A closer look at the 2014 Cork City Half-Marathon...

With only a few days to go, it's time to have a closer look at the new route for the Cork City Half-Marathon next Monday.

The new route starts near Kennedy Park, about 800m from the City Hall which is a huge improvement on the hassle of getting buses out to Mahon as in previous years. From Kennedy Park, the runners will take in a small loop by Albert Road before heading down Monahan Road to the Atlantic Pond. Around the 1.9 mile mark, the course will merge with the full marathon course.

Timing.....One important issue is of course the start times and when the two fields will merge. The half starts at 10:45am while the full starts at 9am. The fields will merge at roughly the 2 mile mark for the half and the 15 mile mark for the full.

The times below show the two fields merging. Note that this is based on both races starting exactly on time.

6 min per mile...1:18 half-marathon < > 7:48 min per mile...3:24 full marathon
7 min per mile...1:32 half-marathon < > 7:56 min per mile...3:28 full marathon
8 min per mile...1:45 half-marathon < > 8:04 min per mile...3:31 full marathon
9 min per mile...1:58 half-marathon < > 8:12 min per mile...3:35 full marathon
10 min per mile...2:11 half-marathon < > 8:20 min per mile...3:38 full marathon

Scenarios.......(if the races start on time!)
a) If you are doing a fast half marathon...say sub 1:30...then you are going to come out ahead of most of the marathon runners. You should have a pretty clear route for the rest of the race.
b) If you are doing say a 1:45 half then you will merge with runners in the marathon doing roughly the same pace.
c) If you are doing say a 2 hour plus half then you will be still ahead of most of the marathon field but they will be running much faster than you.
d) If you are doing the full marathon and are targeting say 3:45 or slower then you will have a lot of half-marathon runners ahead of you.

While the Marina itself is narrow enough for the two to merge, there should be plenty of room on the Centre Park Road and the South Link Road for the fields to thin out.

Other issues??
One feature this year is the small loop near the start of the half. This contains some narrow sections and sharp turns which may have the effect of slowing the field. Will this be an issue? Once the half runners reach the Monahan road after about 700m then there is plenty of space to pass out people and for the field to thin out before the next narrow section near the Atlantic Pond.

Preview.......The preview of the course for the Half-Marathon has now been updated. Have a look and you'll see all of the potential bottlenecks near the start as well the merge points and the rest of the course. Click HERE