These two races take place on Bere Island on the Beara Peninsula...
The races start and finish at the local GAA pitch near Rerrin at the eastern end of the Island. There are two companies operating ferries from the mainland...Bere Island Ferries from Castletownbere and Murphy's Ferry which goes direct to Rerrin.
The car ferry going to Rerrin is only about 500m from the GAA grounds. As can be seen below, the start and finish lines are very close to the GAA grounds.
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| Bere Island GAA Club |
The profile for the 5 km race is shown below. As you can see, there is no shortage of hills...
The 10 km course is basically two laps of the 5 km course.
Course description.......The race starts very close to the GAA grounds on a narrow road...
100 metres later, you start the loop in an anti-clockwise direction...i.e. you turn right at the T-junction.
Around the corner and you are confronted with the first climb. It lasts about 400m and the top is just beyond the houses on the hill shown below...
At about the 0.5 mile mark, you pass the high point and the road begins to drop lightly...
The view to the right over Bantry Bay is outstanding with the Sheep's Head peninsula visible on the far side...
At the next junction around 1.1 miles, you turn right. In the distance, Hungry Hill on the Beara peninsula dominates the skyline...
At around 1.4 miles, you reach the most easterly point of the course and you begin to turn back towards Rerrin...
After an initial fall, the road climbs again to a peak near the army camp around 2.3 miles...
Now the rapid descent back down to sea level begins. Just after the army camp, you take the right fork...
...with sweeping views out over the bay to Castletownbere and the Beara peninsula beyond...
As the descent continues, the sheltered harbour at Rerrin comes into view on a sharp corner...
....and then Rerrin itself...
Once you reach sea level around around 2.8 miles, there is a short sharp pull up the hill before taking a right...
....and from there, it is mostly flat or downhill to the finish line. The 5 km runners will finish here while those doing the 10 km race will start a second loop.
This excellent video below shows an aerial view of the 5km loop.....
Overall......Tough course with plenty of climbs. Not one for setting a fast 5k or 10k time. On a windy wet day, it is a very exposed location and wide open to the elements coming in from the Atlantic. However, on a sunny day like the one shown in the photos above, there probably isn't a more scenic location for a race in the country.
