Located to the south-east of Cork City, Passage West is just a 10 minute drive from the South-Ring road...
Directions.....From the South Ring Road, follow the signposts for Passage West (R610 road). As you approach the town, you will pass a EuroSpar supermarket on the left. Continue on.....through the roundabout.......until you come to the Shamrock Shop which is located in the centre of the road. Turn right after this......drive up hill for 700 metres.......passing a housing estate called Bloomingdale.....and then turn left for the GAA grounds up a narrow road.
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| Left at the Shamrock Shop. On the far side, take a right up Church Hill |
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| After driving 700 metres, you take a left here for the GAA grounds |
Please note that the start line is about 1.2 miles from GAA grounds.....refer to map above. Follow the other runners.....run down hill and left on to a small road (shown as yellow dots on map). This brings you down to a T-junction with the R610 road...
Course Preview.......The course itself takes in waterfront walkways and some country roads to the west of the town. It certainly isn't an easy course and it can be split into two halves. The first 3.5 miles are pretty flat while there are some 'nice' hills in the second half ;o)
At about 300m, the road levels off...
...and 100 metres later, the road drops again back down to near sea level...
At about 800m (0.5 miles), the road levels off as you reach the older part of the town. Note that the course from here until about 3.5 miles is dead flat.
The course includes one small 'out and back' section. At 0.6 miles, you pass a small car park next to the waterfront. On the way back, you turn into the car park and onto the walkway....
The walkway is built on the old railway line that ran from Cork City to Passage West, Carrigaline and Crosshaven. Having opened in 1850, this line remained in service until it closed in 1932. Even after 80 plus years, some of the infrastructure is still visible today.
At 0.7 miles, you pass a small limestone building on the left. This was used as a support for a tank which was used to resupply the steam engines with water.
In the time of the railway, the train used to pass to the right of the Shamrock Shop before going into a tunnel to reappear in Glenbook. For the race, you'll be going around the back on the shop and coming back on the opposite side of the road...
At about the 1 mile mark, you turn right on the walkway as outlined earlier. From here, you follow the waterfront for the next two miles. Initially, the view is out over the inner harbour across to Little Island and Fota...
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| Old narrow gauge railway bridge still intact after 80 years |
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| Support pillars for the old pedestrian bridge that used to cross over the line |
This really is a lovely section for running and it's dead flat. At about the 3 mile mark, you reach the end of the walkway as you enter the car park at the entrance to Hop Island...
At the far end of the car park, you come out onto a footpath and it's likely that you will be asked to cross the road at this point...
At about 3.5 miles, you turn left and pass the Rochestown Inn...
From here, the road changes as it starts to climb very gently. At 3.9 miles, the road turns to the left and this is the start of the real hill...
Note that this climb lasts for a full mile and would be considered very tough when compared to other race courses.
At about 4.4 miles, you pass Rochestown College.....
The gradient eases a bit after the college before resuming again. Eventually, you reach end of the long climb around the 4.9 mile mark when you turn off left onto a narrow road...
From the Rochestown Inn near sea level, you will have climbed over 300 feet in altitude to reach this spot.
Once you are on the narrow road, the going is flat for a while. At 5.1 miles, you leave this little boreen as you join another road heading back towards Passage...
The road continues flat and even goes slightly downhill around the 5.3 mile mark...
However, the hills haven't finished yet with a real beauty starting around 4.9 miles...
It isn't that long being maybe 200 metres or so in length but the gradient is certainly a challenge. No-one is going to be going up this one in a hurry.
At about 5.6 miles, you reach the highest part of the course and there is a magnificent view to the north-east of the inner harbour. On a clear day, the mountain ranges of the Galtees, Knockmealdowns and the Comeraghs are clearly visible...
At 5.7 miles, you begin the start of a very fast finish. As the road heads east, the road drops rapidly...
It levels off again and in general, it continues very fast until the finish line near the entrance road to the GAA grounds...
Overall........A tough challenging course. Very fast up to about 3.9 miles but the rest is tough going. Easy to access and close to Cork City. If you get a 10k PB on this course then someone should give you a medal! ;o)
