Some of the world’s best cyclists have raced up St Patrick’s Hill, with its 25% gradient towards the top, over the years – from Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and Sean Yates, in the Nissan Classic in the late 1980s and early 90s, to Frank and Andy Schleck, in the 2007 Tour of Ireland. In 2009 Lance Armstrong famously decided not to risk the tricky ascent during a torrential downpour. Today you are lucky – keep running along the flat banks of the River Lee and enjoy one of the flattest Marathons in Ireland. No climbing St Patrick’s hill for you! On the 4-mile mark along the banks of the lovely Lee look to the left and you will see a beautiful row of terraced houses called Myrtle Hill Terrace. Count 13 houses from the left and there is a house steeped in history. 13 Myrtle Hill Terrace was used as a safe house for Terence MacSwiney during the War of Independence in 1919/20. Terence MacSwiney was elected Lord Mayor of Cork in March 1920, succeeding the late Tomás Mac Curtain. In August 1920, he was convicted of possession of seditious material and died in Brixton Prison in October after 74 days of Hunger Strike. After registering for the marathon in City Hall, you’ll exit the main Concert Hall onto Terence MacSwiney Quay. MacSwiney and Mac Curtain are commemorated by two stone busts looking proudly over the river outside the City Hall. As you pass the Clayton Silver Springs Hotel on the left-hand side you are now in the leafy city suburb of Tivoli. The Cedar Trees in the area are reputed to have been planted by Sir Walter Raleigh. The Port of Cork dominates the riverside by Tivoli, with its container- handling facilities for oil, livestock and ore and car-import point. Until the 1980s, the Swansea-Cork ferry docked at the roll-on/roll-off ramp here. Roughly halfway along the Silversprings dual carriageway, you cross over from the City into the County of Cork.
Look left and be thankful that you only look up St Patrick’s Hill & don’t have to run up it!
Terence MacSwiney’s Safe House
Tivoli and Sir Walter Raleigh
25 Cork City Marathon 2026
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