Directions.....This 6 mile road race takes place in Mount Oval which is located just to the south-east of Cork City...
...and in more detail...
Getting there......Mount Oval is literally just a matter of minutes off the South Ring Road. Just follow the directions for Carrigaline at the Bloomfield interchange near Rochestown. As you cross over a bridge and proceed uphill, look out for the small slip road to the left for Mount Oval......
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| Slip road for Mount Oval....just after the roadside sculpture |
Course.......The race course is mostly a large loop on country roads to the south of Mount Oval.
From the start line, you run downhill past the Mount Oval Bar...
The gradient is pretty gentle as the road goes through the estate. Note that there are several speed bumps! As you near the entrance / exit to the estate, the road flattens out. Then it's right at the exit....run 200 metres and then another right...
Here, you are running past Garryduff Sports Centre and it's a nice flat fast section. Note that the roads are not closed! Follow the race stewards instructions as to what side of the road to stay on.....most likely on the left.
At the far end of the sports grounds, you will have roughly 0.8 miles completed....which should be very fast. Now for the fun part ;o)
There is a hill coming up which is 600 metres long. It's certainly not easy and if you can go up this without getting too much out of breath then it will pay dividends later. Try too hard and you'll take ages to recover. The hill starts off modest enough but gradually gets steeper...
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| L....gentle start to the hill, R.....and gradually gets harder |
From here now, you are onto a nice country road with some flat sections at the start which should allow you to recover from that hill....
After a while, the road rises again but in gentler sections. Around the 2 mile mark, the road eases off into a long flat section. This whole stretch of road is probably the nicest section of the course.
At 2.7 miles, you turn right at the T junction...
....and then it's downhill for the next 500 metres.The 3 mile mark is near the end. Then it's right again as you head north...
Now for the next tough hilly section....not as hard as before but still a factor as it's almost a mile long. In contrast to the earlier big hill, this one starts reasonably hard but soon it eases off into a gentle climb. Once the first 400m or so are out of the way then it's not too bad.
Note!......This can be a busy stretch of road. Make sure you should follow the race stewards instructions. If they ask you to stay on the left then please do so as there are a lot of twists and blind corners on this road.
As the road eases off around the 4 mile mark, it soon drops downhill again and then it's right at the next junction....
At this stage, you are at the three quarter way mark....i.e. 4.5 miles. After the turn off and a short flat section, you have a small hill ahead which is about 250 metres long....
After this, the road eases off again and soon you pass the junction where you turned off earlier....
From here, you are retracing your steps......although on the opposite side of the road! ;o).......and it's a fast and furious downhill. Down past the 5 mile mark...past Garryduff Sports Centre....left at the junction...left into Mount Oval and the long pull back up to the finish line.
Overall........it's certainly not an easy course, nor could it be described as fast. Yet for all that, it is still a nice area for a race. It's really close to Cork City and yet most of it is in the countryside. Mount Oval is only a few minutes from the South Ring Road so getting there is quick and easy. A challenging run.
