Liam Cotter still breaking barriers with sub-three marathons at 60

There is a certain kind of obsession required to keep returning to marathons – not just to finish them – but to keep chasing them, year after year.

For Liam Cotter, it began almost by accident in Cork in 2007. Stopped in the car as the city’s marathon made its long-awaited return, a passing glimpse became the spark that launched Cotter’s journey.

And still, in 2025, that fascination has not dulled. Working with Gary O’Hanlon and John Dillon, the St Finbarr’s AC runner is now in his 60s, and achieving sub three hour marathons on the regular, with podium finishes never too far away.

“The marathon returned to Cork in 2007, and I remember vividly,” Cotter begins. “I was actually travelling out to west Cork with my wife, and I had to stop because of the marathon. Something triggered in my head that I said, I'd be here next year.

“From that moment, I took up the game and I was running the year after and for my first marathon I had absolutely zero strategy.

“My strategy when I started was run as far as I can, as fast as I can, for as long as I can and I actually ran my first marathon in 3:08.

“Obviously I hit the wall,” he explains. “But I still managed 3.08 and it all took off from there. My second marathon then was in Dublin, and that was when I broke three hours for the first time. 

Since then, I have ran 31 sub three hour marathons and seven sub two hour, 50 minutes. 

And so the journey took off. Cotter continued running marathons and took his passion abroad, running all of the world’s major six – New York, Chicago, Boston, Tokyo, Berlin and London. And he’s done each of them three times.

“My first international marathon was in New York,” he says. “To this day, I would say New York is the holy grail of marathon running. If I was to talk to anyone about marathon running and they wanted to do one marathon in their life, I would still say New York would be the one to do.

BUZZ

“I did New York in 2010, and I got such a buzz for running. The whole build up to a foreign marathon. it just makes it extra special. And then the bounce you get out of running the streets of New York is something, it's life changing really.” 

Running a sub 2:50 in New York made it extra special, and as the years have gone on, Cotter’s been getting faster.

“To be honest my enthusiasm has never been greater. I hadn't ran a sub 2:50 since COVID – I had ran a lot of sub 2:55s – I thought maybe my sub 2:50 days were over,” he explains. “But now I've ran two sub 2:50s in 2025. And I suppose what's very exciting for me now is I'm over 60, and I'm now getting on the podiums in the world marathons.” 

Cotter’s times are already seriously impressive, even more so when you consider that he’s 60. And the ambition for more and more is still there.

“My last two marathons were Berlin and Valencia. I ran Valencia in 2:49 and I was third in my category. I ran Berlin which is a world major, two months ago, and I finished third in my category there as well. So my objective now, is to finish top three in all the world majors.

“I've done all the world majors three times, and I'm now going for the fourth time and my fourth time I want to have a podium finish in all the world majors. The world majors are New York, Chicago, Boston, Berlin, London and Tokyo.

“I have one already achieved, so there’re five to go.” Achieving that feat isn’t easy, but Cotter’s got no doubt he can pull it off. With 39 marathons already behind him, there are still many more in the tank.

“With marathon running, why it’s gripping, is that you never crack this game,” he adds. “I'm still learning and of course that's the exciting thing about marathon, you never crack it. I'm not blessed with any natural athletic talent but I'm very good to stick to a plan.

“The light switch doesn't go off and say I want to run 2:45 tomorrow, it's a gradual thing just inch by inch, you achieve along the way.”