Waterford national marathon champion David McGlynn honoured with mayoral reception
Mayor of Waterford City & County Cllr Seamus Ryan pictured with David McGlynn and his parents Bernie and Malachy. Photo: Joe Evans
Waterford A.C’s David McGlynn was honoured with a mayoral reception on Tuesday, February 10, in celebration of his national marathon title in Dublin in October 2025.
In a breakthrough performance, McGlynn clocked a time of 2 hours and 11 minutes, finishing as the first Irishman and fifth overall in the international field.
The run cemented McGlynn as the tenth-fastest Irishman of all time over the distance. He became the first Waterford man since the legendary John Treacy in 1993 to hold the national marathon title.
Honouring McGlynn’s achievements, Mayor of Waterford City and County Council, Seamus Ryan, said: “The pride that David has brought to our county and sporting community only strengthens the evidence that Waterford has a strong tradition of producing committed and resilient athletes.
“David’s dedication to his training as well as his discipline and consistency display the true force of what’s required to compete at a national level.
“David has been clear in recognising the role of those who supported him along the way…he wants to especially acknowledge Des Colbert and Trevor Walsh for all their guidance and continued support.
“The importance of community support in achieving success cannot be ignored. What David has achieved will no doubt inspire young athletes in Waterford, as well as any individual who has an interest in participating in athletics and sport."
Speaking at the reception, McGlynn said his newfound recognition in Waterford “is a real honour”.
“The defining last couple of years of my running career have stemmed from training by myself in Waterford.
“Maybe people might have seen me on the roads, out training in the industrial estate over the last couple of years.
“A lot of people see the achievement on the day but don’t see what it takes to achieve something like I was lucky enough to achieve."
Speaking to the , McGlynn says his sights are firmly set on qualifying for August’s European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
Qualification for the championships is achieved through hitting a qualifying standard for the distance (2:09:30) or a points-based performance quota system.
At the time of writing, McGlynn sits comfortably inside the qualifying quota for the Championships.
Having recently returned to Ireland from a high-altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, he now targets a springtime marathon in Hamburg or Rotterdam.
The goal is to hit the automatic qualifying times for the European Championships, a mark that will help him further breach world-class marathon runner territory.
“We’ll see how the fitness is, see how the training is, you can’t really get too ahead of yourself,” said McGlynn as he looked ahead into his next race.
“You can kind of put times out there that you might want to run, but you do just have to focus on the day-by-day, week-by-week training and see how far you can get…I’ll certainly be aiming at running 2:09 anyway.”
Reflecting on his victory in Dublin, which may have come as an upset to many onlookers, McGlynn said the win has finally begun to settle after a few hectic months in the limelight.
“You kind of go through your whole running career, maybe flying under the radar a bit, and then something like Dublin Marathon is the highlight of your career.
“My father has actually been complaining that people won’t stop saying it to him!
“It’s kind of died down a bit now, and I’m sure it’ll die down another bit over the next months but it’s great to look back on and it’s certainly the highlight of my career so far.”
