Location......Dingle is located in the west of Co.Kerry and is about a 45 minute drive from Tralee and 1 hour from Killarney.
Course map...The race starts and finishes in Dingle and takes in a loop to the west of the town.
Course description....The race starts in the middle of Dingle...
.....and then heads west through the town.....
On the edge of the town after about 1 km, you turn left at the roundabout and over the bridge...
From the river, there is now a short climb of about 300m to the junction where you turn off right and begin the loop...
After an initial bend, you then see the long straight ahead which is about 2.8 kms long and is a very slight uphill gradient.
At 4.2 kms, you leave the straight section as you turn off left onto a narrow country road....
Initially there is a small climb but it soon levels off. At about 4.8 kms, you reach the highest part of the course which is about 45m or 150ft above sea level...
From here, the road descends gradually in long straight narrow sections which should result in plenty of fast running. At the 6.7 km mark, the road reaches a dip where the road begins to climb again. As can be seen below in the photo, the far end of the hill is actually a crossroads where you'll be turning left...
The photo below shows the view at the crossroads as you turn back towards Dingle with just over 3 kms to go. On a clear day, you can see Mount Brandon way off to the left...
From here, the next section is really fast as the road drops in height. There is one slight pull after a bridge but for the most part, it is largely downhill. At the 8km mark, you join the road from Ventry and Slea Head...
The next section is initially flat but soon there is a rapid descent to the junction where you turned off earlier...
From here, it's back down to the bridge near sea level and through the town to the finish line back where you started.
Overall...A moderately fast course. The climbs tend to be more gradual than anything. On a nice day, a stunning location for a race.
