Tipperary010

Preview of the Clonmel 4 mile road race...

This 4 mile road race is organised on an annual basis by Clonmel Athletic Club on St.Stephen's Day...the 26th of December. Located in South Tipperary, it's within easy access of a lot of runners from the surrounding counties. It is 11 miles / 17 kms from the M8 Cork to Dublin motorway.

Closer in...

Directions...Coming from Cork / Limierck / M8 motorway..If you are coming from the west, you follow the signs for Waterford (N24) and take the relief road that goes around to the north of the town. Go through the Cashel roundabout and keep going east. As you approach the next roundabout, you'll see a sign showing Fethard to the left and Town Centre to the right....

Follow the signs for the town centre and take the 3rd exit on the Fethard Road Roundabout...

The road narrows as you cross a bridge over the railway line and then almost immediately, you take a left onto Thomas St...

Just keep following this road and soon, it changes to Dillon St. Eventually, you come to a road junction straight across from Clonmel Vocational School (behind the trees!) which is the race HQ...

Parking is available 300m away. Left at the junction and then straight away, a right...

The Suirside car park is about one hundred metres up this road on the left...

Directions coming from Waterford / Kilkenny.....If you are approaching from the east on the N24, stay left at the first roundabout and follow the signs for Town Centre and Clonmel.


You then drive through the next roundabout, past the Lidl store, past Dunnes Stores, through the roundabout at the Showgrounds Shopping Centre.........i.e. keep going straight. As as you begin to enter a more built up area with older style buildings, you turn left at the Clonmel Veterinary Clinic...

 

As per the earlier photo, parking is available up the road about 100m on the left.

Directions from Dungarvan......If you are approaching Clonmel on the R671 from the south-east, you will come to the Dungarvan Roundabout...

The town is signposted to the left but it's easier to stay south of the town and carry straight on.

Keep going until you come to the next roundabout and take a left there...

You cross over a bridge and about 50 metres further on, you'll see the entrance to the car park on the right.

Entries are usually at the local vocation school...see map...

The race course itself......

Overall......A reasonable course with one hilly section. Plenty of flat and fast sections as well....especially the run in towards the finish line. A race with a bit of everything....town and country......flat and hilly. Expect a reasonably fast time.

Race HQ

Tipperary003

Preview of the Cahir 4 mile road race...

Directions...Cahir is located in the south of Tipperary, just off the M8 motorway from Cork to Dublin...

 

If you are coming from the motorway, follow all the signs for Cahir. This will take you into the centre of the town and this T-junction shown below. Cahir Castle is about 300m to your left but you need to turn right here and drive up the hill. The start line is outside Morrisons Garage which you will see on the left.

Course......The 4 mile race takes in a loop to the south and west of the town...

The race starts outside Morrisons Garage. Almost immediately, you're taking a right...

You turn onto a flat road which after the next bend opens up into a long straight which takes you south of the town.

Ar about 0.6 miles, the roads takes a dip but this is followed by a sharp climb of some 250 metres...

The hill itself is about 500 metres long but you turn off to the right half way up, about the 0.9 mile mark...

Once you turn off, you are onto a quieter road which continues to climb but a much gentler rate. You pass the 1 mile mark around here...

The road soon levels off and at about 1.2 miles, the Galtee Mountains come into view...

At 1.4 miles, you come to the next junction and you take a right onto an even quieter road...

All the while, you are actually gaining height but you'd hardly notice as the incline is very gentle. You pass the 2 mile mark around here...

The narrow road continues past some remote country cottages...

...then through some sharp bends...

...before coming to a T-junction around the 2.4 mile mark...

For the next mile or so, the course changes completely as you run inside the hard shoulder of what used to be the old Cork Dublin road. With the advent of the new motorway, the traffic on this road is much reduced.

This section of road is practically flat and you pass the 3 mile mark near this sign here. In the distance, you can see that the road rises slightly...

It starts around the 3.2 mile mark and lasts for about 300m until you turn off right...

From the junction at 3.4 miles, you enter the outskirts of the town almost immediately. From there, it's all downhill to the finish line which is very close to the start. The view below shows the finish line in the distance just beyond the garage...

Overall......A reasonably fast course. Two modest hills but only 200-300 metres long. Lots of reasonably flat sections. Very fast finish.

Limerick010

Preview of the Dromcollogher 4 mile road race...

Dromcollogher is in the south-west of Co.Limerick near the border with Co.Cork...

Directions.....Dromcollogher is located to the west of Charleville near the Limerick - Cork border. If you are coming from say Limerick city then the easiest way is probably to head south towards Cork and turn off at Charleville and follow the directions for Newtownshandrum, Milford and Dromcollogher. If you are travelling north from Cork then turn off at Buttevant and go via Liscarroll.

As you enter the town from the east then you should see that the road forks into two where the central square is. Take the right here (R522 to Newcastle West), drive a few hundred metres on what is a very straight road and you will pass the start line just opposite a service station. The GAA hall where the entries will be taken is just beyond this on the left.

Entries......Entries are normally taken in the GAA hall with prize giving and refreshments later in the Community Centre which is 400m away.

GAA grounds...just beyond the start line...

Community Centre....

Course map...

Course profile...

Course description...The course is basically in the shape of a triangle and is unusual from most races in that a lot of the route is dead straight. The start line is hard to miss it with a big yellow line across the road with 'START' painted on the lamp post ;o)

From the start, the road is dead straight and slightly downhill. This is the view as you leave Dromcollogher after about 300m.....

This straight section lasts until about 1.4 miles where you turn off left...

This is another view of the junction......

As you can see, you are turning onto another straight section of road except that it's narrower with a very gradual rise.

View near the 2 mile mark...a straight narrow road...

At about 2.6 miles, you hit the next junction and it's left onto the R515 road which goes to Broadford and Abbeyfeale....

This is the view from the junction with a signpost showing some bends ahead...

After the bends, the road continues to climb gradually as you approach the 3 mile mark...

View at 3.2 miles showing the end of the gradual climb ahead...

At 3.4 miles, the road levels off as it goes through some twists and turns. At 3.6 miles, you begin the gradual descent into Dromcollogher. As you re-enter the town, you pass the church at 3.9 miles...

From here, it's around the corner and up 200m or so up a hill to the finish line in the square...

Overall.....A 4 mile race in south Co.Limerick with a lot of history. Very fast opening mile. There is roughly a 30m difference in elevation between the highest and lowest points of the course but most of this is gained or lost gradually. A reasonably fast course.

Additional info...

History of the race......
The race was originally started back in the time of the original running boom in the late 70's and early 80's by Christy Brosnan and Joe Quaid of North Cork AC. The original idea was for it to be part of the Dromcollogher Carnival which has been going since the 1940's and for the race to take place on Monday evening, a tradition that survives to this day.

In its heyday, the race used to attract some of the top runners from all over Munster even though the prizes were always modest in comparison to other races at the time. On one occasion, Liam O'Brien from Cork won the race the day after winning the National 3000m steeplechase title! The triangle shaped course started and finished in the main square of the town much to the delight of the crowds. This did however mean that the race was in fact 'slightly' longer than the advertised 4 miles ;o)

One of the other unusual features of the race at the time was that the winner received a small porcelain figurine. One of the biggest employers at that time in the town was Irish Dresden, a German company which made high quality collectable porcelain items in the town which employed over 60 people, a huge number in what was and still is a rural area.

West Limerick AC help out with the organisation of the race and they put up a cup in memory of Christy Brosnan who unfortunately has now passed away. This replaces the old cup which was named after Marky O'Shea who used to run in the local races of the late 70's and early 80's barefoot, a long time before minimalist running and Vibram Five Fingers became all the rage ;o)