As used for the FIT Magazine 10 k race...
The course for the 10k race is mostly on quiet walkways in the Mahon and Blackrock area of Cork City...
Course description.........The race starts and finishes on the Centre Park Road near the Pairc Ui Chaoimh GAA Stadium...
The initial part of the course is on a tree lined road and after a few hundred metres, breaks out onto the Marina....
This is a nice scenic part of the course with the River Lee on the left. Around the 400m mark, you pass Pairc Ui Chaoimh on the right....
....and then proceed along the Marina which is lined on both sides with trees.
At 1.8 kms, you approach the end of the Marina with the shipping terminal in Tivoli just across the water...
At the end of the Marina, you pass the 2 km mark and then proceed up the hill by the Pier Head Inn. This is the most serious hill on the course and lasts about 400m. It starts reasonably steep but soon eases off. Coming so soon in the race, you shouldn't lose much time on it.
The road stays level for a short while and drops again around 2.6 kms...
There is a slight pull on the other side up to the gates of Blackrock Castle at 2.8 kms...
Back down a slight drop and then you turn off the road and in though a car park at 3 kms and onto a public walkway...
This next section is dead flat and is probably the nicest part of the course. At 3.2 kms, you have a long straight section ahead as the River Lee to your left leaves the city...
At 3.6 kms, the path turns to the right to reveal the inner harbour of Cork....
Around the corner, the pathway slowly curves as it follows the waters edge...
View at 4.4 kms as the course begins to turn more south-west...
As you approach the 6 km mark, you'll see the old railway bridge over the Douglas Estuary. This was part of the old railway line from Cork City to Crosshaven and closed back in 1932.
At the end of this section, there is a very short pull.......
........and you then join another path at 6.2 kms which follows the route of the old railway in towards the city....
At 6.4 kms, you come to the last 'hill' on the course which is a pedestrian bridge over the South Link Road. It is quite steep but by its very nature, it is also very short...
View from the top looking south-west over the Douglas Estuary....
There is of course, a short downhill section on the far side...
From here, the course is more or less dead flat as you follow the old railway line. At 8.1 kms, you come what used to be Blackrock Station....
....and how it looked back then......
Near the 9 km mark, you come out onto the Marina and from there, you have just 1 km to the finish.
Video preview of the course...Note that the date shown in the video is for the 2013 event!...
Overall.......One hilly section between 2 and 3 kms. Otherwise mostly dead flat. About 60% of the course is on public walkways. It would be considered a fast 10k course and the times should reflect that.
