This new course was introduced in 2017
Location...Mitchelstown is located just off the M8 Cork to Dublin motorway and is easily accessible...
Directions........If you are coming from the direction of Cork City, leave the motorway at exit 13 and head into the town on the old Dublin road.
As you enter the town proper, you come to this crossroads with traffic lights where you turn right...
Just 100m later, you turn left....look for the signs for the Tesco shopping centre...
Race HQ is at the new Mitchelstown Leisure Centre which is located beyond Tesco down this road.
Course......This is the new course from 2017 onwards. The race starts and finishes near the Leisure Centre.
Profile......
Course Description...The race starts on a small quiet country road just a few hundred metres from the Mitchelstown Leisure Centre.
As can be seen from the photo below which is around the 200m mark, it''s a very fast start with a gradual downhill.
As you get closer to the 1km mark, you turn off left onto another quiet road...
This section is still pretty fast and at around the 2km mark, you exit onto a larger road and start a really fast downhill run...
At about 2.5kms, the road levels off and then you cross over the M8 motorway at 2.6kms...
Almost straight away, you turn off left onto a quieter road...
You now start a gradual uphill section and this end at about 4.4kms with a crossroads in the shape of an X. You take the first left...
From here, you start another long stretch of fast running with long straight sections that go gradually downhill...
At about 6kms, the road levels off and at about 6.kms, you cross over the M8 motorway as well.
At the other side, you pass the 7km mark and then run the last km to finish in the outskirts of the town...
Overall......The new course introduced in 2017 returns to its original route with plenty of fast running on nice country roads but avoids the busier roads through the town. As courses go, it pretty fast and of course, it's easy to get to due to its proximity to the M8 motorway.
