The thirteenth Waterford Viking Marathon has officially launched, with thousands expected to take to the streets of Waterford this June.
The event will be held on Sunday 22nd of June, making the Waterford Viking Marathon inclusive for all the family with full, half, and 10km runs, as well as two new races, a children’s run, and a disability-friendly run taking place on Saturday, June 21st.
People are being encouraged to sign up, with the local branch of the RNLI set to benefit from this year's event as charity partner.
Speaking to WLR News at Mount Congreve Gardens last week for the launch, Cillian O'Kelly, Water Safety Education Manager at the RNLI said partnerships like these benefits everyone involved.
"We completely rely on donations and sponsorships like the Viking Marathon. It's great to be picked as the charity partner and we're here talking to all the companies that have sponsored the event today. We're actually offering water safety talks to those companies because we want to engage with their staff and deliver some of our water safety knowledge.
"It's people in the local community who give up their time to do all that training and to be available 24-7 to go out in the case of an emergency. It doesn't matter which lifeboat station it is. It's the community that makes it work. In some ways, the brand of the boat is the RNLI but it's the community that is doing those rescues."
Runners and Vikings pictured at the launch of the Waterford Viking Marathon at Mount Congreve. Photograph: Patrick Browne
Joe Cawley, Race Director at the Waterford Viking Marathon said it's vital that people get into the outdoors daily, adding that the Marathon is the perfect event to train for over the coming months, but more importantly for the benefits to mental health.
"The most important thing that you could do today is put your runners on, dress appropriately, put on a high-vis jacket, or bring a torch with you and get out and do a bit of walking, running or jogging. Get out there and you'll feel 100% better by the time you come back.
"If you have problems, when you come back, you don't have them anymore or you find solutions to them.
"These things don't invent themselves overnight. It takes a long process to get them done. Hopefully, we will have another successful year this year."
Runners, Vikings, and WLR CEO Michael Byrne (Left) and Des Whelan, Marathon Chairman (Right) pictured at the launch of the Waterford Viking Marathon at Mount Congreve. Photograph: Patrick Browne
Martin O'Leary, Head of HR at Sanofi who is one of the businesses sponsoring this year's event, said things like this don't happen without the support of local businesses.
"I think from a Sanofi point of view, the community and volunteering programmes are hugely important to us. We had over 500 employees last year who went out and volunteered within the community, which I think has been rewarding for those individuals.
"When the opportunity came up to continue the sponsorship with the Viking Marathon, we didn't have to think about it. We can see the benefits of how it's grown and expanded and over the last number of years has been hugely positive."
If you want to be part of the growing number of people signing up for this year's event, head over to waterfordvikingmarathon.com.
For the latest Waterford News and Sport, tune into WLR News on the hour and download the WLR App for news on demand.
