Cork096

Preview of the Mallow Charity 7km mini-marathon....

 Location......

 Race HQ is at the Mallow GAA complex which is to the north-east of Mallow. From the centre of the town, take the N72 road for Fermoy. If you are coming from the Clock House, take a right at the Top Oil garage and take St.Joseph’s road.

There is plenty of room at the Mallow GAA complex for parking. The race will start and finish here.

Course...The 7km course starts and finishes at the Mallow GAA Complex. It then proceeds along the N73 road towards Mitchelstown…then a right onto a quiet country road….and then right again to return on the N72 road back towards the finish.

Course profile...

Course description...The race starts at the entrance to the GAA complex and there is a slight fall for the first 200m.

At 0.2km, you come to the T-junction with the N72 road to Fermoy. You turn right here and then left almost straight away...

This is the start of the loop. Left here on the N73 road towards Mitchelstown...

From here, there are a number of minor hills but they are pretty small. At the first junction at about 1 mile/1.6kms, you run straight through...

At 1.4 miles / 2.2kms, you turn off right onto a much smaller road....

At about 1.6 miles / 2.6kms, the roads dips into a small valley with a pull up the other side....

At 2.1 miles / 3.4kms, you come to a t-junction where you turn right onto the N72 Fermoy-Mallow road.

The road has a number of small hills again but all pretty minor...

At about the 3.1 mile / 5km mark, there is a nice downhill section.....

...with a bit of a pull out the other side.

At about the 3.7 mile / 6 km mark, you come to the end of the loop with only 1km now to go.

You head back up to the entrance of the GAA grounds and onto the long approach road into it...

The finish line is next to the Sports Complex.

Overall.......7km loop to the north-east of Mallow. A number of minor climbs but nothing too serious.

Cork059

Preview of the Kilworth 5k race in aid of Fermoy Action Children Education...

Location...Kilworth is located about 4 kms to the north-east of the town of Fermoy...

Direction...Access is very easy. From the M8 motorway, take exit 14 which is just north-east of the town and follow the signposts for Kilworth.

Registration and race HQ is in the local community centre.

 

Course...The course is basically in the shape of a square and is 5kms long.  

The 5k race starts in the village...

You pass the finish line and straight past the Square...

After about 300m, you turn left onto into a residential area...

Another 100m and it's left in through a new estate...

At about the 600m mark, you're out onto another road and you head back in towards the heart of the village...

Just around the 0.5 mile mark as you approach the eastern side of the Square, you turn off right and head north out of the village...

This next section of road up to about the 1 mile mark is mostly level. Overall, a very fast opening mile.

As you approach the 1 mile mark, the road begins to rise and is the start of the most challenging part of the course. From about the 0.9 mile mark to about 1.3 miles....~600m in length....the road rises about 30 metres in height.

As soon as you reach the crossroads at 1.3 miles, you are at the highest point of the course. You turn left and the roads drops away gradually.

This next section of road which heads in a westerly direction is about 0.7 miles in length. It has a small climb but is mostly flat or gradually downhill with a net drop of about 10 metres. There are also some nice views to the south of Corrin Hill in the distance and the valley below...

At the end of this narrow road around the 2 mile mark, you come to a T-junction where you turn left...

This is the start of a long downhill section where you drop about 30 metres in height over the next 800m. The narrow is narrow with high hedgerows on both side. It is also probably the fastest part of the course.

At about 2.5 miles, you come out onto a larger road where you turn left.

From here, there is very gradual climb back into Kilworth itself. No more than maybe 10 metres in height over the last half a mile.

The finish line is just beyond where the race started.

Overall...After an initial small loop around the village, the 5k route is mostly on quiet country roads. Tough section just after the one  mile mark. Lots of fast downhill running as well. The primary aim of the raise is to raise funds for a worthwhile local charity.