Location....A lot of runners may not have heard of Mount Uniacke but it's relatively easy to get to. It is located approx 3 miles to the north of the town of Killeagh in East Cork.
At the eastern end of Killeagh on the N25 road, there is a turn off at the bend of the road. See below...the road for Mount Uniacke is between the Thatch Pub and the local church. Mount Uniacke is 3 miles / 5kms up this road.
Mount Uniacke is tiny and consists of just a few buildings, two of which are pubs. As you can see below, when you enter Mount Uniacke from Killeagh, the race HQ is on the left.
This is the view as you enter Mount Uniacke. The finish line is outside the front of Hickey's Pub while the race HQ is behind the pub.
Another view...there is an open area behind the pub which will have a marquee as race HQ.
Course map...The race starts about 400m from Mount Uniacke. You then run back into Mount Uniacke and so a clockwise loop. You pass the start line again before going to to finish outside the pub in Mount Uniacke.
Profile.....This is the profile of the course. Not completely flat but nothing too serious either.
Course description....The race starts about 400m south-east of Mount Uniacke on the most direct road to Youghal. As you can see, it's reasonably flat and narrow.
At about 300m, you join the road from Killeagh to the left. As you can see, Mount Uniacke is straight ahead.
Important point! Note that the finish line is just around the corner on the left so be prepared for that at the end. For now, it's about 0.25miles and you stay right.
Staying right at the Y-junction with the hand pump.
The turn off for Inch is just up ahead to the right, roughly the 0.35 mile mark.
Once you turn off right, you have a gradual climbs up to the highest point of the course. This is the view around the half mile (800m) mark....quiet road with a gradual rise. From Mount Uniacke, the ascent is about 30m or 100ft.
At about 0.7 miles, you hit the highest point of the course and it's downhill straight away. This should be a very fast section.
One of the notable features on the race route is Inch National School. This is the view as you pass the the 1 mile mark with the school just ahead.
At about 1.1 miles just after you pass the school, the road veers to the right...
...and almost straight away, you turn right again onto a narrow country road. The village of Inch with its church and community centre is down the steep hill to the left. Ideally the race would have been held there but there are just too many steep hills.
This next section has a few bends at the start but has some nice long straight parts as well which are by and large gradually downhill.
Just after the 2 mile mark, you come to the Mount Uniacke to Youghal road and here you turn reight for home...
This is another view of it. This is the lowest part of the course and the road has been mostly downhill to get here and from here on, it's a gradual climb. It's one mile from here to the finish.
The last mile starts pretty easy but it has a steep section from 2.4 to 2.6 miles. After that, it's past the start line, past the Killeagh road junction and onto the finish. Again, remember that it's just around the corner.
Overall......A reasonable 5k course with some hills. Nice quiet country roads with little traffic. Just north of Killeagh so easy to access.
