Charleville International Half Marathon

The Charleville International Half Marathon is organised by North Cork AC who make a donation to St. Josephs Foundation for people with special needs, from the proceeds of the event. The Charleville International Half Marathon is located roughly halfway between Cork and Limerick. The race has traditionally attracted runners from both of these counties but due to the positive reputation which it has gained, more and more people are coming from further afield. Charleville is approx 40kms or a 35-40 minute drive from Limerick city and approx 60 kms and a 50-55 minute drive from Cork city.

Excellent Course: Besides the central location, one of the main attractions of this race is the fact that it is a reasonably flat and fast course. Road closures are put in place for the safety of participants and so they can enjoy the full use of the wide road between Charleville and Kilmallock. (Pending Cork and Limerick Co. Council approval of permits.)

Excellent Time of Year: Ideal for anyone wanting to try for a personal best time or wanting to get a good indication of their fitness level heading into the Dublin City Marathon or other European Marathons at the end of the year from October to December.

Other races promote themselves as being ‘fast’ only for runners to turn up and find plenty of hills and drags. The clue to how flat this course is can be seen in the course maps. You can see the grey and white line which shows the route of the Cork to Dublin railway line. Laid in the mid 19th century, these routes were chosen to allow steam powered trains to run on, i.e. no steep hills. Looking at the Ordnance Survey map of the area, the few contour lines that are present are well spaced out so it would certainly seem to fit the bill as a fast course.