Cork City Marathon Race Director
Welcome to our new staff spotlight section which highlights the many services delivered by Cork City Council on a daily basis.
In this edition of our staff spotlight, you'll get to know the Cork City Marathon Race Director, Eamon Hayes.
Tell us about your job?
My job is administrative officer in the sports team in Cork City Council's community section.
We look after sports activities for youth at risk, we administer sports capital grants, and we organise the Cork City Marathon.
How did you end up working as an Administrative Officer for Cork City Council?
I joined Cork City Council in 2002 having spent two years in Cork County Council after studying Public Administration in U.L. My first role in Cork City Council was in Industrial Relations, then I moved to the Core project, bringing in a new staff attendance and payroll system. Then I moved to a customer relationship management project which we introduced into the customer service unit. After this I spent 5 years as Procurement Officer. I’ve enjoyed each role and each brought new experiences.
What does a typical day involve?
We have so much going on in the office that we can be jumping from one thing to another all day. We have a great team in the sports section who are delivering Sports on the Green, Easter Camps, Rugby Development in Mahon and the Northside, Sports Integration Programmes, Sports Capital Grants and Cork City Marathon and I’m really lucky to be working with such great people. With the Cork City Marathon I’m constantly doing something 24/7 every day of the year and it keeps us really on our toes. The event is becoming huge and all encompassing and the amount of interaction with the public has probably doubled this year compared to last year even, which had probably doubled from the year before. So the workload has dramatically increased but is very rewarding.
What is your favourite part of your job?
My favourite part of the job is being in a position to help marginalised groups. I find this part of the job really rewarding and it’s something that makes the busy times worthwhile.
What can make your job challenging at times?
I guess the marathon is the most challenging aspect of the job, organising approximately 1,000 people across all the agencies and volunteer groups to work on one event. The number of stakeholder groups has also dramatically increased so that again brings extra challenges. The rewards however are so worthwhile as the race brings 11,000 runners to Cork City Centre on race weekend with their families. The benefits of holding a marathon in the city are huge and this year we have done a big promotional fundraising campaign for charities where we expect to smash old fundraising records.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Take up running ten years earlier.