Preview of the Ballyandreen 5 mile road race - Thurs 28th May (8pm)
The Ballycotton 5 mile Summer Series starts on Thursday evening with the Ballyandreen 5 mile road race in East Cork. This is the first of the 4 races in the series and there is a special plaque for anyone completing all 4 races. In addition, there are Top 50 T-Shirts for the top 50 men and Top 15 T-Shirts for the top 15 women.




As for the race itself, Ballyandreen is located a few miles West of Ballycotton and can be a bit difficult to find if this is your first time doing it.

Directions...
You probably have a choice of 2 routes...
A) Coming from Cork City, when you get to the centre of Cloyne in East Cork, you can turn off to the right (actually straight ahead as the main road takes a sharp left) and go past the Round tower. Stay on this road and follow the signposts for Ballycotton. After a few miles, you enter Churchtown South. Follow the Ballycotton signposts and you then need to take a right turn at a crossroads. Look for race signs on the night.
B) If that sounds a bit too complicated or if you are coming from the Waterford direction, then head for Shanagarry and then Ballycotton. Just as you enter Ballycotton, there is a small church on the right. Take a right here, go up the hill and after about 3kms, take the left at the only crossroads you will see.
There is usually parking in a field which is about a 10 minute walk from the sign-on point. Make sure you get there early and give yourself plenty of time to walk from the car park to the registration point, back up again and then to the start line.


Course...
The start point is about half way between the car park and the registration point. The initial half mile has a good bit of uphill running it with a downhill section near the 1 mile mark. After that it's not too bad although there is a very steep downhill section near the 2 mile mark, almost too steep to really run on properly. Then it's out onto the main road and head West towards the 3 mile mark. The 4th mile is without doubt the hardest. There is a bit of a drag just after the 3 mile mark but you are soon running downhill again. However, just after 3.5 miles, you take a sharp left and the 'Beast of Ballyandreen' welcomes you!! It basically is a 500 metre slog up a tough 'little' hill. You'll be glad to see the 4 mile mark because after that, the last mile is a complete contrast. After an initial flat stage, you soon start running downhill, through the crossroads and all the ways towards the finish for what will probably be your fastest mile. Keep an eye out for where you registered and the finish is about 100 metres after this near the beach.


Overall...
It basically is a 5 mile road race on country roads in a quiet corner of East Cork. I'd expect that they should get somewhere in the region of 250 entries. The entry fee is €5.

Marathon Runners!!........Don't even think about racing this one. It's only 4 days before Cork and it's way too close. If you feel you have to run it then take it easy. A good strategy is to decide on a pace and then run behind someone you know who will be running at that pace. Otherwise, you're likely to get carried away and run too fast.

And finally...
For anyone interested, I have the route up on the MapMyRun website.