The race starts at 9:30am.
Course...Starting at St.Patricks Church, you run past the railway station and towards the Dunkettle roundabout. ........then taking a left and onto the old road which passes Glounthaune church.
Then onwards towards the main roundabout before Carrigtwohill and then take the bridge over the main road and head towards Fota, Belvelly bridge and on into Cobh. The finish is close to the main square in the centre of Cobh. Overall, there are a few small hills but nothing major, just one pull at 12 miles near the old IFI plant and another smaller one before 14 miles.
Overall, it is pretty flat for the first ten miles or so with the hardest sections coming in the last five.
Transport......Please note that you have to make your own way back to Cork City.
Options - You probably have a few options in terms of transport...
1) Two cars...take 2 cars to Cobh, leave one in Cobh and drive up to Cork
2) Train...The train will leave the train station in Cobh for Cork City at 12:30, 1:30, 3:00 and 4:30 pm depending on long you want to stay around after the race. The fee is €4.15 (2010 price).
Cork to Cobh....Pace or Race???......There are a number if options as to how you approach this race and it all depends on what you want.
Pace......If you are going for a specific time in the Dublin City Marathon in three weeks time, then it's probably best if you don't race it. Instead, run the 15 miles at your Marathon pace. Say you target for Dublin is 3h 30m.....then you could run Cork to Cobh at 8 min per mile pace. If you arrive in Cobh and you're comfortable then 3h 30m is a realistic target. If you're exhausted after 15 miles at that pace then you should think about a more realistic target.
Race.....As it's only three weeks before Dublin, if you race the 15 miles then you run the risk that you won't have fully recovered in time for the Marathon. If you're not doing Dublin then race away. Just remember that the last third is the hardest. Many people get to the Belvelly Bridge by Fota tired and then struggle over the last 5 miles. Going slightly slower in the early stages will pay off in the later stages in this race.
One thing though that is very likely is that there will be a strong easterly breeze. This is likely to be felt as a strong headwind in the first eight miles and in the last mile.
7 comments:
Thanks John, as ever you answer my questions befor ei ever have to verbalise them. Thanks for the great preview
Credit to the BHAA for keeping the price low. 10 Euro for pre entry must mean that its the best value race in Ireland and they make everybody feel welcome regardless of standard year after year.
John,
what do your readers think on those preparing to run the Dublin marathon,
15 miles @ Marathon Pace
+/-10 to 20 seconds,
I've run Dublin 3 times & each time I've run Cork to Cobh beforehand & found it a great preparation run, but I still don't know what is the best pace.
3 weeks is very short recovery time so it is definitely not worth racing as you point out, however there must be an optimum pacing strategy that balances recovery with best performance in Dublin. Any ideas
how strict is the race on headphones have never ran without them wud find it hard to start now also using this as prep for dublin
i would run it a conservative pace, that is at MP pace no faster. if legs feel heavy then slow down. Will do 7 mile warm up and run the 15 at marathon pace, around 7.15 pace. Works for me. Then 3 week taper
Ref : Headphones
Seriously, no headphones! The road will not be closed and there will be traffic on the road. In the later stages as the field gets strung out, you really need to be fully aware of any cars behind you.
Thanks for this John.
Congratulations to the BHAA for keeping this race as simple as it is.
Really looking forward to it.
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