Cork is Ireland’s ‘fittest city’

Cork can claim to be Ireland’s and the UK’s fittest city in a new survey conducted by Flora ahead of the London Marathon this Sunday.

Flora questioned 2,300 people across these islands and found that people in Cork took an average of 58 minutes of exercise every day.

Over the week, that works out at around six hours and 46 minutes of exercise per week, and an impressive 350 hours per year, or 15 full days.

Dublin was the tenth fittest city in the survey, while Edinburgh came second.

Manager of Dennehy’s Health and Fitness gym in Douglas, Sarah Lonergan, said people enjoy the social aspect of the gym, and there’s definitely been an increase in getting back out since the end of Covid.

“The gym has been a big factor in that. It’s a nice way to make new friends. I think a lot more people are prioritising their health, in more of a holistic way, looking at their general fitness, their overall wellbeing and seeing how they can prevent illness,” said Sarah.

The top ten list of fittest cities are:

• Cork - 58m 
• Edinburgh - 53m 
• London - 52m 
• Glasgow - 51m 
• Newcastle - 51m 
• Plymouth - 51m 
• Southampton - 50m 
• Leeds - 49m 
• Birmingham - 48m 
• Dublin - 48m