The parents of a young woman who died not long after she reached the finish line in the Cork City Marathon last year took part in the event on Sunday in her memory.<\/p>\n
Ellen Cassidy (24) of Carhoo, Old Mallow Road in Co Cork became ill shortly after she completed the half marathon on June 1st, 2025.<\/p>\n
She passed away at Cork University Hospital.<\/p>\n
Her parents Tom and Violet held hands and raised them aloft as they crossed the finish line in the half marathon.<\/p>\n
More than 200 of Ellen’s family and friends had come together to run and walk this year\u2019s half marathon and 10K events.<\/p>\n
24 yellow balloons were released in memory of Ellen ahead of the half marathon start, and a memorial bench has also been installed along the Marina Promenade in Cork city.<\/p>\n
Ellen was prayed for at a special mass for marathon runners at St Peter and Paul\u2019s Church in Cork this morning. (Sunday) Her family and friends were in attendance.<\/p>\n
Ellen\u2019s name was etched inside a yellow heart on all the 2026 finisher medals.<\/p>\n
Ellen Cassidy Perpetual Cups were awarded for the Half Marathon, while an inaugural Ellen Cassidy Spirit of Running Award has also been established.<\/p>\n
Her parents Tom and Violet say that the tributes being shown to Ellen mean the world to them following their loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt ensures that Ellen\u2019s spirit will remain part of this special event and the city she loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eamon Hayes, Race Director, said that the response from the running community has been \u201cincredibly moving\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen worked in cybersecurity for PVC, having achieved a first-class honours degree in Business Information Systems from University College Cork. She was an accomplished swimmer who represented Dolphin Swimming Club, UCC, Munster and Ireland and was also a talented pianist.<\/p>\n
Her friend Katie Walshe said that Ellen loved running and the camaraderie of training.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was never just about the distance for Ellen it was about taking part, the fun, the laughter, the encouragement and being surrounded by the people she cared about most.<\/p>\n
Her family and friends have set up a charity fundraiser in her honour which has raised over \u20ac35,000 to date.<\/p>\n
The money will be split between CRY Ireland, Down Syndrome Cork – Field of Dreams, The Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Pieta House, St John\u2019s Ambulance, Focus Ireland and Marymount Hospice. Donations can be made at https:\/\/gofund.me\/ed7f409af<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Melissah Gibson and Stephen McAuley took home first places in the Analog Devices Cork City Marathon today.<\/p>\n
More than 12,300 people participated in the marathon, half marathon and 10K events.<\/p>\n
An estimated 25,000 spectators lined the streets of Cork to cheer on runners, walkers and wheelchair users.<\/p>\n
A total of 3,000 participants completed the full marathon, while 5,000 took part in the half marathon and 4,300 competed in the 10K.<\/p>\n
McAuley claimed victory in the men’s marathon in a time of 2:22:42, while Gibson secured the women’s title in 2:40:41, adding the<\/p>\n
Cork crown to her recent victory at the Edinburgh Marathon.<\/p>\n
Second place in the men’s marathon went to Chris Jeuken of Derg AC in 2:24:20, followed by Wayne Waldron in 2:26:22. In the women’s race, Andrea Aza Villamor of Glanmire A.C. finished second in 2:48:05, with April Quinn of Togher AC taking third in 2:56:01.<\/p>\n
This year’s event also hosted the 2026 Half Marathon National Championships, with Cork athlete Ryan Creech of Leevale AC claiming the men’s title in front of a home crowd in 1:04:51. Heather Murphy of St Michael’s AC won the women’s championship in 1:15:11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The parents of a young woman who died not long after she reached the finish line in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-476820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}