Cork runner Ryan Creech wins the 2025 Waterford Half-Marathon - Sat 29th Nov 2025

The 2025 Waterford Half-Marathon was held on Saturday 29th November with 2023 runners crossing the finish line.

The first man home was Ryan Creech of Leevale AC in Cork in a time of 65m 59s.

It looks as if the course might have been a bit too long this year so if you felt your time was a little bit slower than expected then that might be the reason.

In 2024, the course was certainly short... see previous post. 

At least when the course is too long, everyone knows for sure that they at least ran the half-marathon distance.

Top 10 men & women...

1 Ryan CREECH 1:05:59 5 M MS Leevale A.C.
2 Jake O'REGAN 1:06:42 4 M MS St. John's A.C.
3 William MAUNSELL 1:07:01 2 M MS Clonmel A.C.
4 Matteo MARY 1:09:18 2898 M MS Waterford A.C.
5 Sergiu CIOBANU 1:09:39 2877 M M40 Clonliffe Harriers A.C.
6 Sean DAVIN 1:10:32 460 M MS St. Finbarrs A.C.
7 Pat FITZGERALD 1:12:18 351 M MS Waterford A.C.
8 Jason REILLY 1:13:30 2085 M M40 Civil Service Harriers A.C.
9 Vivian FOLEY 1:13:33 718 M M55 Eagle A.C.
10 Michael MORGAN 1:13:55 2882 M M50
1 Nichola SHERIDAN 1:17:22  3 F FS Bohermeen A.C.
2 Lauren DERMODY 1:18:29  492 F FS Castlecomer A.C.
3 Alex MURPHY 1:18:46  2891 F FS Dundrum South Dublin A.C.
4 Breege CONNOLLY 1:19:36  314 F F45
5 Michelle KENNY 1:22:15  1117 F F45 Leevale A.C.
6 Catherine MURPHY 1:23:30  2872 F F45 Eagle A.C.
7 Una O'BRIEN 1:24:51 1672 F FS Waterford A.C.
8 Aine KINSELLA 1:26:36 823 F FS St. Senans A.C.
9 Michelle RYAN 1:26:57 2148 F F45 Templemore A.C.
10 Sinéad FLANNERY 1:28:03 693 F F40 Ballintotis Fit4Life A.C.

Full results HERE

The numbers overall were down about 6.5% on last year as can be seen from the chart below.

Jump in numbers for the Waterford Half-Marathon but was the course short??? - 30th Nov 2024

The annual Waterford Half-Marathon organised by Waterford AC was held on Saturday 30th Nov 2024 on what turned out to be a windy, misty but mild morning. This is in marked contract to last year which was bitterly cold.

Numbers... There was a total of 2162 finishers this year, a jump of just over 22%. This makes it the 9th largest half-marathon in Ireland for 2024 and it's certainly the largest half in the south-east.

It's also worth noting that it is far bigger than the Viking Half-Marathon which takes place in late June every year. Not sure why?

Why the big jump this year? In 2023, the organisers didn't open the entries until the start of 3rd of October, just two months before race day on . A lot of people had been wondering if the race was going ahead at all and by the time the entries opened, many people had made other plans. Even by the end of November 2023, they were still taking entries.

The end result was a 6.7% drop in numbers from 2022.

For the 2024 race, thing couldn't have been more different. The club opened entries on the 6th of December 2023, just 3 days after the 2023 race. There was no doubt about the 2024 race going ahead and people had most  of 2024 to enter. It sold out on the 12th of November and the jump in numbers can be seen in the chart above. It was in fact the 4th highest ever in terms of numbers for this event.

Results...

Top 5 men & women
1 Ryan CREECH 1:06:59 2616 M MS Leevale A.C.
2 Stephen CASHIN 1:08:23 290 M MS Clonliffe Harriers A.C.
3 Tomas FITZPATRICK 1:10:58 2673 M M40 Tallaght A.C.
4 Dermot GORMAN 1:13:00 862 M M40 Carrick-on-Suir A.C.
5 David POWER 1:13:13 2150 M M40 Rathfarnham W.S.A.F. A.C.
1 Fiona KEHOE 1:23:29 1140 F F40 Kilmore A.C.
2 Emma FUREY 1:23:29 812 F FS St. L. O'Toole A.C.
3 Catherine MURPHY 1:23:44 1693 F F45 Eagle A.C.
4 Adele WALSH 1:24:00 2511 F F45 St. Senans A.C.
5 Sabina WILLIAMS 1:24:41 2577 F F40 Croghan A.C.

Full results HERE

Was the course short??? ... At least three different people told me that the course was short. One said that they got 12.95 miles on their GPS watch for the course rather than just over 13.1 miles. They felt that the course was about 320 metres too short.

It's worth noting that there was an out and back section on the course as well as some obstructions from evergreen trees in places which can play havoc with GPS. Still though, there is still a valid concern about how accurate the course was.

Waterford AC had this route map online for the 2024 race...

You'll notice that there is a reasonable out and back section. I pass this point while I was cycling from the race start to Dungarvan and I took this photo by chance...

The photo shows the start of the out and back section. Was the error here? Was it somewhere else?

It seems to have the only glitch on what was a good event.

Cork runners win Waterford AC Half-Marathon - Sat 3rd Dec 2022

Ryan Creech (L)... winner of the 2022 Waterford AC Half-Marathon

The big road race in Munster last weekend was the Waterford AC Half-Marathon which was held on Sat 3rd Dec 2022. A total of 1894 runners took part which makes it one of the largest in the province.

Two Cork runners were to the fore on the day with Ryan Creech finishing first and Aoife Cooke winning the women's race. Looking through the results, a lot of runners from Cork took part in this event.

Top 10 men & women...
1 Ryan CREECH 01:05:02 01:05:02 2472 M MS Leevale AC
2 Yared DERESE 01:05:49 01:05:50 2480 M M40 Carrick Aces AC
3 Sergiu CIOBANU 01:07:18 01:07:19 285 M MS Clonliffe Harriers
4 Tudor MOLDOVAN 01:09:16 01:09:17 1469 M MS Clonliffe Harriers
5 Conor MCCAULEY 01:09:16 01:09:17 1369 M MS Leevale AC
6 Tomas FITZPATRICK 01:11:40 01:11:41 702 M M40 Tallaght AC
7 Cillian O'LEARY 01:11:47 01:11:48 1787 M M40 Raheny Shamrock AC
8 Noel MURPHY 01:12:03 01:12:03 2549 M MS Waterford AC
9 Vivian FOLEY 01:12:20 01:12:21 2413 M M50 Eagle AC
10 Paul DORAN 01:12:31 01:12:32 569 M M40 United Striders
1 Aoife COOKE 01:12:58 01:12:58 2515 F F35 Eagle AC
2 Fiona KEHOE 01:19:31 01:19:31 1081 F F40 Kilmore AC
3 Aoife O'LEARY 01:21:31 01:21:32 1788 F F40 Sportsworld RC
4 Sally FORRISTAL 01:22:13 01:22:14 761 F FS St Joesphes AC
5 Catherine O'CONNOR 01:22:31 01:22:33 1694 F F45 Sli Cualann AC
6 Angela MCCANN 01:22:07 01:22:37 1345 F F50 Clonmel AC
7 Megan MCCARTHY 01:23:24 01:23:28 1366 F FS
8 Adele WALSH 01:23:50 01:24:09 2301 F F45 St Senans AC
9 Linda O'SULLIVAN 01:24:28 01:24:38 2471 F F50 Watergrashill AC
10 Elle O'DRISCOLL 01:24:52 01:25:08 1739 F FS Liffey Valley AC

Full results HERE

Aoife Cooke... First woman

The numbers were down about 15% on the last outing in 2019 which seems to be about the norm now for a lot of races.

Photos...
1) Waterford AC have a gallery HERE

Guest Post: Waterford Half ...by Pat Walsh

 ** Waterford Half **

It was a tough one. Haven’t done this for so long I wasn’t sure what to expect or how strong I would be. I was hoping by memory or years of experience that maybe I would get through it. I survived. Yes the Annual Christmas feed of pints can be tough going after running a Half-Marathon. Let us hope normal service has been resumed on the running and social scene. Oh and there was a race on yesterday as well.

Waterford Half Marathon was back after a 3 year gap and it was good to go there again. So much has changed in the running landscape but fair play to all concerned for hosting this event. Well done to all who helped as stewards or water-stations or any one of the tasks needed to host a big race. We missed the post race Blaa and cuppa as it gave us a chance to meet up with other runners and I know I missed meeting so many friends yesterday.

There was a late route change and in my humble opinion as someone who has ran this race many times on many different routes that this was my personal favourite. Well done to all who took part. I always feel it is a great run to finish off a Year. If I can run 13.1 the first Saturday of December then maybe next Year might not be too bad and I can dream on. 

Thanks to my own PWR crew for the fun and laughs, you were all super. Thanks to Sheila for running with me and minding me…! I do want to thanks anyone who said hello and had some lovely comments on my page and posts. I do appreciate it as at times I wonder about relevence.

Thanks to my friends in  Saturday Road Runners  who ran the race, hugs kisses and smiles were in abundance. Pity about the crew at miles 12 at the Holy Cross pub… (joke)

Few weeks left this year and make the most of them. If in doubt just go for a run.

#pwr