Kerry011

Preview of the Rathmore 4 mile road race...(Organised by Gneeveguilla AC on behalf of Rathmore Ladies GAA)

Location...Rathmore is a small town located near the Cork / Kerry border on the N72 road between Killarney and Mallow.

Course map...The town is actually in two halves with about a mile of countryside in between. Race headquarters is at Rathmore GAA grounds which is to the south-west of the town.

From the N72 Killarney-Mallow road...
a) Coming from the Mallow direction, drive through the town and take the left after the church.
b) Coming from Killarney, look for the turn off right. Look for the brown signpost for the GAA grounds. See below...

This is the GAA ground...hard to miss...

Course map...

Course profile...

Kerry008

Preview of the Rathmore 4 mile road race...(Organised by Gneeveguilla AC)

Location...Rathmore is a small town located near the Cork / Kerry border on the N72 road between Killarney and Mallow.

Course map...The town is actually in two halves with about a mile of countryside in between. Race headquarters is at the Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra secondary school alongside the local church in the western part of the town.

Course profile...

Description of course...The race starts on a narrow and quiet country road about 400m to the south of the local national school. As you can see, it's dead straight and gently rises...

At the first of two bends at about 400m, the Paps and the other mountains to the south come into view...

At about 650 metres, the road veers left at a small junction and then continues gradually upwards...

At about the 1 km / 0.7 mile mark, you reach the highest part of the course near the local GAA grounds. The race continues on this narrow road and just after the one mile mark, you turn left at this junction with the Derrynasaggart Mountains clearly visible to the south...

After another bend, the road then turns north as you head back towards Rathmore. At about 1.4 miles, the road begins to drop...

This next section of the course is by far the fastest as you have long straight sections that are gradually downhill...

At about 2.7 miles, you reach a T-junction in the town of Rathmore where you turn left...

This is another view of the road junction where you join the N72 road...

As the road is open, all runners will need to stay at the left hand side of the road. This is the view at about 2.8 miles as you leave the eastern half of Rathmore with a slight incline ahead...

The section between the two halves of the town is more rural with a footpath now alongside the road. This stretch below is near the 3 mile mark...

At about 3.9 miles, you reach the western half of Rathmore and the finish line is just up ahead by the church...

Overall...A reasonably fast course. Any hills tend to be long gentle ones rather than anything sharp and steep. About 70% of the course is on quite country roads. With it located on the Killaney - Mallow road, it should appeal to runners from North Cork and Kerry.

Kerry007

Preview of the Killarney 5 km race

(Organised by Gneeveguilla AC as part of their 5k Spring Series. Updated for 2015)

Directions...Each race in held in the Demesne at the western side of Killarney...

If you're not sure of the exact location then the easiest way to get there is from the Bypass which runs to the north of the town itself. The most westerly junction on the Bypass is the Ballydowney Roundabout. Take the 2nd left here and head south...

After 600 metres on the Port Road, the Old Monastery is on the left just after the next junction...

If you are coming from the other direction i.e. the South...then the Old Monastery is about 200m after the Cathedral. See course map below for a clearer view.

Registration at the Old Monastery

Course Map...

The race starts on a quiet path near the children's playground...

After a few hundred metres, you'll pass Deenagh Lodge...

From here, the path starts to go downhill with a backdrop of the Reeks in the background...

This downhill section at about 0.5 miles is the fastest section of the course. The key here however is that you don't need to run back up it later. i.e. The course has a slight net drop which means it's very fast.

At the bottom of the hill, you come to a crossroads. This is where the race will finish later.

The course now levels off with more views of the mountains...

At 0.8 miles, you cross over a small bridge and continue straight ahead.

At about the one mile mark, you come to the start of the small loop on the course. Right for now.....

At about 1.8 miles as you approach Ross Castle, you turn left into the car park and out onto Ross Road.

At 2.3 miles, you turn left off Ross Road and head for home.

After completing the small loop, you head back towards the small crossroads and the finish line before you climb the hill.

The course....Essentially it's a very scenic and fast 5k course set in Killarney National Park, a course  that most towns in Ireland would love to have. Suitable for runners of all abilities...from serious to joggers. People come from all over the world to visit this location. If it's on your doorstep then make the most of it.

Cork006

 Boherbue and Kiskeam are located in the north-west of County Cork near the border with Kerry...

On a smaller scale of map, it can be seen that Boherbue and Kiskeam are on the R577 road which goes from the N72 (Mallow to Killarney road) to the town of Castleisland in N Kerry.

Course Preview...
The 4 mile course starts and finishes on the outskirts of both towns. While there are some hills, they are gradual which should allow for some fast running.

As can be seen from the profile above, the first 0.6 miles are gradually downhill....then it's uphill to about 2.3 miles......then gradually downhill to about 3.5 miles...and then more or less flat to the finish line.

The race starts at the local Co-Op shop on the western edge of Boherbue....

While it is initially flat, the course starts going gradually downhill...

At about 0.6 miles, the course flattens out and then begins the gradual climb. Near the 2 mile mark below, it's get near the top...

After a short flat section around 2.4 miles, the road begins to fall away again...

...and the gradual descent begins...

At around the 3.4 mile mark, the downhill section ends and from here on, it's pretty flat...

Approaching the outskirts of Kiskeam, just 500 metres of so to go...

Past the entrance to Kiskeam GAA grounds....

...and then downhill to the finish line by the Why Not pub.

Overall.....A reasonably fast 4 mile course. The gradual nature of the hills should mean that not much time is lost on the ascent and the gradual decent allows for some of the lost time to be made up.