CORK MARATHON:CLOSE TO 10,000 participants ran as individual entries or as part of a relay team at the Bord Gáis Energy Cork City Marathon yesterday with a first-time entrant first over the finish line.
Michael Herlihy won the marathon in a time of two hours, 30 minutes and 36 seconds. Herlihy, (28) a native of Charleville, regularly runs with North Cork Athletic Club. The event, which got under way at 9am yesterday, was Michael’s first marathon.
He was overjoyed at the win having led the race from the halfway stage.
“I am really thrilled. I kind of entered at the last minute. To win a marathon at the first time of asking is unbelievable and even more so in the hot conditions that were out there today. It is a great honour, especially here at home in Cork.”
Herlihy has spent the last three years in Australia so that helped him out in terms of coping with the warm weather conditions. He dedicated the win to North Cork AC and said he hoped to go on to win other marathons.
Meanwhile, the first woman over the finish line was last year’s winner, Lucy Brennan (50) from Sligo in a time of two hours, 51 minutes and 25 seconds.
“It was great to come here and regain my title for the second year,” she said. “This is marathon number 15 for me. The atmosphere was fantastic and is hard to beat.”
The winning relay team was Iveragh, a five-man team from Kerry led across the line by Cian Murphy of Cahirciveen, in a time of two hours, 19 minutes and 44 seconds.
Olympic medallist Sonia O’Sullivan gave an encouraging speech to the runners before they started on their 26.2-mile race.
Participants included 14 teams from the Kinsale Road accommodation centre for asylum seekers and refugees and representatives of various charities.
Race director Jim O’Donovan described the marathon as “having been a fantastic day for all of the participants, volunteers and the community of Cork.”
The marathon kicked off on Patrick Street at 9am yesterday. The route took the participants along the four points of Cork from north to south, east to west to include Blackpool, Blackrock, Bishopstown and The Lough.
Runners had the option of running the full 26.2-mile marathon distance individually or as part of a relay team.
There were five legs to the relay race for teams of two to five runners.
The first runner from each team started the race at Patrick Street and completed their leg, or legs, before handing over to a team-mate at fixed change-over points, the distance between each ranging from just over 3½ miles to just over 6½ miles.
The marathon used a ChampionChip to correctly gather the exact times each runner crossed the start and finish line of the race.
The ChampionChip is attached to the runner’s shoelace so that when a runner crosses the finish line, their time for the race is electronically recorded.
The “marathon for everyone”, encourages individuals of all levels to get involved – from first-timers to professional athletes, with the option of running the marathon as an individual or as part of a relay team.
It is supported by Cork City Council which is committed to growing the event to become one of the major events in the Irish sporting calendar.
The Irish Cancer Society was nominated as the charity of choice for the event.