This Half-Marathon is held in early December every year as part of the Clonakilty Marathon, Half-Marathon and 10k.
Location....Clonakilty is located some 40 kms to the south-west of Cork City...
Map of the course...
Course Profile...
Course description....The race starts just outside the town of Clonakilty...
The first mile is alongside the water and is dead flat. Just before the 2 mile mark, you come to a causeway which shows the hills ahead...
At 3.7 miles, you reach a junction where you stay left. This is where the full marathon joins from the opposite direction and both races use much the same route from here on.
From here, it's slightly downhill to the small village of Ardfield at 4.3 miles where you stay right at the church...
After another short downhill section, you have a steep but short uphill at 4.6 miles...
It soon flattens out though as you make our way through a series of junctions at 4.9 miles...
The next mile or so is pretty easy. While there are some hills, the gradients are pretty gentle and there are some great views out over the West Cork coastline.
At 6.3 miles, you begin the descent towards the coast and there are some steep downhills sections along the way...
Once you reach the coast, there is another short climb as you have to gain some height as you follow the coastline. At around the 8 mile mark, you'll see Inchydoney across the bay...
From here, you head back in towards Clonakilty with the bay on your right.
At 8.6 miles, you turn off left on to a narrow road which is the start of a significant climb which lasts for about one mile. The gradient isn't too bad but it's the length of the hill which is more of a factor.
This is the junction at the top of the long climb at 8.6 miles. You are now retracing your steps as this was near the 3 mile mark on the way out.
And of course, you get to run back down that big hill you ran up near the start of the race. This is the view near the 10 mile mark which shows the downhill and the causeway in the distance off to the right. The 11 mile mark is at the far end of it.
From there, it is basically flat and fast all of the way into the finish line in Clonakilty itself.
Video clip of the course...
Overall......Very scenic course looking out over the harbour and the ocean. Not as fast as a dead flat course as there are a number of testing hills. Probably the most scenic Half-Marathon in Cork.
