Results & Photosof the Tralee Marathon & Half-Marathon...Sun 18th March 2018

The annual Tralee Marathon & Half-Marathon was held this year on Sunday the 18th of March on what was a cold but dry overcast day.

As can be seen from the chart above, the numbers for the marathon continue to decline and were down 31% this year to just 139 runners. Spread out over 26 miles, it makes for a lonely race, especially in the second half. If the numbers continue to decline, you'd have to wonder if they will drop the full marathon altogether?

The numbers for the half-marathon held up this year after three years of decline. A 5k and 10k were introduced last year and those numbers were up this year with 132 and 144 taking part respectively.

Full Marathon...
1 Alex O SHEA    02:38:22 M (1)    M40 (1)    St Finbarrs AC
2 Derek GRIFFIN    02:39:16 M (2)    MS (1)    Tralee Harriers AC
3 Mick MCKENNA    02:42:38 M (3)    MS (2)
16 Dolores DUFFY    03:12:43 F (1)    F50 (1)    Watergrasshill AC/ MCI
32 Kathy REA        03:36:24 F (2)    FS (1)    Saturday Road Runners
38 Mandy PRENDERGAST    03:41:44 F (3)    F40 (1)    Marathon Club Of Ireland

Half-Marathon...
1 Brian MURPHY    01:17:54 M (1)    MS (1)    Ennis Track A.C.
2 Declan MURPHY    01:19:47 M (2)    MS (2)   
3 Lance DOHERTY    01:20:42 M (3)    M40 (1)    St Finbarrs AC
12 Shona KEANE    01:25:37 F (1)    FS (1)   
24 Michelle OREGAN    01:29:06 F (2)    FS (2)   
27 Sharon CAHILL    01:29:49 F (3)    F50 (1)

Full results

Photos...
1) Jerry Walsh has a gallery HERE

Results of the Tralee Marathon...Sat 18th March 2017

The annual Tralee Marathon in Co.Kerry was held on Saturday the 18th of March 2017 on  what was a dry overcast day. As you can see from the chart above, the numbers were down again this year with the full marathon down 13% to 201 and the half-marathon down 28% to 277. This was off-set somewhat by a new 5k and 10k race which got 105 and 122 respectively.

There is probably a question mark over the long term viability of the full marathon as it's a lot of effort for just 200 runners. It's certainly a long way from 2013 when the two events attracted in excess of 1200 runners.

Full marathon...
1 Aidan HOGAN 03:03:15 M40 (1) Rising Sun A.C /MCI
2 Denis KEANE 03:03:16 MS (1) Marathon Club Ireland
3 Feilim BORLAND 03:08:23 MS (2)
9 Rachel STOKES 03:13:41 FS (1) Kerry Crusaders
15 Ellen HANLEY03:20:59 F40 (1) Grange Fermoy AC
21 Caroline MCLOUGHLIN 03:27:18 FS (2)

Half-marathon...
1 Derek GRIFFIN 01:15:24 MS (1) Tralee Harriers
2 Brian LENIHAN0 1:19:25 MS (2)
3 Tim FRANCONY 01:21:25 MS (3)Crusaders AC
11 Deirdre NAGLE 01:28:09 FS (1) Farranfore Maine Valley
14 Michelle O'REGAN 01:28:45 FS (2)
19 Dolores DUFFY 01:31:39 F45 (1) Watergrasshill AC

The full results can be seen HERE

Kerry...Results of the Tralee Marathon & Half-Marathon - Sat 12th Mar 2016

Approximately 620 people took part in this years Tralee Marathon & Half-Marathon on Saturday the 12th of March 2016. This is how it compares to previous years..

As you can see, the numbers for both the half and full were down 27% this year despite the fact that the weather was dry and mild. This follows on from another drop in 2015 as well. When the numbers drop by say 5-10% then it's not a disaster but a drop of 27% is pretty big. If it were to continue like that, the full marathon would become unfeasible as the numbers wouldn't justify the effort & cost of having the longer course.

As for why the big drop?? It's not the cheapest of events with an entry fee of €50 for the Half-Marathon and €60 for the full but then again, there are a lot of events like that. The main reason is probably just the sheer number of races and events on the calendar at the moment.

Half-Marathon...
1 Sean O SULLIVAN 1:11:46     Senior  (1)     Male  (1)
2 Donal O CALLAGHAN 1:13:03     Senior  (2)     Male  (2)
3 Derek GRIFFIN 1:13:16     01:13:14     Senior  (3)     Male  (3)
22 Sharon CAHILL 1:28:33     Ages 50-54  (1)     Female  (1)
24 Alison KIRWAN  1:28:57     Senior  (1)     Female  (2)
26 Lisa GRIFFIN 1:29:14 Senior  (2)     Female  (3)

Full Marathon....
1 Gary O HANLON 2:29:59 Senior  (1)     Male  (1)
2 Alex O SHEA 2:43:39 Ages 40-44  (1)     Male  (2)
3 John GRIFFIN 3:02:56     Senior  (2)     Male  (3)
31 Margret CARLIN 3:30:36     Ages 50-54  (1)     Female  (1)
33 Deirdre ENRIGHT 3:33:30     Senior  (1)     Female  (2)
44 Mandie PRENDERGAST 3:38:33 Senior  (2)     Female  (3)

The full results for both events can be seen on one page HERE

Start of the 2016 Tralee Half-Marathon...



Start of the 2016 Tralee Marathon...

Photos...
1) Mary Mockett has a gallery of photos on her Facebook page HERE

Kerry...Results of the Tralee Marathon - Sun 15th Mar 2015

The annual Tralee Marathon was held on Sunday the 15th of March 2015. The top 3 in the marathon and half-marathon are shown below...

Marathon...
1 Senior    Gary OHANLON    02:31:48
2 Senior    Michael OREGAN    02:46:37
3 Senior    Derek GRIFFIN    02:53:19
1 Senior    Anna Meria COSTELLOE    02:58:39
2 Ages 40-44    Ann Marie HOLLAND    03:02:37
3 Senior    Ruthann SHEAHAN    03:09:35

Half-Marathon...

1 Senior    David MANSFIELD    01:10:04
2 Senior    Michael OREGAN    01:13:56
3 Senior    Julio Cesar CASTRO    01:16:06

1 Senior    Sharon WOODS    01:30:36
2 Senior    Alison Kirwan    01:31:41
3 Ages 40-44    Susan MURNANE    01:33:14

 The full results can be found HERE

Photos......(Updated Thurs 9pm)
1) K.Connolly has 1000+ photos HERE 
2) Kerry Eye have some commercial photos HERE

These are some stats for the Tralee event over the last 3 years.....

This was first held in 2013 and attracted a lot of interest. It did very well that year with about 1300 runners between the full marathon and the half.

In 2014, the full numbers dropped off as might be expected as it was no longer a novel event. The Half numbers held up very well. In total, about 1100 runners took part.

In 2015 however, the numbers have really dropped off. The marathon is down about 15% but getting 300 plus people to enter a full marathon is still no mean achievement. The half marathon numbers however dropped just over 30% resulting in about 850 runners overall.

The entry fee for the event was €60 for the full and €50 for the half which is pretty normal for events like this. It's no different from previous years when the price was the same.

As for the exact reason why it dropped so much? There was an adventure race in Killarney the same weekend so maybe that was a factor? Maybe it's because there are so many other races on the calendar?

There's no doubt that 800 plus runners still makes it a pretty large event and it generates welcome  business for the town of Tralee in terms of accommodation, meals and associated spending. Maybe the figures for 2015 represents the natural level for an event like this? Only time will tell.

Thoughts??? Click on the 'Comment' link.

Results of the Tralee Half and Full Marathon...Sat 16th Mar 2013

The Tralee International Marathon  got off to a fine start with blue skies and sunshine greeting the runners as they lined up for the inaugural event. Roughly 1300 runners took part between the full Marathon and the Half-Marathon.

The route for the full Marathon headed north-west to Ardfert before heading south-west towards Fenit and then back east towards Tralee. Overall, it was suprisingly tough with a lot of small hills along the way.

Most of the roads were not closed although this really didn't cause much of an issue except perhaps for the section between Fenit and Tralee. There were so many runners on the road that the traffic that was there wasn't going anywhere fast. I'm not sure if any of this traffic could have been diverted but it did have a feel of there being no traffic management along this section.

The course mile markers were clearly visible with most of them in the correct spot. However, the ones from about 15 to 18 miles were certainly out, some probably by as much as 200 metres.

The finish was as good as you could get in any Marathon as it approached Tralee along the canal and great support on both side close to the finish line.

No doubt some things could have been approved upon but for the first event, it seemed to go very well. With the sun shining, it really is a very scenic route with all of the mountians along the Dingle peninsula clearly visible. Unless you are from the area, the area to the north-west of Tralee is probably one that most people won't have visited and it's really nice.

At present, there are no shortage of Half-Marathons and full Marathons in the country. With this full being in March, it seems to have have found it's own niche in that it's not really clashing with anything else. Whether it loses some of it's novelty in future years remains to be seen but at least it got off to a fine start.

Results...
542 finishers in the Marathon HERE

741 finishers in the Half-Marathon HERE 

Photos...(Updated 17th Mar @11:30am)
1) Thousands of commercial photos from the Kerry Eye HERE 
2) Peter Mooney has a small gallery HERE 

Video...(Updated 19th Mar)
1) In the first mile...

Comments.......Did you do this event? What did you think of it? Leave a comment below...