Over the past two days, we’ve looked back at John Treacy’s 1988 podium finish and Mark Carroll’s remarkable marathon debut in 2002. With this year’s New York City Marathon taking place tomorrow, our final throwback brings us much closer to the present.
On November 2nd 2025, Fionnuala McCormack of Kilcoole AC finished tenth in 2:27:00, recording the highest finish by an Irish woman in the race.
She was 41, making her New York debut and racing just seven weeks after finishing ninth in the World Championships marathon in Tokyo. It was quite an autumn.
From Tokyo To New York
McCormack arrived in New York with a demanding championship marathon already in her legs.
In Tokyo that September, she had run 2:30:16 in heat approaching 30 degrees, working her way from 33rd at 10km to ninth at the finish. It was her best finish in a World Championships marathon.
Ten days later, she turned 41. Seven weeks after Tokyo, she was back on a marathon start line.
Her performance in Japan had brought a rare moment of satisfaction for an athlete who often finishes a race thinking about what she could have done better.
“I picked off as many people as I could,” she said afterwards.
New York would bring another opportunity to work her way forward, this time through a field containing some of the biggest names in women’s distance running.
Moving Through The Field
Conditions in New York were cool and sunny, a considerable change from Tokyo. The course, with its bridges and rolling hills, still demanded careful management.
McCormack covered the opening 10km in 33:56 and reached halfway in 1:12:05. At that stage she was 13th, just over a minute behind the leader.
The top ten was still ahead of her.
By 30km, she had climbed to eleventh. In the closing kilometres, as the race reached Central Park, she moved into tenth.
Her final time was 2:27:00, with American Susanna Sullivan finishing next in 2:28:34. McCormack had gained three positions over the second half and secured her top ten finish by a margin of 94 seconds.
It was the fifth fastest marathon of her career at the time, achieved on her first attempt at New York.
A Race Of Exceptional Quality
At the front, Hellen Obiri won in 2:19:51, breaking Margaret Okayo’s course record of 2:22:31, which had stood since 2003.
Sharon Lokedi finished second in 2:20:07, with Sheila Chepkirui third in 2:20:24. All three women ran inside the previous record.
Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan finished sixth in 2:24:43. McCormack’s tenth came in a race where even some of the sport’s most accomplished athletes found themselves well outside the podium position.
Beyond Sonia’s 2002 Finish
Before McCormack’s run, the highest Irish women’s finish in New York belonged to Sonia O’Sullivan, who had finished twelfth in 2:32:06 in 2002, the same day Carroll took sixth in the men’s race.
Twenty three years later, McCormack moved that benchmark forward.
Her performance was not an Irish time record. Its significance lay in her position, becoming the first Irish woman to finish in the top ten, and in backing up her Tokyo result so soon afterwards.
Nor was New York her highest finish at a Marathon Major. She had taken fifth in Chicago in 2019, running 2:26:47. This was another strong result in a career that had already carried her through five Olympic Games.
Another Chapter At 41
There was no distant archive needed for this particular throwback. Only a year ago, McCormack was adding a new achievement to an already lengthy international career.
Ninth in the World Championships marathon. Tenth in New York seven weeks later. The best Irish women’s finish in the event’s history.
As another field prepares to take on the five boroughs tomorrow, McCormack’s 2025 run deserves its turn in the spotlight.
