Average marathon times in Ireland in 2022

Average marathon times in Ireland:

I analysed the results of 12 mararhons in Ireland. The Dublin marathon with 14,836 finishers represent 67% of the marathon runners in Ireland. I included as well 2 marathons with big climbs that are much slower (Connemarathon : 250m and Lap of the Gap : 750m). In total 22,000 runners concluded a marathon in Ireland in 2022.

List of the marathons:

I looked at the data from these marathons :

Average marathon time in Ireland

The average time to finish a marathon in Ireland in 2022 was 4h16.
– Women were running in average 4h36.
– Men were running in average 4h07.

In Ireland the slowest finisher was in Roscommon with 11h20, and in Dublin with 8h31.

In fact, the fastest Irish runners did not compete in Ireland in 2022:
– Fionnuala MCCORMACK ran in 2:29’25” in the European Championship in Munich (she ran 2:23:58 in Valencia in Dec 2021).
– Kevin SEAWARD ran 2:11’54” in Manchester.

But looking back at the marathons ran in Ireland in 2022, the fastest runners were :

Both Neasa and James ran their Marathon in Limerick with a strong field.

Analysis by Time

Looking at the women results (6,518 women), only 0.55% were able to finish an Irish marathon sub 3hours.

For men (15,429 men), 6% finished the marathon sub 3hours in Ireland.

It may be easier to visualyse the finishing times on this chart:

Analysis by Age group

This analysis is very interesting for older runners like me and is looking at the times by age group. Starting with the women :

Looking now at the results by age group, men results in 2022 were :

My own 2022 marathon

In 2022, I was concentrated on ultra-marathons. I raced one marathon, in Wicklow: The lap of the Gap marathon. It was a challenging marathon with 750m of altitude climb. I ran this marathon in 3h07’52”. With this result I placed in the top 10%:
– It was the 1,132th time overall (top 5%)
– 3h07’52” was the 1,057th male time overall (top 7%)
– It was the 184th time in the M45 category (top 6%)

Average pace worldwide

The average speed in Ireland is much faster than the worldwide average marathon times of 4:29’53” (source World Athletics). Worldwide times were:
– Women ran in average 4h48.
– Men ran in average 4h21.

Looking at the average pace, there is a big difference between the countries and it can be linked to the time limit given by the organizers to conclude the marathons. For example, in 2022, the average time by countries were :
– Switzerland 3h50
– Germany 4h11
– USA 4h41
– India 5h05
– Philippines 5h25

In the world the fastest Marathon runners in 2022 were :
– Ruth CHEPNGETICH ran 2:14’18” (second-fastest marathon in history, the world record was recorded by Brigid Kosgei’s with 2:14:04, set in 2019 in Chicago).
– Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge set a world record for men of 2:01’09” on September 25, 2022, at the 2022 Berlin Marathon.

More details from World Athletics on their article.

Half-marathon

In the study from World Athletics, the average time to complete an half marathon is just 2hours:
– The half marathon average time for women worldwide is 2:09:45 hours.
– The half marathon average time for men worldwide is 01:53:52 hours.

Conclusion

If you want to improve your marathon performance, run your first marathon or change your training plan, contact me and I can prepare your dedicated training plan.

What was your marathon time in 2022, was it faster than my 3h07’52”? Was it faster than the average marathon time in Ireland (4h16′)?

I will train for a faster marathon in 2023, I hope to see you on the finih line…