2023 sees an increase in the number of visitors to the blog...

Before we get too far into the new year, this post is about 2023 and the level of traffic to the blog. At the end of 2023, I had a look at the level of traffic to the site and I noted a rise in the number of pageviews.

The number of monthly pageviews changes a lot over the course of the year but the stats for each December for the last few years gives a good overview of what it's been like.

Back in December of 2020, we were in some form of lockdown and there were no races. There were a few virtual runs with people doing their own thing but there's only so much you can write about when there's nothing really happening. The number of pageviews for December 2020 was down around the 31,000 mark.

I should add that 'pageviews' isn't the same as the number of people. If someone visits the blog every day then they'd generate about 30 pageviews for the month. If they visit once a week then it's 4 pageviews for the month.

By December 2021, some of the races had resumed and the blog shot up to 61,000 pageviews for the month.

By December 2022, most of the races had resumed but the race numbers were down on what they were. The number of pageviews to the site stayed around the same level with 56,000.

2023 saw a real recovery in the number of people doing races, parkruns and running in general. The figure for December 2023 was around 90,000 pageviews, a significant jump on the previous year.

For the year as a whole, the blog got 1.34 million pageviews. Again, that's not 1.34 million people but it's still a huge number of pageviews for a site about running in Cork.

The number of followers to the Running in Cork Facebook page continues to grow. At the moment, it has 19,259 followers and it reached 98,805 Facebook accounts in the last 28 days.

Some of the most popular Facebook posts in the last 90 days were...

• Post about the new Greenway from Frankfield to Tramore Valley Park - this one reached 280,547 Facebook accounts.
• Post about the lead women in the Clonmel 4-mile over Christmas - this reached 67,760 accounts.
• Post about the first three women in the Newmarket 5k - this reached 37,373 accounts.
• Post about the Clonakilty marathon moving location - this reached 37,016 accounts.
• Post about Cork runner Ryan Creech finishing second in the Dublin marathon - this reached 28,489 accounts.
• Post about Michelle Kenny winning the Rebel Run 10k - this reached 21,820 accounts.
• Post about Paul Hartnett finishing 3rd in the Clonmel 4m at Christmas - 18,658 accounts.
• Post about the Dungarvan to Mallow Greenway - 18,658 accounts

...and so on.

The thing about Facebook is that size really matters. If a page has say 1000 followers then a post reaching 5000 might be considered 'viral'. When a page has over 19,000 followers, the same 'viral' post is up over 90,000 accounts.

Twitter & Instagram... The Running in Cork Twitter / X account now has 3,492 followers. The Running in Cork Instagram account has 1,455 followers.

I guess if I was just starting off now, I'd probably be making more noise about these stats but I've been at this since late 2006. I hardly ever check the stats now and I just post away.

Looking at the stats got me thinking about how much of an impact does the blog have on the running scene in Cork? It's impossible to know for sure but 1.3 million pageviews per annum and reaching tens of thousands of accounts on Facebook must have some impact.

When I update the calendar on a regular basis, I'm often reminded that the running scene in Cork is not replicated in places like Limerick, Galway or Waterford. The number of races there is only a fraction of what happens in Cork.

Site makes it through to the Best Sports Blog final!

About a month ago, I had a post up saying that the Running in Cork site had been shortlisted for the best Sports/Recreation blog in Ireland. This shortlist consisted of 14 entries after the first round of judging.

After the second round of judging, the site has now made it through to the final and there are just four sites left!.....Green Scene, Running in Cork, Action 81 and Lone Swimmer.

Fingers crossed ;o)

Record traffic for blog...Record numbers at races....a connection???

I'm a bit behind putting up this post but better late than never ;o)

With all of the interest in the Cork City Marathon, the Running in Cork blog received a record number of hits in the month of May. The new record of 15,631 hits exceeded the old record set last March around the time of the Ballycotton 10. That's a 25% increase in traffic which is a huge amount. Already with around a week to go, it looks as if June will be even higher. Just to put that in context, 15k hits per month would almost certainly make it the biggest running related website in Munster and probably in the top 5-10 on a national basis.

It also raises the question if the blog is partly responsible for the record numbers at the recent road races? Take for example the record turnout of nearly 700 runners for the John Buckley Sports 5 km road race. At the end of the day, this is just another local 5 km road race in a busy summer season. Why so many? No doubt, there is a big influx from the Marathon relay runners but how did they find out about the race?........and about the Glanmire race with another record number?

Of course, it's impossible to tell. It's a bit like the 'chicken and egg conundrum'....which came first! Looking at the age profile of all the new runners, it's probably fair to say that the majority are under 40 and as such, would be more 'Internet savvy'. As time goes on, more people are using the Internet to source information. Interested in local running..........go to Google....type in Cork running....and hey presto, up pops this blog on the 1st page of listings.

Chicken or Egg??....looking at the blog traffic and considering the following...

1) If there is a record level of traffic to the blog, this might well result in record numbers at the local races....

2) Record numbers at the races would not necessarily result in record traffic to the blog....after all, how would they know the blog even exists?

Perhaps it's a little bit more Chicken than Egg ;o)

Comments....???

New feature added to the blog......Amazon.co.uk bookstore
When I first started this blog back in late 2006, one of my main reasons for doing so was just to mess about with blogs.....see what they were about, adding new features and to see what could I do with them.
So on that theme, you may have noticed some banner adverts for Amazon.co.uk on the right hand side of this page. If you click on any of those links, they should take you to the Running in Cork bookstore on the Amazon website. I have selected a number of books there that I think may be of interest to people. If you know of any other good books, you might let me know.

Why Amazon?........Simply because it's the largest bookstore there is. I always use Amazon.co.uk which is the UK version of Amazon because it is fast and it's safe. I know that if I order any books, CD's or DVD's, I will get them a week later delivered to my door. With the hassle of traffic, parking and a limited choice, I gave up buying books and CD's in Cork City a long time ago.

Why now?....Mainly because it's nearly Christmas!!
If you are looking for a 'stocking filler' or more to the point, you want to give a hint to someone for a 'stocking filler' ;o), then you might consider something on the store.
If you are not sure about what to buy, you can can always select the Gift Certificate option. See the banner on the right hand side of this page.

Hooraay......the Running in Cork blog is 2 today!!

So here we are 270 posts later and it is the 2nd anniversary of my very first post back on the 23rd of October 2006. It's strange how it has got so big so fast. At first, I started the website just to mess about with blogs without any real purpose for starting one. I put up a few posts, the questions came in and a few more posts went up. Pretty soon, it was up to around 200 to 300 hits per month.....a pretty typical figure for most blogs.

This time last year, it had grown to around 2,000 hits per month. Wow....surely that was it, that was saturation point. 2,000 hits per month is a pretty decent figure for any website. However since then, it has taken off again and now gets around 8,000 hits per month. That's an average of almost 100,000 hits per year!! In fact, the site usually gets more hits now in 1 day as it got in a whole month 2 years ago.

Why so many? I reckon that it is a reflection on the power of the Internet. The hype of the Dot Com bubble may have come and gone back in the late 90's but the Internet has just kept growing. With more and more people getting broadband, the possibilties have opened up and now an awful lot of people source information online rather than through the traditional sources like newspapers, TV and radio.

In effect, the Running in Cork website has almost become like an online magazine. The beauty of a website though is that it is fluid, it can change depending on what's happening. If new photos become available, the links go up.....if a new race appears, the info goes up....people want to comment, they go up.....and of course, it's FREE!! Traditional sources like newspapers and magazines cannot do this. That's not to say that they don't have their place but I think as time goes on, the importance of traditional print media will diminish. Really, this whole Internet thing is only just beginning.

Over the last 2 years, a number of new runners have mentioned to me that they had no idea that there were so many races locally. They had heard of the Cork Marathon, the Mini-Marathon.....some had heard about some race down in Ballycotton and that was it. We really do have a very good local running scene and we really need to keep promoting it and keep getting the message out there that it exists. Remember, if we don't get the numbers, the races will just die away like they did back in the late 80's, early 90's.

So on that thought, I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who has contributed to this website in any way over the last 2 years. Be it your comments, your photos, your video clips or just passing on information. Thanks........John Desmond.

Roll on year 3...

Comments...

"Happy Birthday Corkrunning Blog - Congrats and thank you John. I am a guy who started running less than 12 months ago just to get fit and before I knew it I was visiting and using your blog to plan and prepare for my next race (run/jog in my case!). I wouldn't have taken part in half the events without the information you provide and for that - Thank You. It is a big factor in the very successful Cork Running scene that currently exists. Keep up the good work!.....Anonymous"

"Hi John, Congratulations on such a successful website. I read it twice a day at work so I’m one of the addicted ones. I’ve been participating in road races for over a year now but still don’t know what you look like? Often see your name on result lists etc, how about a big smiley pic of yourself on the next bog :-) ...........Anonymous"

"Photo??....Not a hope in hell!! :o))........As you will know by now, the website is about the races, not about me.........John Desmond"

"Well done John, its a fab site, only discovered it this year but use it all the time now, like the fact you also look up old results in the archive section. Thanks John and all the best for another great year.....Brigid"

"Congratulations John on a successful 2 years - I too am an addicted one, checking the blog daily at the start of my working day. While having my morning coffee, I catch up on the latest from the running scene. I enjoy the preview and review of races - the previews sets the scene (course, weather etc) and the reviews tells the story. The photographs are great as post the event, one can see what was going on in front and behind them in a race and how bad or good they looked at the various stages!! Keep up the great work......Rhona "

Another new traffic record in June 2008 for the Running in Cork blog...

Traffic to this website hit another new high in June as the number of hits to the site almost reached the 10,000 mark. A lot of that activity was no doubt due to the Cork City Marathon but 10,000 hits in a month is still a serious figure. It's pretty amazing how fast the traffic has grown with the level roughly quadrupling since last December.

So, where are all the new visitors coming from?? I presume a lot are coming through to the site as a result of the Ballycotton 10 in March and the Cork City Marathon in June? All I can really say for certain is that the vast majority of the visitors (~90%) are from Ireland and most of them are probably in Cork and the surrounding counties.

Where to next?? I presume the traffic will drop a bit and level out? I've thought that before and was way off the mark. We'll see....

Running in Cork Blog hits new record...

I had forgotten to mention this earlier but this blog had a record number of hits for the month of March. It got 7,445 hits, an increase of about 2,350 on the prevous record of 5,099 in February. No doubt, this was mainly due to the extra traffic generated by the Ballycotton 10 race. However, the background traffic seems to be still increasing with the April traffic likely to hit a figure of about 6,000.

Talking to others and by checking other sites, it would seem that this website is now by far the No.1 site when it comes to running related news and results in Cork. Hopefully, this increased traffic will raise awareness in the various road races taking place over the busy Summer season.