Description....This the route used for the Cork BHAA Leisureworld 5 mile road race in Ballincollig.
Location...Balincollig is located about 4 miles or 6 kms west of Cork City
Directions.......The South Ring Road in Cork City will take you over the Bandon Road Roundabout and on to the Ballincollig Bypass. Follow the signposts for Ballincollig which should see you taking a left at the interchange shown in the map below...
After the interchange, you drive north towards Ballincollig for about 1 km until you come to the Killumney Link East Roundabout where you turn left onto the Killumney road...
You then drive west for a few hundred metres before turning right at the next junction...
After another 400m or so, you'll see Supernova on the right hand side of the road. There is plenty of parking available there. This is the race HQ for the Cork BHAA Leisureworld race.
Map showing where everything is...As you can see, Supernova is located on a road linking the main road through Ballincollig to the Killumney road to the south.
The start and finish lines are just up the road.
Course profile...
Course map...
Course description...The map starts on the link road...
There is a slight pull but nothing too obvious. At 0.35 miles, you turn right at the junction...
As you head west, the road is reasonably flat until about 0.7 miles when it begins to go downhill. The drop is the steepest just before 0.9 miles when you turn left...
Once around the corner, the road continues to drop slightly as you pass the 1 mile mark...
From here, you leave the housing estates of Ballincollig behind as the road becomes more rural...
At 1.6 miles, you have a short climb as you cross a bridge over the Ballincollig Bypass...
View from the bridge looking east at the Ballincollig Bypass and the hill to the right that you will have to partially climb...
From the bridge, you drop down rapidly on the other side to a T-junction at 1.7 miles where you turn left...
Once you turn the corner, you start the hardest part of the course...a climb about 450 metres long...
This is quite testing at first but gradually eases off. No sooner will you reach the top at around 2.1 miles then the road begins to drop on the other side...
At 2.4 miles, you continue downhill as you pass the road junction by the Ballincolling Bypass interchange...
The road levels out at 2.6 miles at the next junction...
You are now on what is the quietest and probably the nicest part of the course...
200m ahead, you have another climb...
........which is pretty short as you gain enough height to cross over the Ballincollig Bypass for the second time...
After a short rapid descent on the other side, the road narrows as you begin a gradual climb lasting about 400m. At 3.4 miles, you reach the top of this small hill.......
The drops slightly on the other side before you are into another short climb about 100m long at 3.6 miles...
.....and then becomes a lot more gradual. At 3.9 miles, you reach Clash Cross and you turn left and continue the gradual climb...
At the 4 mile mark, you cross over the road coming from the Ballincollig Bypass...
From here, the road is reasonably level until you reach the T-junction at 4.4 miles where you turn right...
Then it's downhill to the junction at 4.6 miles where you turn right and back onto the road where you started...
Overall......One of the main features of this 5 mile road race is it's proximity to Cork City and the ease of access from the South Ring Road and the Ballincollig Bypass. There are no shortage of hills along the course but only one is really bad but at least it comes reasonably early at 2 miles. As 5 mile courses go, it's on a par with a lot of them in terms of difficulty. Expect a reasonable time.
