The Great Limerick Run - Sun 1st May 2011

Liz Hussey of West Limerick AC winning the womens race

 in the 2011 Limerick City Marathon

Some 6,600 people took part in the Great Limerick Run on Sunday, the 1st of May on what was a bright fine day.

Some 750 athletes took part in the full marathon, which was won by Freddie Keron Sittuk, from Kenya, followed by his compatriot Liezan Kimutai. Moldovan Sergui Ciobanu, a Cahir, Co Tipperary, resident for the past two years, came third.

The women’s marathon was won by Liz Hussey, from Monaleen in Limerick, followed by Maria McCarthy from Kerry, and Deirdre Flynn, also from Limerick.

Outside of the Marathon event, somewhere around 1500? took part in the Half-Marathon while the 6 mile run attracted several thousand.

Start of the 2011 Limerick Marathon

Having run this as a Marathon pacer in 2010, I was back again as a 3:45 pacer again this year so I was able to make a direct comparison. These are some of my own observations...

• There seemed to be more stewards this year. Last year I remember running through the University Campus and if it wasn't for the fact that there was some runners ahead, it wasn't obvious what the actual Marathon route was. Much better this year.
• The Marathon route was too narrow early on, roughly around the 4 mile mark when the runners were expected to run inside half of one lane with cones as a barrier. More often than not, the cones were a trip hazard. If the organisers / city council want this event to grow and attract numbers then they will have to make the route wider.
• The route was better than last year. No jumping up and down off footpaths......no really narrow choke points. There seemed to be plenty of small hills, especially early on although I'm not sure if it is possible to get a flat route in Limerick. I certainly wouldn't say Limerick is a flat fast course but I don't know if it is any slower or harder than say Cork or Dublin.
• From where I was, there was no shortage of water and gels. Some small points...the volunteers handed out some of the bottles with the tops missing.....it probably makes perfect sense from their point of view....hand the runner an open bottle of water ready to drink........the reality though is that you can't run with an open bottle and drink slowly from it over the next few miles. Minor detail but it makes a difference. Gels.....in fairness, you could have OD'ed on then ;o) I never saw so many gels given out at any city Marathon. Full marks on this.
• Medals......personally, I have no interest in them but it's an issue to some. They gave the same medal for the Marathon, the Half-Marathon and 6 mile. Some might feel that there should be a special medal for the Marathon. I'm not sure if it's a big issue though.
• T-Shirts......cotton as opposed to a dry fit top......same one for all 3 events as opposed to a special Marathon top. Considering that this was only the 2nd year of this event, perhaps this will change in future.
• Mile Markers......some of the mile markers were out.....way out! I think the 10 mile mark was out by around several hundred metres. Not really acceptable......put the markers in the right spot.
• My main memories of the Limerick Marathon are.......the old Georgian buildings in the heart of the city.....those huge flag posts by the University of Limerick with the banners waving in the wind.....the out and back section around 6-8 miles where you could watch the front runners of the Marathon......running across the bridge in the University campus.....the church where the bells were ringing out as the runners went past.......and the finsh line with the crowds.

Overall, the Limerick Marathon seemed to have been this year what it should have been last year. It got slated by a lot of people in 2010 for a lot of mistakes and it's very easy for an event to get a bad name. It's seems to me that the 2011 event made up for a lot of the failings of last year. As one of the main Irish cities, Limerick has been crying out for a big event of this nature for years. For a city that gets a lot of bad press, the Great Limerick Run really shows Limerick in a postive light. It has the potential to attract a lot of foreign runners and tourists to the city especially when it coincides with a weekend festival.

That was my own experience, you own may be different? Did you run the Marathon? Half-Marathon? or 6 mile run? What did you think? How did it compare to last year? Click on the comment link below and give your opinion.

Photos...........
1) There is a small gallery of photos of the Half-Marathon by Sean Ryan HERE

2) Another selection by John Garrett HERE

3) Commercial photos HERE

Results......The Irish Times are a major sponsor of this event. The full results will appear in a special supplement with the paper on Tuesday, the 3rd of May.

In the meantime, you can search HERE for your individual time

Start of the 6 mile run...