Preview of the Mallow 10 mile race - Mon 19th March 2012

At this stage, online entries have closed and they are up around the 1,100 mark which is way ahead of last year. You can still enter the race on the day for €20 but it's important that you get there early so that they have plenty of time to put everyone into the system.

All entries and number collection will be in the Mallow Youth Centre. The race starts at 12:30pm. The organisers are saying that the last entries to be taken will be at 11:30am. The Dry-Fit running top will be given out to ALL runners at the finish line.

The thing to remember with the Mallow race is that there are 3 main points in the town that you will be using...

A.....This is the location of the Youth Centre. Entries, race number collection, prizes, refreshments, etc will be here.

B......This is the START. It's about 1 mile from the Youth Centre so allow yourself time to get there.

C.....This is the FINISH. It's a short walk back to the Youth Centre.

Getting to the Youth Centre..........If you are coming from Cork City, then turn right at the main roundabout on the main N20 road and drive into the town. Keep going STRAIGHT.....shown above as Davis Street. You need to look out for the statue on the left....see pic below...

Turn left here and head up the hill. As it flattens out, you'll see a shopping centre on your right and then the road takes a sharp left. After this, the Youth Centre is just down there on the right. Parking is available in three different car parks within 250 metres of the centre. Just follow the race stewards directions on the day.

Pacers....The Mallow race will have pacers again this year. There will be one pacer for 60 mins and two pacers for the other pace bands. Each pacer will have a matching colour singlet and helium filled balloon as follows:

60 min - BLACK singlet
70 min - WHITE singlet with WHITE balloon
80 min - GREEN singlet with GREEN balloon
90 min - RED singlet with RED balloon.

Safety Notice...!

1) The organisers have also said that there is no need to bunch around the pacers. Give yourself some distance as you need to be able to react to potholes, bollards etc… or if someone trips.
2) There is an unexpected obstacle just before the 9 mile marker. Emergency flood relief works have caused one lane of the road to be unavailable. They will have Gardai on duty, and there are traffic lights also, but theyneed people to be aware of traffic in this area (only for about 30 metres)

Headphones / MP3 Players / iPods / etc.....As the roads are not closed, all of these devices are
banned!

Munster Ten Mile Series.....The Mallow '10' is also the third race in the John Buckley Sports Munster Ten-Mile Spring Classics Series. The others are the Ballycotton '10', Dungarvan '10' and Kilnaboy '10'.

Water Stations....Water on course at mile 4 and 7 and at the finish

Course...See the map above....please note that the start point for the race is about 1 mile from the hall where you collect your number. Keep this in mind and plan to use it as part of your warm-up for the race.

While there are a few small hills and drags, there is nothing really bad. Some people have posted their fastest 10 mile times on this course and it is probably as fast as say the Dungarvan 10 course.

The race starts in a residential area just beyond the garage shown above and heads out of town. The first few hundred metres are on a straight and wide road.

As you approach the bridges, you run downhill....run underneath them....and after this, there is a steady climb. Nothing too serious and considering that they are around the 1 to 1.5 mile mark then they shouldn't take too much effort. Around the 1.5 mile mark, you join the main N20 road. From here until the roundabout, you are running inside a pretty wide hard shoulder so you are not near the passing traffic.

The only spot where you have to be careful is near the roundabout where the hard shoulder gets a bit narrow.

After that, you turn left onto the main Killarney road. It's not the nicest of roads but the sheer number of runners makes the traffic slow down. The first water station is around 4 miles.This section of road has a reasonable hard shoulder so there is plenty of space for runners. Out around the 5 mile mark however the road narrows and the Gardai usually have to control the traffic here.

Out around the 6 mile mark, you start the nicest part of the course with mostly quiet rural roads...

 ...and after the bridge over the river Blackwater, there is a gradual pull until you reach the road heading back in towards Mallow at the 7 mile mark.

The road here is pretty flat with long straight sections for the next mile or so. Just before the 8 mile mark, there is a short downhill section, a sharp right followed by a sharp left...

Just after this, there is a short flat section which is then followed by a small hill. Nothing serious but with tired legs, it can have an impact. Eventually, you should see the road and rail bridges ahead and the 9 mile mark is just beyond it....

From here, you run due east and parallel to the river. Just after the church, there is a slight downhill to the bridge as you turn left over the river Blackwater for the last time...

Then left after the bridge and run due west for several hundred metres until you see the final bend up ahead....

Once you get around this corner, there is only about 100 metres to the finish.

If you want to have a closer look at the course, Mallow AC have put up the course on the MapMyRun website.