Ireland is the easiest foreign country for a British runner to race in, and it is under-used for exactly that reason — it feels too close to count as a destination race, so people fly past it to Valencia instead. That is a mistake, and this guide is the practical case against it.
Why bother
Three reasons, in order of how much they actually matter.
- 1 It is cooler. Dublin averages a 19.3°C high in July against London's 22.8°C. If you want a fast summer marathon, that 3.5°C is worth real minutes and almost nobody thinks to use it.
- 2 It is cheaper. Irish entry fees run below British equivalents at every distance, and the gap is widest at ultra distance.
- 3 The courses are different in kind. Connemara, the Burren, the Dingle peninsula and the Kerry Way are landscapes with no British equivalent, and the races on them are not simply British races relocated.
Paperwork: essentially none
Britain and Ireland share the Common Travel Area, which predates both countries' relationships with the EU and survived Brexit intact. British citizens need no visa and no permission to travel, work or live in Ireland.
You do not legally need a passport to enter Ireland from the UK, but every airline and ferry operator requires government-issued photo identification, and most will only accept a passport. In practice: bring your passport. The theoretical position is not worth testing at a check-in desk at six in the morning.
Healthcare
Under the Common Travel Area, British residents are entitled to necessary healthcare in Ireland on the same basis as Irish residents. Bring your GHIC anyway — it makes the paperwork faster if you do need it.
Getting there
Flying is the obvious option and Dublin is served from essentially every UK airport, usually multiple times a day, with the flight itself around an hour. Cork, Shannon, Kerry, Knock and Donegal all take UK flights too, and for a west-coast race flying into Shannon or Kerry saves several hours of driving over landing in Dublin.
Ferries are the better option if you are bringing a bike, a crew, or a family. The main routes are Holyhead to Dublin, Liverpool to Dublin, Pembroke to Rosslare and Fishguard to Rosslare. A car ferry carries bikes at no meaningful extra cost, which for a triathlon or a crewed ultra changes the arithmetic completely against flying with a bike bag.
Once there, the rail network radiates from Dublin and is fine for reaching cities — Cork in two and a half hours, Galway in two and a half, Killarney in three and a half. It is close to useless for reaching the races that make Ireland worth visiting. Connemara, the Burren, Dingle, Beara and Achill all need a car.
The euro, and other small differences
The Republic uses the euro. This catches people out constantly, particularly on a trip that also takes in Northern Ireland, which uses sterling — a Causeway Coast race and a Dublin race on the same weekend means two currencies.
- Entry fees, race merchandise and parking are all in euro.
- Distances on road signs are in kilometres in the Republic and miles in Northern Ireland, which is genuinely disorienting when driving between them.
- Speed limits are in km/h in the Republic, mph in the North.
- Ireland drives on the left, like the UK, so that at least is one fewer thing.
Which races are actually worth the trip
Not all of them, and the honest list is short.
For the experience
The Connemarathon at the end of April, on mountain road through the Inagh valley with the Hell of the West climb at the end. The Clare Burren Marathon Challenge in May across limestone pavement. The Dingle Marathon in September on the Slea Head road. None of these is a fast course and none of them is trying to be.
For a time
Charleville Half in September, which bills itself as the flattest and straightest half in Ireland and means it. Cork City in June. Dublin in October if the ballot goes your way.
For an ultra
The Art O'Neill Challenge in January — a 62km night race from Dublin Castle over the Wicklow mountains retracing a 1592 escape — is unlike anything in the British calendar. The Kerry Way Ultra's 200km circuit in September is the longest race in Ireland. Both are cheaper than their nearest British equivalents by a wide margin.
For triathlon
The Lost Sheep at Kenmare, whose 83km bike leg crosses three mountain passes including the Healy, and Hardman Killarney, billed as Ireland's only full-distance triathlon.
And the free option
There are 114 parkruns in the Republic across all 26 counties, on parkrun.ie rather than parkrun.org.uk. Your existing barcode works — parkrun is a single global system and there is nothing to register again. If you are in Ireland on a Saturday, there is almost certainly one within half an hour of you.