Waterford010

Preview of the Dungarvan 10 mile road race...

Location...The town of Dungarvan is located in West Waterford and is within easy access of Cork and Waterford City.

Race HQ is the local sports centre which is in the south of the town by the waters edge...

Directions...If you are coming from the Cork direction on the main N25 road, you will need to turn right at the first roundabout at the entrance to the town. As you drive through Dungarvan, you will see a church on the right.....

Take the right just after the church and the Sports Centre is just down this road...

Please note that unless you arrive early, parking in this area may be full. There are plenty of other areas to park in the town.

Distances...Sports Hall to Start Line...700m, Finish Line to Sports Hall...1.5 kms

Course...The Dungarvan 10 mile road race has a reputation of being a fast course. If your target is trying out for a PB then this is the one to run. The route takes in a small loop through the town before leaving Dungarvan to take in a bigger loop in the countryside.

The start point is approximately 700m from the Sports Centre. The road here is wide and there is plenty of space. Please note that your time starts with the gun. Even with 1000+ runners taking part, there are no major delays getting going.

The start of the race is near the loop around the town....

 As you can see from the image below, you keep running straight.....take in a short loop.....and then run downhill and re-join the main road and turn right.

Past the start line...downhill to the 1 mile mark....and then on towards the roundabout at the entrance to the town, you take a left and out the main road to the south....

The course here is very fast. You will be running inside the hard shoulder with the road being flat before going gradually downhill......then it's time to turn off right and past the 2 mile mark ...

Now you are onto a quiet narrow country road and the road rises again gently...

Near the top of this hill, you come to the junction shown below. First time around, this will be around 2.4 miles and you carry straight on and slightly downhill...

At 2.5 miles, you come to a junction where you turn right. (On the old pre 2015 course, you carried on straight here)...

Along this straight and flat section of road, you pass the finish line. At about 2.8 miles, you turn left onto the N25...

You're on this section for about 400m and you pass through the 3 mile mark along the way...

At about 3.1 miles, it's straight through the roundabout and take the 2nd left...

.....and then it's onto a reasonably flat road as you leave the town...

The next mile or so is reasonably flat. There are a few very small drags but certainly nothing worth noting. Not long after the 5 mile mark, you reach the most westerly point as the course takes a sharp left. As you approach the corner, you will see other faster runners at the other side of the field...

This  narrow section is reasonably flat at first but rises as you approach the next junction where you turn right...

Just around the corner, you soon pass the 6 mile mark. This is followed by a gentle uphill section.....

Nothing too serious but coming at 6 miles, it can have an impact. Eventually, the road flattens out and this is followed by a steep downhill section...

At the end of the hill, you cross a small bridge over the River Brickey and take a sharp left...

The road now follows the river so it's dead flat............(well, slightly downhill but nothing that you would notice ;o)

It's like this for about 1.3 miles as you pass the 7 and 8 mile mark along the way. At around 8.1 miles, you rejoin the main N25 (pic above) and you run inside the hard shoulder as you head back towards Dungarvan. Initially the road is flat but soon begins to climb. It never gets too serious but coming at 8.2 miles, it can have a huge impact if you are tired. This is arguably the hardest part of the course.

 At about 8.9 miles, you turn off left onto a smaller road. This is where you turned off earlier in the race but coming from the opposite direction...

Soon, you pass the 9 mile mark as you climb the gentle hill and when you get to the junction near the highest point, you turn right. From here, it's about half a mile to the finish and downhill to the main road....

Left once you reach the main road...

You are now back on familiar ground as you are on the same section of road that you were running on earlier coming out of the town. Stay left at the next roundabout and at this stage, you are getting very close to the finish....

Just after the roundabout, you'll see the sign for the turn off to the left...

Once you turn left, it's only a short run of about 100 metres to the finish.

At the finish line, there will be a timing mat which will record your time as you cross it. The sports hall is 1.5 kms from the finish.

Overall......A reasonably fast 10 mile course.  The hill of any real significance comes between about 8.3 miles and 9.3 miles. It's modest enough as it's just under 20 metres of ascent and it's spread out over a mile. Very well organised and certainly one of the best road races in Munster.

Kerry003

Preview of the 10 mile road race in Castleisland...

This race is organised by An Ríocht AC and takes in the roads around Castleisland in Co.Kerry

Race HQ is at the clubhouse which has the only 400m outdoor running track in Kerry.

Approx course....

Essentially, the course does a loop around the town and then at about 1.5 miles, it heads north and slightly uphill. The peak is near where the road joins the N21 and then, you down south and slightly downhill along the hard shoulder. Then it's back in to do a loop around to the south of the town before finishing back near the athletics track.

Profile...

Some uphill running between mile 2 as you leave the town and mile 3.5 where you join the by-pass. Otherwise, downhill or flat.


Location of An Riocht AC track in Castleisland. This race does a short loop around the town before heading North.

Approx 1.6 miles...straight road north out of the town

Approx 3.7 miles...where the road north joins the bypass. Lots of fast downhill running from here

Approx 6.7 miles....end of the bypass and heading back in towards the town

Approx 7.0 miles...start of the loop to the south of the town

Approx 7.5 miles...Right at the T-junction and then south. Roads are dead flat

Approx 7.7 miles...Turn left onto a quieter country road

Approx 8.6 mile......Turn left and head back in towards the town

Approx 9.2 miles.....Back into the outskirts of the town

Approx 9.5 miles...A hill in the last mile. Several hundred metres long...sharp at first but then eases off

Approx 9.8 miles....Turn left and head down the narrow road towards the sports track

Flat fast run into the finish

Overall....A reasonably fast course. There are two real hills as such. The first one after mile two is more of a gentle incline. The second one at about 9.5 miles is steeper but short. There is a significant amount of flat or slightly downhill running which should make for fast times. If you are going for a fast 10 mile time then this is one to do it on.

Cork085

Preview of the John Buckley Sports 10 miler in Cork City...

Map...The race is mainly on the Centre Park Road / Monahan Road circuit...the Marina....Mahon walkway.....and the old railway line through Blackrock.

The course can be broken down into two parts....the Centre Park Road / Monahan Road circuit which consists of two laps and the bigger loop taking in the walkways in Mahon and Blackrock.

Part 1.......The map below shows the Monahan Road /Centre Park Road circuit which covers the initial 3 miles or so of the course. The Pink arrows show the loop for the first loop.

The race starts near the city end of the Centre Park Road. It then goes down the Centre Park Road... onto the Marina... down the ramp and past Pairc Ui Chaoimh... past CAB motors... and the down Monaghan Road to Kennedy Park where the finish line is located.

Past the finish line... right at the petrol station at the roundabout.... and back onto the Centre Park Road.

As you complete the first loop by crossing the start line again, you run back down the Centre Park Road again and on towards the Marina...

Back on the Marina at 3.3 miles and past the Rowing Club again....

Part 2.....The map below shows the second part the course...the last 6 miles.

This is a nice scenic part of the course with the River Lee on the left. Around the 3.4 mile mark, you pass Pairc Ui Chaoimh on the right....

....and then proceed along the Marina which is lined on both sides with trees.

The view around the 4 mile mark as you approach the end of the Marina with the shipping terminal in Tivoli just across the water...

At the end of the Marina at 4.4 miles, you proceed up the hill by the Pier Head Inn. This is the most serious hill on the course and lasts about 400m. It starts reasonably steep but soon eases off.

The road stays level for a short while and drops again around 4.7 miles...

There is a slight pull on the other side up to the gates of Blackrock Castle at 4.9 miles...

Back down a slight drop and then you turn off the road and in though a car park at 5 miles and onto a public walkway...

This next section is dead flat and is probably the nicest part of the course. After the car park, you have a long straight section ahead as the River Lee to your left leaves the city...

At 5.3 miles, the path turns to the right to reveal the inner harbour of Cork....

Around the corner, the pathway slowly curves as it follows the waters edge...

View as the course begins to turn more south-west...

Around 6.7 miles, you'll see the old railway bridge over the Douglas Estuary. This was part of the old railway line from Cork City to Crosshaven and closed back in 1932.

At the end of this section, there is a very short pull.......

........and you then join another path which follows the route of the old railway in towards the city....

At about 7 miles, you come to the last 'hill' on the course which is a pedestrian bridge over the South Link Road. It is quite steep but by its very nature, it is also very short...

View from the top looking south-west over the Douglas Estuary....

There is of course, a short downhill section on the far side...

From here, the course is more or less dead flat as you follow the old railway line. Around 8.2 miles, you come what used to be Blackrock Station....

....and how it looked back then......

Near the 8.7 mile mark as you come back near the Marina, you turn left and down by the Atlantic Pond.

From there, it's pretty much a flat mile to the finish line near Kennedy Park.

Overall.......One hilly section around 4.5 miles. Otherwise mostly dead flat. About 40% of the course is on public walkways. It would be considered a fast 10 mile course and the times should reflect that.