This Marathon is held in early December every year as part of the Clonakilty Marathon, Half-Marathon and 10k. This is also the
Location....Clonakilty is located some 40 kms to the south-west of Cork City...
Map of the start/finish area...
Map of the course...
Course Profile...
Course description....The race starts in the town of Clonakilty and heads south alongside the bay...
At 2.1 miles, the full marathon course turns inland while the half-marathon runners go left over the causeway...
The course up as far as the 4 mile mark is pretty flat and after that, there is a long but gradual climb of about 1.5 miles in length. The gradient is pretty easy though and at the top, you begin a roughly equal length 1.5 mile gradual descent into the village of Rathbarry at about 7 miles...
The going along here is either slightly downhill or flat. At 7.1 miles, you turn off right into what used to be a private entrance to an old estate but is now a public road.
This wooded section brings you down to the coast at 8.2 miles. Here, you turn left and begin a very steep hill...
It is perhaps no more than 800m long but once you reach the top, there is a spectacular view of the West Cork coastline. From here, you drop down again and run along the flat road by Long Strand.
At 10.4 miles, you come to the end of the flat section...
From here, there are a number of hills with the most significant long hill starting at 12.4 miles. This lasts until about 15 miles when you turn off right towards the village of Ardfield at 15.6 miles where you stay right at the church...
After another short downhill section, you have a steep but short uphill at 15.9 miles...
It soon flattens out though as you make our way through a series of junctions at 16.1 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 17.4 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 19.3 mile mark, you'll see Inchydoney across the bay...
From here, you head back in towards Clonakilty with the bay on your right.
At 19.9 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 20.9 miles...
Now you have a long run downhill to about the 21.7 mile mark where you turn off left onto a small country road. From here, you rejoin the earlier part of route as you retrace your steps back in towards the finish line in the town of 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. One the most scenic Marathons in Munster.
