Record numbers for the Waterford Viking Marathon event - 22nd June 2025

The annual Waterford Viking Marathon was held this year on Sunday 22nd of June 2025 with over 3300 participants across the three events on offer... the full, half and quarter marathon.

Results HERE

The chart above shows the numbers since the event started in 2012.

The inaugural year of 2012 saw a record number of over 800 finishers for the full marathon as many runners were inspired to do the first marathon in the city. With that box ticked, the numbers dropped back to to about 400-500 per year. 

In 2018, the full marathon was cancelled due to the heat.

Post pandemic, the numbers have been recovering and the 531 finishers in 2025 was the second highest ever.

The Half-Marathon numbers have varied over the years but 2024 and 2025 were both new records.

Cork, Limerick and Waterford all have a shorter event which seems to be increasingly popular. Cork has a 10k, Limerick has a 6-mile and Waterford has a Quarter-Marathon.

The Quarter-Marathon this year had over 1400 finishers and has just overtaken the half to be the most popular event.

The chart above shows the total number of finishers from all events added together. This shows the extraordinary growth in the last few years.

Record numbers take part in Waterford Viking Marathon event - 23rd June 2024

The 2024 edition of the Waterford Viking Marathon event was held on Sunday 23rd of June and as can be seen from the chart above, there were a record number of finishers this year. The 2756 finishers this year is about 3% up on the previous highest mark back in 2017.

The event is made up of three separate races... a) A full 42.2km marathon b) A 21.1km half-marathon and c) A 10.5km quarter marathon.

The early editions of this marathon had a relay event which never really took off. The Quarter event was introduced in 2014 and that proved to be much more popular.

Let's look at a breakdown and history of each event...

Marathon... The high water mark for the full marathon was back in the inaugural year of 2012. There was no doubt quite a buzz at the time as it was a new marathon and many people in Waterford and surrounding areas probably wanted to do a marathon in their home town.

After the first year, the novelty wore off and it settled at a figure of about 400 finishers per year. At this time, the full marathon took in large parts of the city as well as traveling south to the seaside town of Tramore and back again.

In 2018, the full marathon was cancelled due to a heatwave. It took a drop in 2019 and after 2022, the numbers have been recovering since the pandemic. In 2024, it's back up to about the 400 mark again although it's hard to see much growth for the full as June is a bad time of year to be running a full marathon due to the heat.

Greenway... One of the changes to the full course over the years is that the full marathon is now mostly on the Greenway instead of going around the city.

The map above shows the route for 2024 and roughly 80% of the full marathon route is out and back on the Greenway.

Is this a good or bad thing? On one hand, it's flat, safe and free from traffic. From an organisers point of view, there are no problems with traffic and road junctions. On the other hand, some runners might find it quite boring to just run out a path, turn around a cone and back the same path again. 

2024 Marathon turning point

I think visitors to a city marathon might expect a route to go around the city rather than out and back on a Greenway. I recently had a look at the route for the Edinburgh marathon and it seemed to be much the same i.e. Start in the city centre and then get the runners onto an out and back section of Greenway. 

The reality is that the numbers at many city marathons don't justify all the road closures and as more Greenways are developed, I can see more marathon routes getting pushed onto them. Is it only a matter of time before the Cork or Dublin marathon is like this?

Half-Marathon... Back to the numbers. After the inaugural year, the half-marathon has proved to be the most popular event. The number of finishers for the half in 2024 just barely exceeded the number back in 2017.

As half-marathons in Ireland go, just over 1200 finishers in the half is pretty good.

Quarter-Marathon... The Quarter event was introduced in 2014 and the number of finishers has been roughly a few hundred below the numbers for the half over the years. In 2023 and 2024 however, the numbers for the Quarter have been getting close to the numbers for the half.

In 2024, there were a record 1134 finishers in the Quarter Marathon, a jump of 17% on the previous record set in 2017. Considering that more people can run a Quarter marathon than a Half marathon, it wouldn't be any great surprise if the Quarter eventually becomes the most popular race in the future.

In conclusion... The 2024 edition of the Waterford Viking Marathon seems to have gone off well as the finisher numbers suggest. I was around the start line on Parnell Street where runners were gathering on what is a nice wide road. The finishing line by contrast was on a narrow road as shown above closer to the Greenway.

It probably shows how a lot of other marathons and races are likely to go in the future i.e. start in the city centre early on a Sunday morning on a wide road when things are quiet and finish somewhere else in the city so it causes as least disruption as possible. 

Looking forward, I suspect that the numbers for the full marathon will struggle to grow beyond 400 but there seems to be plenty of growth potential for the Half and the Quarter. It seems likely that the Greenway will remain a feature of the courses for for good and it will then depend on individual runners if this type of course appeals to them or not.

2024 results... https://my.raceresult.com/294110/results

Waterford Viking Marathon event numbers jump 49% in 2023

The annual Waterford Viking Marathon event was held on Sunday 25th June 2023 with a total of 2066 people taking part over the three events. That represents a 49% increase on the overall numbers for 2022 and follows a general increase in race numbers post pandemic.

Marathon... The marathon this year saw a 39% increase in numbers and moved ahead of the pre-pandemic numbers for 2019. It'll be a challenge for the marathon numbers to get back to the numbers seen in the 2013-2017 time period.

Half-Marathon... This saw a 30% jump in numbers. It still has some way to go to get back to 1000+.

Quarter-Marathon... This one saw the strongest growth with an 84% jump in numbers. It'll be interesting to see if the quarter becomes the largest event in the years ahead. It certainly seems to be heading that way.

Gender breakdown... In terms of the gender breakdown per event, the shorter events had a higher percentage of women taking part. The percentage of women in the three events was as follows... Marathon (20%), Half-Marathon (34%) and Quarter-Marathon (58%).

Marathon - Top 10 men & women...
Pl. Bib Name Nat. Club ChipTime GunTime  
1. 206 Mircea, Tudor Clonliffe Harriers 2:30:55 2:30:55  
2. 274 Hehir, Sean Croghan AC 2:33:33 2:33:33  
3. 2414 Nolan, Simon 2:41:30 2:41:30  
4. 373 Fitzgerald, Pat Waterford AC 2:41:56 2:41:58  
5. 217 Storey, Aubrey Tramore AC 2:46:43 2:46:44  
6. 324 Liepins, Kristaps Watergrasshill AC 2:49:26 2:49:30  
7. 426 Patterson, Declan 2:50:01 2:50:07  
8. 87 Scott, John Longford AC 2:52:29 2:52:36  
9. 32 O'Brien, Dermot 2:53:55 2:53:58  
10. 442 Haley, Jack Waterford AC 2:55:02 2:55:05 
1. 266 Grogan, Linda Dundrum AC 3:04:27 3:04:38  
2. 400 O Connor, Beth United Striders 3:23:09 3:23:35  
3. 272 Mc Carthy, Aoibhe 3:25:02 3:25:10  
4. 250 Bevan, Karen Eagle AC 3:27:05 3:27:28  
5. 314 Both, Alina 3:34:59 3:38:11  
6. 212 Wallace, Jane 3:37:29 3:39:30  
7. 261 Lindsay, Penny Glenlough 3:37:50 3:38:46  
8. 152 Ilsley, Stephanie West Waterford ac 3:39:29 3:40:20  
9. 270 Seesink, Carmen 3:41:43 3:43:28  
10. 418 Klimek, Anna 3:44:37 3:45:27

Half-Marathon - Top 5 men & women...
1. 1494 Ciobanu, Sergiu 1:08:42 1:08:43  
2. 1384 Somba, Peter Brandon Dunboyne AC 1:09:39 1:09:40  
3. 1141 O Brien, John Ballymore Cobh AC 1:18:04 1:18:04  
4. 2515 Price, Mark Waterford AC 1:18:48 1:18:50  
5. 1409 Lyons, Eoin Focus On Fitness 1:19:15 1:19:17
1. 922 Forristal, Sally St Josephs AC 1:22:46 1:22:50  
2. 2456 Mc Cann, Angela Clonmel ac 1:27:24 1:27:34  
3. 98 O Callaghan, Pauline Tester 1:28:55 1:29:01  
4. 2502 Byrne, Edel Tramore AC 1:34:25 1:34:37  
5. 885 Walsh, Helen Togher AC 1:34:28 1:34:35

Quarter-Marathon - Top 3 men & women...
Pl. Bib Name Nat. Club ChipTime GunTime  
1. 1562 O Brien, Craig Ferrybank AC 35:03 35:04  
2. 2587 Cavanagh, Conor Sportsworld 37:43 37:44  
3. 2543 Sweeney, Carl 37:50 37:53
1. 2583 Veale, Kate West Waterford 40:49 40:50  
2. 1733 Hutchinson, Mollie Jean Ferrybank AC 42:38 42:40  
3. 2537 Toole, Natasha 45:20 45:39

Full results... https://my.raceresult.com/224011/

A look at the 2019 Waterford Viking Marathon numbers

The Waterford Viking Marathon started in 2012 and the numbers for each of the events so far are shown above.

Marathon.... As a new marathon in the county, a lot of Waterford natives did it the first year. In 2018, the full marathon had to be cancelled due to the heat. In 2019, it had its lowest ever number of finishers. Perhaps a sign that the flagship event is in decline?

Half-Marathon... This reached a peak in 2017. It has declined since then but at nearly 1,000 finishers is still a very healthy number.

Quarter..... This started in 2014 and the 6.05 mile option has proved to be popular. Like the half, it peaked in 2917 and has declined since. Still a respectable number of finishers in 2019.

The 2019 results can be found HERE

Results & photos of the Waterford Viking Marathon - Sat 27th June 2015

A total of 1887 people took part in the Waterford Viking Marathon event this year...390 in the full marathon, 624 in the half-marathon and 624 in the 6.5 mile Quarter Marathon. That represents a 3% increase in total numbers compared to 2014.

 As you can see from the chart above, the event is now beginning to mature with the numbers settling down. 2015 is almost identical to 2014 and it's very likely that 2016 will be pretty similar again.

The marathon this year however wasn't without incident with some of the lead runners going the wrong way early on die to a lack of proper stewarding. This follows on from 2013 when the course was too long due to road works and 2014 when the marathon course was short.

Marathon...
1 Tom HOGAN    Ireland    Sliabh Buidhe Rovers    M    MS    141    (2:33:12)
2 Paul LYNCH    Ireland        M    MS    299    (2:36:05) 
3 Alain MCLAREN    Switzerland    Stade Genève    M    MS    242    (2:37:45) 
4 Brian MURPHY    Ireland        M    M40    162    (2:40:33)
5 Trevor SWIFT    Ireland    Waterford AC    M    MS    409    (2:51:51)
1 Pauline CURLEY    Ireland    Tullarmore Harriers    F    F45    438    (2:52:35)
2 Sally FORRISTAL    Ireland    St Joseph's    F    FS    115    (3:14:15)
3 Sandra LYNCH    Ireland    Kilcoole AC    F    F35    411    (3:23:29)
4 Colette O' DONOGHUE    Ireland    Watergrasshill AC    F    FS    203    (3:27:20)
5 Caroline KELLY    Ireland    Marathon Club Ireland    F    F45    117    (3:28:37)

Half-Marathon...
1 Freddy KERON SITTUK    Ireland    Raheny Shamrock    M    MS    1990    (1:10:45)    
2 David MANSFIELD    Ireland        M    MS    1777    (1:10:53)
3 Keith RUSSELL        Reading Roadrunners    M    MS    41    (1:15:17) 
1 Ann Marie HOLLAND    Ireland    Youghal AC    F    F35    1721    (1:23:42) 
2 Tara MALONE    United Kingdom    Enniskillen Running Club    F    F35    1309    (1:28:19)    
3 Anna DORIS    Ireland    Midleton    F    F45    1656    (1:29:50)

The full results can be seen HERE

Photos...
1) The organisers have a gallery of photos from Garrett Fitzgerald Photography HERE
2) Slideshow of photos from Joe Murphy of Eagle AC HERE 

Video...
1) Waterford in your Pocket have a video of the start HERE

Video from the organisers...

Waterford...Report on the Waterford Viking Marathon - Sat 28th June 2014

The third Waterford Viking Marathon was held on Saturday the 28th of June 2014. This year saw the introduction of a new quarter marathon option.

A look at the numbers....

First off, you can see that the numbers in the marathon have declined over the three years. It's understandable that the first year would get a lot of entrants as many people from Waterford would want to run a marathon in their home city and it would have had a certain novelty factor. Still though, the numbers in the marathon were down 20% this year on the numbers for 2013. Interestingly enough, the numbers in the full event in the Cork City Marathon were also down this year so maybe it's just a choice of so many events?

In contrast, the half-marathon continues to grow. The numbers this year were up 13% on 2013.

Oddly enough, the percentage of women in each event seems to be dropping. In the marathon, the percentage of women went from 23.7% in 2012 to 17.4% in 2013 to 15.6% this year. In the half-marathon, the percentage of women also dropped....going from 53.3% in 2012 to 48.6% in 2013 to 43.2% in 2014.

The percentage of women in the new Quarter Marathon this year was 67.5% of the field of 576 finishers.

Report on the 2014 Marathon...I ran the full marathon as one of the 3:45 pacers having done it last year as well. This year, the course was changed again for the third time in as many years. It started off by taking in a loop in around the streets of the centre of Waterford City. This was a really nice section and took visitors to the city around historic areas that they may have never seen before.

The next section took in two loops around the south side of the city. I remember thinking at around the 10k mark that it seemed quite hilly as marathons go and I'm not sure if you would consider it as being a fast marathon course. As someone who doesn't really know Waterford City, I still thought it was nice to see various parts of the city like this.

After the 8 mile mark, we began the journey south to Tramore on the coast. Everything seemed fine up until after the 9 mile mark. There were two of us pacing and our group had a constant cushion of about 20-40 seconds over the target time.

Marathon Course Error.......Once we got to the 10 mile mark, our time was way out. Even though we had kept a reasonably even pace, we now had a cushion of about 3 minutes as opposed to something like 30 seconds. Either we had run the last mile in about 6 minutes instead of 8:30...which we hadn't...or the 10 mile mark was in the wrong spot....which it was.

i.e. The 10 mile mark for the half marathon and full marathon was actually at about 9.7 miles.

The graphic below shows the area around the 10 mile mark. On the left is the map that is on the race website. On the right is someones GPS plot of where they actually ran.

I'm a bit reluctant to believe everything that is shown on a MapMyRun map or to have completely blind fate in GPS readings but it does suggest a possible problem.

On the right, the plot shows how we ran towards the roundabout from the city (top).....then out about 200m and back 200m. From here, the half-marathon runners ran back in towards the city while the full marathon runners headed south towards Tramore.

It's important to note that we actually hit the 10 mile sign before we reached the roundabout. The map suggests that it should have been on the out and back section.

The map also suggests that the out and back section should have been about 400-450 metres out and the same back......instead of 200m.

For the subsequent markers...11 miles on....we found that we were out by about 400-500m.

As pacers, it was obvious at that stage that the mile markers were out and all we could do was to hope that a few were put in the wrong spot and they would correct themselves later on the course. This has happened in other marathons so it's not unknown.

In Waterford however, the mile markers were out all of the way to the finish line. i.e. the actual marathon course was at least 400-500 metres short. This seems to be borne out by others with readings of about 26.0 miles on their GPS watches. You would expect to see readings around 26.3-26.4 miles.

What this means for someone running say a 3:30 marathon was that their time was at least 2 minutes faster than it should have been.

I'm not sure what the story was with the half marathon, whether that course was short or not? They did however share the same 10 mile mark which came early for them as well.

For people that trained specifically for a time, having a marathon course that is short is unforgivable. In the 2013 event, the local council had put out some barriers in the wrong spot which resulted in the course being slightly too long. This year, it was too short. The problem is that Waterford will get a reputation as an event where the course is always wrong and one to avoid doing.

In conclusion........I just feel disappointed for the event itself. Just about everything else was really good. It feels kind of strange being able to run around the streets of Waterford and still manage to get to the coast...run around Tramore...and back and all in the space of the marathon distance. As a location and course, it's one of the better events in the country. It's a nice event with loads of positives about it and should be getting 9 out of 10. It should have the status as being the premier running event in the south-east of the country. However, the most important thing in any event like this is that the distances of each course has to be correct. Who wants to train for months and run a course that's short by hundreds of metres? Having a accurate course should be a given and it should be the number one priority. This year at least, the organisers failed in that regard.

Results.......The results are available on the Precision Timing website HERE

Comments......Did you run the full marathon or half? What did you think of the course? The measurements? Leave a comment...

Update...Sun 29th June @8pm : Thanks to the comments left here and on other sites, it would seem the following is likely...
1) The Half-Marathon course was accurate and was not short.
2) The 10 mile mark was on the wrong side of the road. It should have been on the other side of the road and would have been the 10 mile mark for half-marathon runners on their way back after the out and back section at the roundabout.
3) The full marathon runners should have been taken out further on the out and back section to make up that extra 0.3 miles or so. Their 10 mile mark would have been on this out and back section. The alternative would have been to make up the distance in Tramore.

Results of the Waterford Viking Marathon...Sat 29th June 2013

The 2nd Waterford Viking Marathon was held on Saturday, the 29th of June 2013 in what were pretty much ideal conditions. The weather at 9am for the start was overcast if a little humid with just a gentle breeze. By the time the sunshine had arrived, most of the Half-Marathon runners were finished while the full Marathon runners had to contend with the heat near Tramore on the coast and at the later stages back in the city.

As events go, it was well organised but a major issue this year was the fact that the course for both the Half and Full Marathon was too long. At the very start of the race, all of the runners did an out and back section along the quay in the centre of the city. Although the course was measured properly, the city council had an extra 150 metres or so of barriers put up which resulted in everyone running about 300 metres or 0.2 of a mile extra.

As soon as everyone ran through the 'real' one mile mark (where all the GPS watches started beeping) and then passed the actual sign 300m, it was a sign that something was amiss. When the following miles were out as well, a pattern began to form which showed that all of the mile markers were 0.2 miles out.

The problem at this stage was that most people didn't know about the mistake, just that the mile markers seemed wrong.  I don't think most people actually realised then that the course would be actually too long in the end.

Did it actually matter? For those who just wanted to 'get around' and complete their first half or full Marathon then probably not. For anyone going for a target time, it obviously did. Not only did they have to run an extra 0.2 miles but the fact that mile markers were out really didn't help.

Other than the distance error, the event was very well organised. Some of the good and bad points were...

Good....
1) Plenty of well stocked water stations with small bottles. Loads of gels on offer. Better than most other events.
2) Lots of the roads were closed and there was plenty of room for the runners, much better than say the Limerick Marathon in this respect.
3) The point where the Marathon and Half-Marathon fields divided was excellent. Well sign posted and runners notified well in advance...much better than the Cork Marathon.
4) Finish area on the track at the Regional Sports Centre was excellent. Plenty of space for people to sit down on the grass pitch afterwards with no shortage of water and bananas.
5) Tramore. Nice running along the waterfront with views of the ocean.

Bad...
1) Should have been better segregation of runners near the industrial estate in Tramore to allow more space for faster runners returning. As it was, runners going in opposite directions had to find their own space.

Overall.......Other than the distance error...and it was a major error, it was a well organised event. Some things need to be fine tuned but it was very positive overall. The problem however is that people tend to remember the mistakes more than the good points. In 2012, it was the dumb idea of having mile markers that said how many miles to go rather rather than how many miles actually completed which is the norm. In 2013, the course was 0.2 miles too long. The problem is that there are no shortage of events out there and people have plenty to choose from. Waterford people will always support their own event but if they want to attract people from outside the area, then the event needs to be seen as being run properly. It would be a shame if the distance mistake completely overshadowed all of the positives of the event as it has the potential to be regarded as a really excellent event..

Comments........What was your own impression? Click on 'comment' link below.

Some stats...The numbers in the full Marathon were down by about one third this year, no doubt mainly due to the novelty of the first Marathon in Waterford in 2012. On the other hand, there has been a large increase in numbers in the Half-Marathon which were up 54%.

1 Gary O Hanlon     Clonliffe Harriers      MS    5     (2:28:05)     2:28:05
2 George Waugh     Bandon      MS    3     (2:36:37)     2:36:37
3 Frank Quinlan     Waterford AC     MS    2     (2:49:12)     2:49:12
4 Pauline Curley     Tullamore Harriers     FS    1     (2:49:39)     2:49:39
5 David Mansfield     Clonmel AC     MS    314     (2:57:00)     2:57:10
1 Pauline Curley     Tullamore Harriers     FS    1     (2:49:39)     2:49:39
2  Ann Marie Holland     St Finbarrs AC     F35    243     (2:59:36)     2:59:37
3 Ann Marie O Grady     Kch     FS    390     (3:19:46)     3:19:46
4 Esther Murphy     St Finbarrs AC     F40    369     (3:24:19)     3:24:21
5 Caroline Kelly     marathon club ireland      F45    267     (3:28:15)     3:28:17

Results...

The full results of the Marathon can be seen HERE

The full results of the Half-Marathon can be seen HERE

Photos...(Updated Sun 30th @8pm)
1) John Coleman has 4 galleries...No.1...No.2...No.3...No.4...
2) The organisers have a gallery of photos HERE 
3) St.Josephs AC have a small gallery HERE