Preview of the Fota 4 mile race - 17th May 2012

This 4 mile race in Fota Wildlife Park is coming up on Thursday evening, the 17th of May. Please note that the 800 entries for this race sold out nearly two weeks ago and there will be NO entries on the night.

Entrants...For those of you who have entered, you can find your race number HERE

The race starts at 8pm. With so many people taking part, it's best to arrive early. The entry desks will be open before 7pm. Just remember your number and join the correct queue.

Note...
1) Please note that headphones are NOT allowed in this race.
2) Access to Fota Wildlife Park is only allowed in the company of a registered runner.

Course......Unusually for a race, none of the course is on public roads.

To achieve the full 4 miles, the course does several loops within the park and one larger loop outside by Fota House. The white dotted lines show the extent of the Wildlife Park.

If you look at the map above, you can see how the race will proceed. You start near the Cheetah enclosure which will be split up into various time zones to keep the slower runners away from the front.

The race first takes in a loop around by the Sea Eagles (yellow loop). It then returns to the start area and starts a second loop (blue) which goes outside the park and out by Fota House.

The third loop (Red) is back within the park and the finish line is close to the registration area.

Overall...There are a number of hills on the course but they are pretty small. As you can see from the pictures above, the roads within the park are pretty narrow so it's important that you get into the correct area at the start. You can expect your time to be reasonably fast.

The race which is organised by Eagle AC is sponsored by Laya Healthcare and John Buckley Sports.

In a special offer for the race, John Buckley Sports are offering a special discount on a Soleus GPS watch on production of a race number (offer expires 29th of May). More details in an earlier post.

Weather Forecast...(10am)...While it's wet and overcast in Cork at the moment, there seems to be some clear weather coming in from the south-west. By 6pm, there MAY be clear skies.