Preview of the Bandon 10k road race - Sun 30th Oct 2011

The next race locally is the Bandon 10k next Sunday (30th Oct 2011) at 1pm. Starting in the town of Bandon itself, the race is mostly run on quiet country roads to the south-east.

Directions........Please note that if you are coming from Cork City, there are road works on the south link road due to the removal of the pedestrian bridge. You should allow extra time for any delays. As you enter Bandon, take the relief road left at the first roundabout. Follow the direction for Clonakilty and this will take you to the local GAA grounds...see map below.

Registration....There is plenty of parking at the GAA grounds. Registration opens at 10.30am. The entry fee is €10.

Kids under 10 may cycle accompanied by an adult (helmet compulsory)
Spot prizes for those who take part in Halloween costume.
ENTRY FEE: Adult €10, Children €5
EMAIL: bandon10k@gmail.com

Walk.......The walk starts at 12:30pm from the GAA grounds. Walkers have the option of doing the short route or the full route if they feel up to it. Note that there is also a 1 mile walk from the finish line back to the GAA grounds so take that into account also.

Course......The race starts in the town itself, about 500 metres from the GAA grounds...

As you can see from the photo, the start is on a quiet road away from the traffic. From there, you run back towards the GAA grounds. The course is flat at this stage as you run parallel to the river. Once you pass the GAA grounds, it the start of a long climb which is about 1.2 kms in lenght.

Passing the GAA grounds

Leaving the town, the climb continues

A tough first mile. At 1.2 miles, you turn off left....

...and from here, the road begins to level off and it gets easier. Pretty soon, you are at the highest point of this particular part of the race......

........and you begin a long downhill run to the crossroads just after the 2 mile mark.

At this junction, the walkers go straight ahead. For the runners, they turn off right and start a long climb which lasts about 1.5 miles.

Turn off left at approx 2.8 miles

The climb finishes near this junction at approx 3.5 mile miles

From there, the road eases off and at approx 4 miles, the road begins to fall away slowly...

This is one of the main features of this race. The last 2 miles are a gradual downhill and are very fast.

At 5 miles, you pass the junction where the walkers will rejoin the course...

The finishing section from here is the same as the usual 5 mile race course. The last mile goes through a winding valley and finishes at the next junction...

From the organisers...(just a safety note: on this part of the course the road is in fairly bad condition for a couple of hundred metres so watch your footing). .....There is a goody bag available for you when you finish as well as the usual fruit and water. .....Then you can cool down on your way back to the GAA pavilion for a shower, cup of tea, sandwich etc and await the presentation of prizes ......Please show consideration for the walkers who are starting their walk on the same course at 12.30pm.

Overall.......A 10k race run on quiet country roads to the south-east of Bandon. The last 2 miles of the race are very fast but the trick is to keep something in reserve so that you can exploit it. Remember that there are 2 long climbs in the first half of the race. If you can do these at a steady pace rather than flat out then you should get a good time overall.