Location...Kinsale is located about 15 miles to the south of Cork City
Race HQ is Kinsale Rugby Club which is located to the east of the town.
Directions......As you approach Kinsale on the R600 road from Belgooly/Riverstick, you come to a crossroads at the top of a hill just before you drop down into the town. Take a left here and the Rugby club is about 1km out this road.
Course map...
Course description...The race starts just to the west of the Rugby Club......
After a slight rise initially, the road levels off and then drops down slightly until you cross the main road at the crossroads on the way into Kinsale...
From the crossroads, there is a modest climb as you regain some of the height that you lost approaching the junction. At 0.8 miles, the course levels off and stays like that as you run though the 1 mile mark...a reasonable opening mile.
The second mile starts flat enough and then starts to drop as you join the R607 which is the main road from Halfway on the Bandon road. This is at the 1.3 mile mark...
From here, you have a very fast descent to a T-junction at 1.5 miles where you turn right and run past Kinsale Hospital...
From here, you begin the toughest part of the course...a climb of about 22 metres in height over the next 800 metres. At 1.9 miles, the main road sweeps left at a junction...
...and you have another short pull until you reach the top of the hill near the 2 mile mark. From here, there is a view to the south of Kinsale as you reach an elevation of 70 metres above sea level...roughly the same as where the race started at the rugby club.
From the 2 mile mark, the road stays pretty level until the start of a sharp descent at about 2.35 miles...
At first, it's very steep for about 100 metres and then you turn left at a T-junction...
As you pass the 2.5 mile mark and the halfway point of the race, the road begins to climb again for the last real climb on the course...
This time, the hill isn't as long as before yet it's still an ascent of about 18 metres over the next 400 metres. The photo above shows the start of the hill and it continues after the corner in the distance...a testing part of the course.
At 2.75 miles, you reach of top of this particular hill as you pass the GAA grounds...
From here with a height of about 58 metres above sea level, you begin the long descent to the Bandon River.
From the GAA grounds, it's a very rapid descent to a road junction at the 3 mile mark where you turn right...
Once around the corner, you have a tiny ascent about 50 metres long before you begin the long descent again....
This is the fastest part of the course as it's a long gradual downhill. As you get closer to the river, the road flattens out and you turn left at the T-junction at 3.75 miles. From here, the road is flat as you follow the river....
From here, you follow the road back in towards Kinsale. At about 4.2 miles, you pass the bridge for Garretstown...
From here on, traffic may or may not be an issue. Follow the race stewards instructions on the day.
As you enter Kinsale, you hit a very small hill (~4.8 miles) and then you take a right.......
and continue on down the quay....
...to the finish line by Actons Hotel...
Overall.......A course with at least two decent climbs in it. Plenty of downhill running as well. Even though the start point is well above sea level, the hills probably cancel out any advantage. If you run a personal best time on this course then you'll have to earn it.
Note...The finish line is 2 miles from the Rugby Club. There is a shuttle bus to take runners back to the clubhouse or you can use it as a warm down. Make sure you use the back roads by Summer Cove and not the main road if you decide to run back.
