Waterford002

Preview of the Butlerstown 10k road race....

The Butlerstown 10 km road race takes place just to the west of Waterford City.

This race is just off the N25 Cork/Dungarvan/Waterford road. If you are coming from the west then you can turn off at the roundabout on the N25 and follow the directions for Kilmeaden.

Stay on the R680 road and drive towards Waterford on what was the old Cork road. After a few kms, you will come to the Holy Cross Bar....

Parking is available behind the bar or at the Butlerstown GAA grounds which is only 200 metres away up the road to the left of the bar.

The race course itself is basically in the shape of a square with each side roughly half a mile or 800 metres in length. To complete 10 kms, you will have to complete just over three loops. The start and finish is on the western part of the loop. This is a nice quiet road which has a very gentle slope from north to south.

The southern leg is inside a hard shoulder and is a gradual uphill to the roundabout. The eastern leg is on a footpath alongside the ring road and is a gradual downhill. The northern leg is by far the hardest. As you can see, it's named as Oliver's Hill for a reason! ;o) The is a good pull uphill for about the first 500 metres and you have to do this three times. It's the only really serious hill in the course.

Profile...

Now for a closer look at the loop...

The start line is about 400m up the road from the GAA grounds. As you can see below, it's narrow but the run back towards the Holy Cross Bar is a very gradual downhill...

At about 400m, you run past the GAA grounds for the first two laps and you finish near the grounds on the last lap...

On towards the T-junction ahead and then left at the Holy Cross Bar...

You can see in the distance that the road rises. It's pretty flat at first and then rises slowly until you come to the first roundabout at about 0.85 miles...

It's left here and most people here run on the wide footpath. Note that the road is not closed and may well have a fair degree of traffic on it. As you can see below, there is a gradual fall in ground ahead as you go through the one mile mark...

The downhill section lasts until the next roundabout at 1.3 miles and then it's left...

Initially it's flat but very soon, the road rises as you can see below...

As you get closer, the going gets harder...

This tough section lasts for about 400m and then levels off around 1.7 miles. At 1.8 miles, you come to the next junction and then it's left....

 Once around the corner, it straight and slightly downhill to the start line...

....and that's the end of lap 1. Two more loops and finish near the GAA grounds....10 kms in total.

Limerick009

Preview of the Ger Mullane Memorial 10km road race organised by Bilboa AC...

Location.....Race HQ is 15 miles / 24 kms south-east of Limerick City

Directions.......The easiest way to get there is to drive as far as  New Pallasgreen on the N24 Limerick to Tipperary road and turn off......(signposted for Cappamore and Doon at the Red Deer pub). The race organisers should have signs here as well. Just keep driving straight ahead.

This is a more detailed map below. The crossroads marked 'A' in red is...
1.3 miles / 2k from Cappamore
2.55 miles / 4k from Doon
3.75 miles / 6k from New Pallas Green

The race HQ is 4.8 miles / 7.7k from New Pallas Green on the N24 Limerick - Tipperary road. As you can see from the map above, once you turn off in New Pallas Green, you just keep driving straight.

This is the view as you of the crossroads (Point A in Red) on the Cappamore - Doon road (R505) as you drive from New Pallas Green.

Cappamore is to the left and Doon is to the right. You drive straight on.

Eventually, you come to the Bilboa AC grounds...(note the finish line mark!)

Course......The race course can essentially be broken up into two halves with the first section being flat and the second section having hills.

Course profile....

Course description.....The start line is about 250 metres away from the sports grounds. The first 3.5 miles or so are very flat and should be very fast. There are a number of drags in the section between roughly 3.5 miles to roughly the 5.4 mile mark which is the highest point on the course. After that, it's downhill to the finish.

In more detail....The start of the race about 250m from the club house...

The race goes past the race HQ and stay right at the junction as you head south-west...

 At 0.7 miles, you cross a small bridge...

Bridge over Bilboa River with nice quiet country roads...

At 1.2 miles, you turn right at the crossroads and onto the R505 Cappamore - Doon road...

Once around the corner, there is a short climb which about 300m long but after that, there are plenty of straight sections which are flat or slightly downhill.

Just after the 2 mile mark, you reach the outskirts of Cappamore..

At 2.4 miles, you turn right at the crossroads in Cappamore...

...and head north-east...

The next section of road is more or less flat and dead straight. At 3.3 miles, the first real hill appears...

At 3.9 miles, you turn right at the crossroads...

The road now is reasonably flat until the next short climb around 4.2 miles...

It only lasts about 200m or so and at about 4.3 miles, the gradient becomes gentler again...

The next section is still pretty easy until around 4.7 miles when there road narrows as it crosses over a stream....

....and then begins a long climb. Initially it's steep but soon changes to a more gradual climb.

At 5.5 mile2, you reach the highest point of the course where you turn right at the crossroads...

From here, the last 0.7 miles / 1k to the finish line is very fast as it's all downhill...

The finish line is outside the race headquarters...

Overall........A 10k race on nice quiet country roads. With the exception of one small hill, the first 3.5 miles are fast. Most of the hills are between 3.5 and 5.5 miles. Very fast finish.

Kerry001

Kenmare 10 km road race

This is one of the few road races in the South Kerry region.

The headquarters for this race is at the local community centre shown on the map below...

Course......

The 10 k race starts outside the local Garda station and heads past the community hall and then downhill and south to the first bridge.....

Kenmare's iconic bridge

Runners crossing the first bridge in the 2012 race

 From here, there is a gentle rise until you turn off left around the 1.6 mile mark...

From here, you are on a narrow quiet country road. Right at the next junction and then over the seconds bridge around the 1.9 mile mark...

 ...and almost immediately, you turn right onto another narrow quiet road.

As you pass the 2 mile mark, the road twists and turns and climbs gradually. At about 2.3 miles, things get a little tougher until it eases off again around 2.6 miles. From here, the climbing is gentle as the road becomes more remote and then it's left at the next crossroads...

 Now there is a long straight section with some fantastic views around 3.5 miles...

From here, it's payback time for the next 800 metres as you run downhill to the 4 mile mark. Just after this, you rejoin a slightly wider road and then it's flat until you go over the humpback bridge at roughly 4.3 miles...

From here, the road rises slightly to join the main road around the 4.5 mile mark. The main road into Kenmare is reasonably flat and is slightly downhill as you enter the town. The finish line is about 200 metres beyond the Lansdowne Arms Hotel...

Overall....Probably not the fastest of courses yet it's a stunning location for a race. Starting right in the town, the course takes in roads which are really remote and offer a great view of the mountains in the south Kerry region.