresult.com/241210/#0_B39C5C

Photos...

1) Pat O'Leary has posted a number of photos on the Limerick City Citizens Facebook Groups

a) About 20 photos b) Another 30 or so photos c) Just over 60 photos

2) The ILOVELIMERICK website has loads of photos HERE

Cork runner Jessica Coyne wins the Great Limerick Run 6 mile

The big running event last weekend was of course the Great Limerick Run with thousands taking part.

In the 6 mile race which had around 3200 participants, Jessica Coyne of Leevale AC in Cork was the first woman home in a time of 35m 20s.

First 3-women in the 6 mile race...
12099 Jessica Coyne Female 1 FSEN LEEVALE A.C. 00:35:20

9001 Ciara Peelo Female 2 F35+ CLONLIFFE HARRIERS A.C. 00:40:31
13509 Clodagh Galvin Female 3 FSEN CLONLIFFE HARRIERS A.C. 00:40:37

In the half-marathon, Cork runners Tim O'Donoghue and Conor McCauley finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

6452 Tim O Donoghue Male 2 M35+ 1 EAST CORK A.C. 01:05:06
5188 Conor Mc Cauley Male 3 M35+ 2 LEEVALE A.C. 01:08:24

Links to all the results HERE

Cork runners dominate at Limerick Half-Marathon...

The annual Great Limerick Run was held this year on Sunday the 6th of May 2018 with 723 in the full marathon, 1973 in the half-marathon and 4211 in the 6 mile. It also doubled up as the Munster Half-Marathon Championships.

In the Half-Marathon, runners from Cork were very much to the fore as they claimed several podium places.

(L-R Sorcha Kearney, Claire McCarthy & Sinead Brody)

In the women's race, Claire McCarthy of Leevale AC won the half-marathon in a time of 1h 17m 22s. Claire is no stranger to the podium and has represented Ireland on several occasions.

Sorcha  Kearney of St.Finbarrs AC finished in second place.

4006    Claire    Mc Carthy    Female    1    01:17:22    12
2124    Sorcha    Kearney    Female    2    01:24:40    45
3605    Sinead    Brody    Female    3    01:25:21    51

(L-R Alan O'Brien, Peter Somba & Kenneth Rogers)

In the men's race, Alan O'Brien of Eagle AC went sub 70 for the first time to


4220    Peter    Somba    Male    1    01:08:59    1
2109    Alan    O Brien    Male    2    01:09:18    2
3870    Kenneth    Rodgers    Male    3    01:09:58    3

In the Munster Half-Marathon Championships, it would look as if Eagle AC took the men's title but that has to be confirmed.

Half-Marathon results

Great Limerick Run appointed official Munster Marathon & Half-Marathon Championships for 2016-2018

It was announced today that the Great Limerick Run held every May will be the official Munster Athletics Marathon and Half-Marathon Championships for 2016 to 2018.

This is a major change from the last few years when the Charleville Half-Marathon in September was the Munster Half-Marathon Championship.

The entry fee according to the race website is €65 for the full Marathon and €50 for the Half-Marathon. The €50 for the Half is in marked contrast to the Rock n Roll Half-Marathon in Dublin where club runners get a discounted price. The Munster Marathon Championships are a new development.

Another question that arises is how much is this actually worth to Munster Athletics? Will the money be funneled back into athletics? It's an important consideration as the Limerick race is a commercial event.

The Great Limerick Run takes place on Sunday the 1st of May 2016.