Limerick Marathon 2024

The lesser seen @Swashbuckler from this parish who is also a Limerick native posted the following in one of the previous Limerick threads;

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Starts in town, heads out towards the UL direction. Back into town along the riverbank from UL. Then out towards Raheen, little loop in Raheen and back into town. Then out North Circular road, down Ennis road past GAA grounds, loop around and back up towards town for the finish. None of that will mean anything to you if you dont know Limerick.

So...........there are some drags and pulls. The worst hills are probably coming up onto O'Connell avenue and back in towards town. Thats a short enough one though. The worst one is coming back up past GAA grounds at mile 24/25. Thats tough.

There are parts of the route I like especially passing through town and then there are parts I hate. Through housing estates quite a bit and the support can be hit and miss in places.

I'm biased but overall I think its one thats worth doing and they build Riverfest around it so there's a great buzz around. Now, God knows what will happen with Covid and Riverfest but in non Covid times its a definite plus.

There will be a decent crowd running it. A major negative for some people might be the fact that the half marathon and 6 miler link up with it so if youre a bit back in the marathon field you might have a lot of half marathoners and 6 milers whizzing by.

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Can't really add to the above. Course needs managing, but it's not a bad route. Wil be towing the line myself next year.

Can only echo what others have said really...

It's a good event, only slight flaw would be encountering the Half Marathon runners in the second half, that did cause me to loose 'my line' a bit, had to go on paths to try to get around them and find space for a clear run, this was a bit of a problem for maybe 2 or 3 miles,around miles 14-16 I'd say, until the field spread out again.

The worst climbs are mostly in the last 10K, they're not exceptionally bad but come at time when you're likely to be quite tired.

But the last kilometre is downhill and that's a lovely way to finish as the crowds are quite big heading to the finish line in the city centre..

Also starts in the city centre, close to Bus and Railway station.

Great atmosphere in and around the city and would certainly recommend.

The GLR use some fairly experienced pacers but have no experience of those doing 3 hours...

I started last year with the 3:30 group and it was big enough but gradually found my own pace, went a bit ahead of them and stayed ahead...

My experience is that there is a string of people following each other in the marathon. By that I mean I was trying to keep certain individuals in sight at different points, and other people told me that they were trying to stay with me... 'informal pacers' I'd call them.. Even if they got away from me eventually, they still helped me run faster...

But again don't know what it's like for someone aiming for 3 hours...

Interesting idea, maybe something to email the organisers about? .

What is the expectation then in that situation though? Are Half Marathon people expected to let the 'full people' pass or is there separate lanes or something else?

In Galway Bay there was cyclists, at certain points telling the 'full people' to stay left and let those doing the 10K pass, think it was the 10K anyway. You'd expect a lot of the '10K participants' to be be faster than those doing the full which is naturally of a slower pace.

For a faster marathon runner, maybe you'd get past the 'bunching' quicker? I don't know. But I've I've friends who broke 3 hours in the full and they weren't complaining, so I wouldn't let that fear stop you if you'd otherwise like to do it. It's still a very good event with a great atmosphere in the town that weekend.

I'm aiming for 3ish this year, now i'm dreading meeting the HM!

Any feedback on the 6 mile race/ route? Thanks in advance

I'm reading a lot about the Gaelic grounds 🤣 How bad is it? Like compared to "Heartbreak Hill" in DCM for example? Is it a slow drag, a steep climb and is it just because it hits you at a late stage or what's the story with it? I'm doing the half myself.

Received number and T shirt in the post today.

Usually would not even look at the number but noticed it said "6 mile" on it.

I had registered for the full marathon.

Then, noticed the bib number and number printed on envelope were different.

Contacted the organisers who were very prompt in replying.

They said it was an error and the correct number would be sent out today.

Might be no harm to double check envelope with your bib number.

Anyone know if there is an option to change t shirt sizes?

Anyone receive their corrected number yet for the marathon?

Same to you. Can't come quick enough now to be honest 😄