Early Marathon Days on the Streets of Cork By John Walshe The choice of marathons nowadays is endless, both at home and abroad. Such was not the case in the late 1970s when just three or four took place during the entire year on the island of Ireland. The BLE national championship, held in spring or early summer, was the main attraction where entries rarely reached 100, all male and club runners. That all changed in October 1980 when the first Dublin City Marathon took place. Six months later, a headline in the then-Cork Examiner read: “Cork marathon fever begins. Close on 10,000 runners could throng the streets of Cork next Easter Monday for the inaugural running of the adidas Cork City Marathon.” A number of possible courses were considered. Jack O’Leary from St Finbarr’s AC, an engineer with Cork Co Council, measured the selected route. It started out the old Mallow Road and then came through Blackpool, MacCurtain Street, North Gate Bridge and along the Mardyke. Out the Carrigrohane Straight, on to Rossa Avenue and Wilton before returning to the city centre at 11 miles. The halfway mark was on the Marina, the route then went through Blackrock and Ballinlough and on to the Douglas Road, returning to the Tramore Road and 20 miles in Togher. Another two miles brought the runners through Glasheen and down Barrack Street to the finish on South Mall.
Easter Monday of April 12th finally arrived and in ideal conditions around 700 runners started out in what was for many a step into the unknown. Tullamore-man John O’Toole was first home in 2:20:40, followed 43 seconds later by Michael Walsh – brother of the more famous Donie – from Leevale. Another from that club, Marie Buckley, passed Dublin-based Cork native Catherine Sutton around 15 miles to win decisively in 3:08:17. That year of 1982, following the inaugural event, road running took off with over 8,700 finishers recorded at the Dublin Marathon. With the boom in full swing, it needed a star, a cult hero that the public and media could relate to. It found one in Jerry Kiernan. A live television audience that October saw the Kerry native set a tremendous pace in the capital, leading by nearly four minutes at 20 miles. But the wheels came off and although in an exhausted state, Kiernan held on to cross the line in the sixth-fastest time by an Irish man of 2:13:45. As he was now supported by adidas, Kiernan’s appearance in the southern showpiece on Easter Monday was virtually assured. A new course saw the race now starting and finishing on the South Mall. Kiernan duly obliged, winning in a time of 2:13:20, over three minutes ahead of Ray
19 Cork City Marathon 2026
Powered by FlippingBook