Preview of the Ballycotton 5 Mile Road Race - Thurs 23rd of August 2007 (7:30pm)
This is the 4th and final race in the Ballycotton Summer series in East Cork. This race for me always marks the end of the Summer. It is the one race where you are going home in the dark after the refreshments and prizes have finished. It really brings home how fast the evenings are getting shorter at this time of year.

Course - The start and finish are in the village of Ballycotton itself and the course is reasonable with 2 hilly sections. There is a short steep section just before the 3 mile mark and a long drag of several hundred metres not long after the 4 mile mark.

Start and Registration - Note that it is 7:30 pm!! , not 8pm. Parking is usually in a field on the way into the village. I'm not sure how it will be this year with all the rain that we have had...perhaps the ground might be too soft? Anyway, you should give yourself plenty of time for this one. By the time you get from the car to the sign on (National school -600m?) and back again and then down to the start line (900m?), it all takes time. In addition with probably close on 300 people taking part, it is going to be very busy.

Just a short notice for anyone who is not a member of a running club or did not do any of the first 3 races - ...and if you are new to the running scene in Cork! One of the largest and most famous races in Cork is the Ballycotton 10. This takes place in March every year but the entry quota (~3000) is full by December the previous year. One of the entry conditions used last year was that if you were a member of a club or if you had done one of the preceding Summer series races, then you could get your entry in before a certain date. Otherwise, you had to hope that your entry was one of the first 2,500 entries that they recieved. If they repeat these conditions (and I repeat if), then it might be no harm to do the Ballycotton 5 race on Thursday night to give yourself this option later on.

If you want to have a closer look at the course and need directions (it's in Ballycotton!!), then look at the following link........http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/ireland/cork/453964670

If you did the previous 3 races and you want to check what your position is, then click on this link.....http://www.ballycottonrunning.com/Overall%20Aft%20Race%203.doc