Cork025

Preview of the Ballinascarthy 10 km road race...

Location......Ballinascarthy is on the main Bandon to Clonakilty road (N71) in West Cork.

As you enter the village from the direction of Bandon, the community hall which is used as the race headquarters is located on the right.

The one thing thats hard to miss in the village is of course the full size silver coloured model of a car. A certain William Ford emigrated from this area in the mid 19th century to Detroit, Michigan in the USA. His son Henry Ford went on to create the Ford Motor Company and manufactured the famous Model T Ford which revolutionised motoring and transport in the early part of the 20th century.


Course........Probably not the fastest of courses as it has a few nice  pulls in it. However for the two main hills that are in it, there is plenty of downhill running on the other side.

The start and finish is just to the west of the community hall...

Profile...The course can be broken up as follows....Gradual uphill for the first 3 miles with hills in the second half

Course description...The race starts about 2-300 metres to the west of Ballinascarthy. This is the view from the start line looking back down the road towards the village. You take the left here when you start and when you finish the loop, you will be passing this point again and taking the right as you run down the road to the finish by the community centre.

After an initial pull, the road flattens out as you pass the old ruined mill.....

..........and around the 0.6 mile mark, you join another road....

.....and near the 1 mile mark, you stay left at this junction...

A reasonable mile that was gradually uphill on a narrow and quiet country road.

The road continues its gradual rise...

 At 2.7 miles, you turn left left at the crossroads...

The big hill on this course comes around the 3 mile mark. After this house in the photo below, the road turns sharply first to the left and then the right...past a farm entrance and then up a hill that lasts about 500m...

 At the top around 3.3 miles, there is a great view to the south...

 At 3.5 miles, you begin a rapid descent...

 The road levels off around the 3.9 mile mark when you reach a crossroads and run straight through...

This next section of road is relatively level and at about 4.8 miles, you turn left at a crossroads...

After another 200m or so, you start into a short but pronounced climb...

The hill peaks at about 5.2 miles and then dips again into a slight hollow before going up again around the 5.5 mile mark...

After the peak of the last hill, it's all downhill from there. At first, it's fairly steep...

...then eases off for a few hundred metres as you pass Batemans Lough...

Just after the 6 mile mark, you pass the start line again and then it's downhill to the finish line close to the community hall....

Overall..........An undulating 10k course on quiet country roads. First 3 miles are a gradual climb and should be pretty fast. At least two good pulls in the second half. Probably not a course for setting 10k personal bests but it's still in a good cause.