Preview of the East Cork Road Championships...Thurs 23rd Apr 2009
Unfortunately, there is a clash of races on Thursday evening with 2 events on offer. To the north of Midleton, there is East Cork Road Championships in Ballynoe starting at 7:30pm. This race will be mainly of interest to runners from east Cork although it is open to other runners as well. The other race on Thursday evening is the Mallow 5 mile road race. This also starts at 7:30pm and is likely to draw a much larger field.

East Cork Road Championships........
Directions.........Take the N25 to Midleton and on the main street, take the turn off left (R627....This is signposted "Dungourney 10; Tallow 26"). After 9 kms, you reach Dungourney and keep going towards Tallow. Later you will pass Leahy's Open Farm and then you need to take a left at the next crossroads. This is signposted "Ballynoe 5; Conna 9". From there, it's a straight 5km run into Ballynoe. If you're coming from Fermoy direction, you most likely need to go via Conna.
Note that Ballynoe is a fair ditance from Midleton so plan your journey, and allow plenty of time to get there.
Registration...........Registration, changing, refreshments and results are at the "Ballynoe Community Centre".This is at the north end of the village, opposite the Church.
There are two events 1) The Ladies’ 2000m, and 2) The Men's 5 mile race.
Men’s Five Mile.....The middle section and the majority of the race consists of four laps of a triangular course. The start line is a half-mile south of the village, on the road towards Dungourney. You then run back into the village, through the central crossroads, and past the Community Centre, going downhill slightly.
After the yellow "junction ahead" sign, you take a sharp left.You're onto a narrow quieter road, continuing downhill again.
Just after a YIELD sign, and the FAILTE hedge, you take another sharp left. After 100m the road gets *very* steep, as you go uphill past the GAA grounds, and the Garda Station.
At the top of the hill, there is a STOP sign. This is the crossroads. Turn left here. That completes the first of four triangular laps.
As each lap is a little over a mile, you will appear to encounter the mile-markers in reverse order! Don't worry; just count your laps carefully.
At the fourth lap, you will turn right at the STOP sign, heading out the road from which you started. The finish line is at the brown Eircom public telephone box.
(...with thanks to Donal O'Donoghue for the above preview)