2026 Route Details The Mayo.ie Western People Women's Mini-Marathon will take place on Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 12 noon starting from Market Square, Ballina, Co. Mayo. You can watch the route video below!
About the Route Start and End point of the route: At the corner of Market Street and Tone Street. Stage will be situated at Market Square.
The route is the same as in previous years in Ballina and has proven to be a good course straddling both sides of the River Moy.
The race will start in Market Square, which has undergone a major transformation over the past five years. It will make its way down through the town centre to the famous River Moy, past The Mary Robinson Centre, crossing the bridge to make way along the opposite bank of the Moy passing the magnificent St. Muredach's Cathedral and the neighbouring Augustinian Abbey.
The race then proceeds back over the second bridge and onto Barrett Street and then up a short sharp hill to come onto the Foxford Road opposite the Bus Station.
From there, the race will meander for about three kilometres straight out the Killala Road passing the Western People Offices, Ballina Fire Station, St. Patrick's Well, Coca Cola and then takes a right turn into the scenic Belleek Woods area. The woodland will provide a scenic, oxygen-laden backdrop, as the route progresses up to the distinctive and newly restored archway that served as the formal entrance to the Belleek estate in times gone by.
A right turn after the archway brings the race into the centre of Ballina again as it passes the Mayo County Council Civic Offices and heads around the roundabout at Dunnes Stores, at the bottom of Pearse Street, to the Bohernasup area.
The Boston Marathon has 'Heartbreak Hill', but we have our own mini-heartbreak hill in Ballina! There is a long drag through Bohernasup ('the road of the straw' - in 1798 during the Rebellion, straw was set alight to show the advancing French soldiers the way). But then the worst is over!
Once the hills at Bohernasup have been successfully negotiated, there is a fast run to the finish line back along the Killala Road, takinga sharp left turn at the Western People Offices to cross the line amidst cheering crowds at the Market Square and the renovated Military Barracks/Innovation Quarter.
