Preview of the Cork BHAA 'Pfizers' 6 mile road race - Thurs 8th May (8pm)

As far as I know, this is one of the longest established road races in the Cork area and it has been on the Cork BHAA calendar for as long as I can remember. It's a bit unusual in that there are very few 6 mile races around with the distances of 5 miles or 10km (6.2 miles) being a lot more common.

Registration...

The registration point for this race is the Pfizers Sports Centre which is located near Ringaskiddy. From Cork, take the main road for the Car Ferry and Ringaskiddy. As you go through Shanbally, you will pass through a small roundabout. About 400 metres later, you'll see the first turn off to the left. Take this and there will be stewards there directing you where to park.

Course...

The start is about 300 metres up the road towards Ringaskiddy. After an inital slight climb up towards Shanbally, there is a good bit of downhill running in the first mile. Then you turn left and for the next mile and a half, you have a number of small climbs and falls in the road but nothing serious. Just after the 2.5 mile mark, you join the back Carrigaline to Ringaskiddy road and the road is pretty flat until about the 4 mile mark. Here, there is a short climb until you reach the entrance to Novartis. After that, it's reasonable until there is a steep drop by the 5 mile mark. The last mile is a very gradual uphill section all the way to the finish.

Overall...

It's not the flatest of courses but there are no serious hills to worry about. If you have only done short races up to now, you have to pace yourself a bit to do the 6 miles comfortably. Every year, the guys in Pfizers put on a fine race with plenty of refreshments afterwards and I'd expect this year to be the same.

If you want to have a closer look at the course or get your directions, I have put the route up on the MapMyRun website.

Comments...

"Sorry to bother you but how much is the race on Thursday? And does it draw a lot of people, worried about parking. Great info on your blog by the way, that's the only way i get to know where races are on....Anonymous"

"The cost of entry for the race is €5 for BHAA registered runners and €7 for non-registered. If the weather is dry, I'd expect that they will get an entry of about 250 runners. There should be no problem with parking as there is a good sized car park in by the playing pitches..........John Desmond"

"Well done John on running a very informative and useful blog for those with an interest in the road racing calendar. Results are always up in good time and the race previews are very useful. Cheers..........Anonymous"