Directions...Kilteely is a small village in the east of County Limerick.
From Mitchelstown in NE Cork, take the R513 road for Limerick passing through Knocklong and Hospital.
From Killmallock, take the R515 road for Tipperary town. At Knocklong, take a left onto the R513 for Hospital.
Just to the north of the town of Hospital, there is a turn off to the right for Kilteely (signpost says 6 kms).
If you are coming from Limerick City then take the N24 as far as New Pallas Grean. Turn right here (Kilteely 8 kms)...go through Old Pallas Grean....Stay right at the next fork....and after a long straight section, take a left at the next crossroads.
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| Turn off right in Pallas Grean if coming from Limerick City |
Kilteely itself is quite small and everything is located in close proximity. Registrations are taken at the local community centre which is opposite the national school and next to the church.
Course...The 7 km course takes in a loop to the east of the village...
Profile...
Course description...The race starts very close to the national school and the community centre. As you leave the village, the first 800 metres or half a mile are all downhill....very fast start. From about the 1 km mark, you encounter the first climb...nothing serious but enough that it will feel harder than the opening km.
At 0.9 miles / 1.4 kms, you turn left at the crossroads..
For the next 1.6 kms, the road rises gently with the only sharp section just before the T-junction at 1.8 miles / 3.0 kms where you turn left...
The road now continues to climb although at a gentler rate. You reach the highest point around the 2.4 mile / 3.8 km mark. From here, the road drops almost straight away again and you turn left at the next crossroads at the 2.7 mile / 4.4 km mark...
The next 400m are very fast as you drop rapidly but then the hardest part of course begins. The climb is about 800m or half a mile long and is quite tough with an ascent of about 30 metres in height.
At the highest point of the course at 3.5 miles / 5.6 kms, there is a great view to the right over East Limerick...
At first, the road drops away gently but soon, it gets a lot faster. It bottoms out near the local GAA pitch at around the 4 mile / 6.5 km mark...
From here, the course is more or less flat until the finish line just short of the T-junction ahead.
Overall.......A reasonably fast first half to the race with one serious hill in the second half. Quiet rural roads.
