More than 4,500 turn out for The Echo Women's Mini-Marathon

Centre Park Road was a sea of colour on Sunday afternoon, as more than 4,500 women and girls - and one or two undercover men - ran, walked, and wheeled in the 44th edition of The Echo Women’s Mini-Marathon.

The starting pistol fired prematurely when the countdown had barely reached “four”, but nobody seemed to mind as the sun shone on a perfect afternoon for a 6km run.

Each year, many of those participating do so in memory of loved ones or to raise funds for charity, with tens of millions of euro raised for good causes over the years.

Early estimates suggested that this year more than €750,000 was raised for local charities.

Pat Walsh, of Cork Athletics, which hosted the event said the secret to its success was that “Every year we treat it like the first time we’re doing it”.

Karen O’Donoghue, managing director of The Echo and the Irish Examiner, said the mini-marathon has been running since 1982, and “ The Echo has been its sponsor since the very start”.

The starting line for The Echo Women’s Mini-Marathon was awash with a rainbow selection of colours, with entrants wearing bright t-shirts denoting the local charities they were supporting.

Thousands of people were there – Pat Walsh from Cork Athletics said there had been just over 4,700 entrants – and many were raising funds for good causes.

Among the purples, blues, yellows and pinks were t-shirts for the Mercy Foundation, the CUH Charity, Enable Ireland, MS Ireland, Marymount, the Irish Sepsis Foundation, and many more.

The weather was a perfect blend of cool breezes and sunshine along the 6km course out the Marina Promenade and back in the Blackrock Rd to Monahan Rd and Kennedy Park.

First past the finish line on a time of just under 19 minutes was Niamh Allen of Leevale, who hails from Blackrock.

“I haven’t done this for years and years, since I was in college, but I’ll definitely do it again, she said.

“I live locally, and I run this every day, so I probably had an unfair advantage, but it was a great day.” 

Kellie Dawson and Niamh Foley from Ballyphehane were running for Breakthrough Cancer Research to honour relatives and a friend who had suffered cancer, and they completed the course in a time of around 40 minutes. They said they had not done much training and claimed to be “dying”.

“But we’ve raised in and about €120, so it’s all good,” Ms Dawson said.

“The atmosphere was amazing, all the people cheering us on,” Ms Foley added.

Along with her family and friends, Gillian Roche from Midleton had raised almost €2,500 for Parkinson’s Ireland since Friday.

“I was diagnosed myself with Early Onset Parkinson’s three years ago,” Ms Roche said.

“It’s not a road I would have chosen, but I’m on a mission now to raise awareness and to raise funding for Parkinson’s Ireland.

“I want people who have been diagnosed to know that you can live well, even with this diagnosis.” 

Chief Superintendent Tom Myers, who is in charge of policing in the Cork City Division, said he was proud that so many gardaí had participated in the mini-marathon.

“We have about 40 members of An Garda Síochána in the city running to raise funds for Little Blue Heroes, which is a charity which is very close to us, helping kids with additional needs and their families, and trying to support them, so I’m very proud of all our members today,” he said.

Karen O’Donoughue, managing director of The Echo and the Irish Examiner, which sponsored the mini-marathon, said she was delighted to have completed the course.

“I ran it here today with my two sisters and my aunt, and the atmosphere is just amazing, and for The Echo and the Irish Examiner to have supported it all down the years makes it such a special day for Cork and for the charities and the people,” Ms O’Donoghue said.

“Every year we would have run this as a family, and sadly my aunt who passed away sadly, and one of her daughters as well, they would have taken part, and every year we run this we think of Martina and we think of Clodagh, and we know they’re up there watching us.”