Friday 13th August....
There is a 5 mile road race in Ardmore, West Waterford at 7:30pm. It always seems to attract a big turnout probably due to it's location. As well as attracting the usual West Waterford regulars, it is with easy reach of runners travelling from Cork. The course includes a few small hills but nothing too serious. More details on the Running in Munster website.
Sunday 15th August....
In Clonmel Co.Tipperary, there is a Half-Marathon which starts at 11am. The entry fee is €35.
There is a race flyer HERE
In Cork, there is the John Hartnett Challenge in Ballyhooly near Fermoy. It is described as a '10 mile Tar & Forest Run' with a 300 metre climb. Some more details...
The John Hartnett Challenge 2010....10 Mile Tar & Forrest Run (300m Climb)...Ballyhooly Co. Cork...Sunday August 15th @12.30
Prizes 1st M & F €100; Prizes 2nd & 3rd M & F
Prizes F35+ M&F 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+
Prizes 1st & 2nd teams of 3
One prize per person
Collect prizes on day of race
Entry on day
Fee: €8 (U18 €5)
Refreshments will be available
Contact Eddie @ 086 8428344
Getting there.......the race starts and finishes just to the south of Ballyhooly near Fermoy in NE Cork. To get there, you need to drive into Fermoy and follow the old Dublin road. After you cross the bridge, you need to turn left at the church with the 3 statues outside and take the N72 west for Castletownroche and Mallow. Ballyhooly is on this road. When you enter the village, look out for signs for the GAA pitch. The registration and changing rooms are there. The start and finish points are just to the south of Ballyhooly....see the map here for an idea of where it is.
The race starts at 12:30pm.
This is the route for 2009. I presume it's much the same for 2010? The race starts just to the south of the village near the bridge over the Blackwater river. You run south to the road junction and straight away, you're climbing. Pretty soon, you turn off right onto forest track with a well packed smooth surface. This is shown as Green on the map. The running is flat for a while but you turn right and then start climbing again. After that, the gradient eases off until you are back onto the public road again (shown in Blue).
Then you have a 3 km long but gradual climb until you turn off right again into the forestry, shown in Red. This section has a lot fewer big trees and is probably the hardest part of the run. The forest road surface this time is a bit rougher but should be ok. The incline starts easily but soon, it really gets tough until you reach the highest point at 330m asl, about 300 metres higher than when you first started out. Just to put that into perspective, Cork Airport is about 140 metres above Cork City so this is over twice the climb.
At the highest point, I'd reckon you are close to the 4 mile mark. After that, it's downhill all the ways. You lose height on the forest road until you re-join the public road (blue), down the road a bit, accross a straight section of forest road and then downhill to the finish.
Overall.........this is no fun run. It will live up to it's name....i.e. a challenge run. The first 4 miles will be uphill and slow and the last 5.5 miles are downhill and fast. If you are a fan of easy flat 5 km races then this may not be the race for you. If however you are willing to test yourself on the hills then this is a good event. It's unfortunate that it is clashing with the Half-Marathon in Clonmel but the entry fee of €8 for this race as opposed to €35 for the Half-Marathon may be the deciding factor for some.
More details and updates later..
3 comments:
I was speaking to one of the organisers in Mitchelstown last Friday - apparently they have added 0.5 of a mile to make it full 10 mile event. The half mile at the end involves a serious hill - all going up ! So while it is good to have this as a full 10 mile event, he wasn't sure people would actually thank them for it.
very tough run. im in bits.
very tough run,im in bits
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