It's been two years since I last this Marathon and some things have changed, some things seemed to have stayed the same.
Good points.....
1) Lots of water stations and plenty of gels on hand for those that need them. Well manned.
2) It seems to be a reasonably fast course. No major pulls to speak of.
3) Good finish area with plenty of drinks, bars and fruit available. Seemed well organised here.
4) Plenty of time between the various events so that they didn't seem to impact on each other.
5) Area around the University of Limerick.
Bad Points / Issues of concern......
1) Cones everywhere. It was like an obstacle course at times. The area within the cones is way too small to accommodate the number of runners.
2) Lots of steps resulting in a lot of hopping up and down off footpaths.
3) Seemed to be a lot of twists and turns.
4) There seemed to be a lack of stewards at some of the junctions. In many cases, it was a case of following the runners in front. Not sure if it would be so obvious for say a 4:45 runner on their own.
Overall, the Marathon seemed pretty ok. I'm not sure if I'd say it was a 'must do' event but it was on par with a lot of the other events around the country.
Gary O Hanlon Male 1 M35+ 1 02:29:46 1 02:29:45 1
Raivis Zakis Male 2 MOPEN 1 West Waterford A.C. 02:35:39 2 02:35:38 2
James Doran Male 3 MOPEN 2 An RIOCHT 02:44:10 3 02:44:08 3
Mike Curley Cunningham Male 4 M45+ 1 02:48:14 4 02:48:12 4
Simon Mulvey Male 5 MOPEN 3 02:49:09 5 02:49:06 5
Michal Rejmes Male 6 M35+ 2 Dooneen 02:50:48 6 02:50:47 6
Karol Zalewski Male 7 MOPEN 4 02:52:09 7 02:52:07 7
Mark Guerin Male 8 MOPEN 5 02:53:30 8 02:53:06 8
Richie Macliam Male 9 MOPEN 6 02:53:52 9 02:53:50 9
Damian Kelly Male 10 M35+ 3 sportsworld 02:54:21 10 02:54:18 10
Angela Mccann Female 1 F35+ 1 02:57:17 15 02:57:13
Mary Sweeney Female 2 F45+ 1 St Finbarrs AC 03:07:54 38 03:07:51
Julia Donovan Female 3 FOPEN 2 Wimbledon Windmilers 03:14:43 53 03:14:38
Kate Harrison Female 4 FOPEN 3 Boards A/C 03:28:58 123 03:28:43
Aideen Shinners Female 5 FOPEN 4 03:29:11 128 03:29:06
Breeda Lynch Female 6 F35+ 2 West Limerick AC 03:29:59 142 03:29:56
Zena Lennon Female 7 F35+ 3 03:32:36 150 03:32:14
Hilda Cullinane Female 8 F35+ 4 03:36:46 170 03:36:25
Niamh Carey Female 9 FOPEN 5 Campus Run 03:39:04 188 03:38:28
Katherine Kissane Female 10 F35+ 5 03:42:17 198 03:41:57
The full results of the Marathon can be seen HERE
Sergiu Ciobanu Male 1 MOPEN 1 01:08:45 1 01:08:44
Michael Shannon Male 2 MOPEN 2 01:11:14 2 01:11:14
James Liddane Liddane Male 3 M35+ 1 bmoh ac 01:14:36 3 01:14:35
Sinead Jennings Female 1 F35+ 1 01:19:19 10 01:19:19
Kate Cronin Female 2 FOPEN 1 Kate Cronin 01:23:45 22 01:23:43
Tracey Guilfoyle Female 3 F45+ 1 01:29:24 50 01:29:21
The full results of the Half-Marathon can be seen HERE
The full results of the 6 mile run can be found HERE
Photos...(Updated Mon 6th May @8pm)
1) Munster Images have a small gallery on their Facebook page HERE
2) The website I Love Limerick has 5 galleries of photos on the Facebook pages....Album 1...Album 2... Album 3... Album 4... Album 5...
3) David Woodland has a big gallery HERE
4) Peter and Rory Mooney have 600+ photos on their gallery HERE
Video...
1) A unique portrait showing the facial expressions of 34 runners just after they finished the Marathon...
Video from Paul Tracey...
Video x 2 from O'Donovan Productions...
Start of the 6 mile...
Comments.....Did you do any of the events? What did you think? Click on the comment link below and have your say...
7 comments:
Great to see so many runners in Limerick, a pretty good event built around a good weekend with lots going on. T Shirt medal and goody bag much improved and expo not bad.
Did half marathon and followed marathon course on bike for most of it, both courses do need improvemnet and to be looked at, you can see they trying to go through as much of city as possible but we use much better training runs than these courses.
Drinks tables quite poor at my level of two hour half marathon and Gardai were only marshalls at some courses. So great potential but the courses took a backward step this year..Sean K
Thank you for collecting all the websites with photos of the event!
I was lucky to find one of myself :-)
Kathrin from Germany
third doing the 6 miler. Saw huge improvements.. well done to all involved!
This was my first Limerick marathon and as it is a local marathon for me it was the first time I slept in my own bed the night before a race. I am glad I did this race although there are areas that need to be addressed. When I went to the expo on Saturday they had run out of medium shirts. I do think if you are paying €70 for the marathon you should be able to get a correct shirt as there were just over 660 marathoners. It is likely that the shirts were snapped up by runners in the other two races who are paying a lesser entry fee. Perhaps this could be coordinated better at the expo. The race itself is well stocked with drinks and the volunteers were really enthusiastic. Agree with comments about all the cones. You would want your wits about you in this race for sure. The positives do outweigh the negatives for sure though. It's a huge undertaking to stage 3 races on the one day.
First time doing the GLR 6.2 miles. Very happy with the organisation! Signed up again for next year already.
Very well organised race yesterday. Some of the parts through the estates near Thomond Park were poor but bar that nice flat route. Pacers for the 10k would be a useful addition with runners staggered time wise, came across a lot of walkers near the front. All in all happy with the event.
A great day and thanks to all the organisers and volunteers. I wasn't at the kids race but what a great idea and I have only heard fantastic reports about it.
This was my 3rd year doing the half marathon - I was disappointed with the new route - way too many twists, turns and up and down paths. The old route was much better. We have a great city and there is no need to bring the route into an industrial estate (Raheen) and through housing estates - particularly the North Cir Rd. - too many speed bumps. Please have small water bottles next year - the big bottles are too heavy and there was so much waste as some people just took a sip and dumped them.
More marshalls also needed particularly at the turns.
Sorry for any negativity but I think its important for the organisers to get feedback.
Here's to next year!
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