Events

The Galway City Marathon festival will comprise several races on the race weekend of 27/28 August 2011.

Galway City Mile

The weekend will kick off with the Galway City Mile on Saturday, 27 August.

Ireland has a tradition of producing some great milers from Olympic Champion Ronnie Delaney to Eamonn Coughlan and Marcus O’Sullivan. However, there have been very few opportunities to see the latest generation of milers in action – the Galway City Mile will provide the opportunity to witness the speed of a sub-four-minute miler at first hand.

The 2010 Elite division race saw Bethwel Birgen of Kenya winning in a time of 4:04:8 mins. Irish internationals Paul Robinson and Rory Chesser finished second and third, respectively. Three-time former World Indoor 1500m champion, Marcus O’Sullivan, was on hand to present the prizes along with Olympic 5,000m Silver Medalist Sonia O’Sullivan and two-time World Indoor 3000m Champion Frank O'Mara.

In 2011 there are several divisions so that anyone from the novice to accomplished athlete can avail of the rare opportunity to compete in this classic distance. Registration will be available on the day of the event.

Galway City Marathon & Half Marathon

The Galway City Marathon and half-marathon will start in Salthill on 28 August and traverse Galway City and its environs along a picturesque course. Last year’s winning marathon  times for men and women were an impressive 2:19:21 and 2:45:03 mins, respectively.

In the men's race Collen Makaza of Zimbabwe held off the South African duo of Sandile Ngunuzza and Joseph Mphuthi while Great Britain’s Sue Harrison triumphed over Mary Coordt of the USA and Irene Kalter of the Netherlands in the women's race. A large international field is expected again this year.

Galway City Mini-Marathon

A new event has been added to this year’s festival to cater to those who want to support good causes but prefer shorter distances. The Galway City Mini-marathon on 28 August will be a flat 10km run through the streets of Galway City on the same managed course as the Marathon. The event will mainly be used as a fundraiser for select local and national charities.

For each registrant, the Galway City Marathon organisers will directly donate €5 net of VAT to that participant's chosen charity. In addition, the charity will provide participants with a fundraising pack to help raise more funds. You can enjoy all that Galway has to offer during the Galway City Marathon festival weekend while supporting a worthy cause.