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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.

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Preview of the Cork Half-Marathon (Blarney)...

Location.....This race starts and finishes in Blarney just to the west of Cork City.

The race is organised by St.Finbarrs AC, one of the main running clubs in Cork City and this is their flagship event of the year.

Brief outline......Basically, the Half-Marathon starts and finishes in the town of Blarney which is about 10 kms to the north-west of Cork City. The course does a quick loop around Blarney before heading north to a point where you turn around and return again with a gradual downhill for 5 miles to the finish. As you can see from the course profile below, the hill near Grenagh was removed in 2012 and the course is a lot faster course now.

Getting there.....From the N20 Cork to Mallow/Limerick road, take the well signposted turnoff for Blarney. As you can see from the map below, take the first left and then right and the race HQ is there at the GAA grounds.

 There will be parking at the race HQ which is Blarney GAA Club....

Additional car parking will be available on the morning of the race at Scoil Mhuire gan Smal...the secondary school on the Hedge Road which is just 200 metres away.

Car Park near the start line...

Course........As you can see from the map above, the start is very close to the GAA grounds. You do one short loop which is pretty flat before going straight on the second lap....past the garage......and after about 200 metres, over the small bridge and then right towards Waterloo......

The thing here is that you are basically running on a road which is right alongside a river so it's a very gradual uphill. Before the 2 mile mark, you will pass the finish line on the right as you continue up the valley.....

It's more or less like this for the next few miles......a very gradual climb in a wooded valley. Soon, the Waterloo Inn comes into view........

......and you take the right here over the small bridge and then up a short hill about 200 metres long...the first real hill in the race so far. After that it eases off again and back to a gradual easy climb as you carry on along a tree covered road until you reach a road junction near the 5.9 mile mark...

All the while, you will have been running alongside the main N20 road which runs parallel to this small road and climbing slowly all the way. In fact, you will have gained about 50 metres in altitude from the start (30m) to the road junction at 5.9 miles (80m).

Left at this junction and about 150 metres later at another junction near the 6 mile mark, you turn right and head up towards the turn around point (~7.5 miles) where there will be a timing mat to record runners.

Once you turn around, you retrace your footsteps as you run slightly downhill for most of the way to the finish line.

Out and Back........Please note that as this is an out and back course, runners will be running on both sides of the road during the mid section of the race. You should run on the left hand side of the road where this happens to avoid runners coming in the opposite direction.

Follow the instructions from the stewards on the day.

Overall.......The Half-Marathon course in Blarney had a reputation of being a tough course especially with that hill up around Grenagh. With that now removed, the course is a lot faster. There are no serious pulls as such and the gradual slope has only a slight impact on times. The course has real potential for anyone wanting to go for a personal best time.

Race Sponsor.......The race sponsor is John Buckley Sports, one of the main sports shops in Cork for running shoes and other running related gear.

You can find John Buckley Sports across the river from the Cork Opera House and his opening hours are Mon-Fri 9.30am – 5.30pm – late opening Friday until 7.00 – closed Sundays.

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Preview of the Cork BHAA John Buckley Sports 5 km road race...(Updated May 2018)

The course for this 5 km road race is about a mile east of the centre of Cork City...

Registration...The event centre for this race is in the newly refurbished Pairc Ui Chaoimh GAA stadium. Shandon Boat Club. Please note that this is a change from the usual Lee Rowing Club venue. This is located at the end of a Cul-de-Sac at the western end of the Marina.

There is plenty of parking in the general area. See map below.


Map...

Course...This is probably the flattest and fastest 5 km course in Cork. The start is on the Centre Park Road, about 1km from the club house.

The photo below shows the area near the start line...dead flat and the road stretches straight ahead...

You run towards the city centre and at 800m, you turn left at the roundabout...

 ....and then past the petrol station and left on to Monaghan Road...

 As you can see from the photo above and below, the road is dead flat...

At 1.3 miles, you turn left...

and 100m later, you come to a T-junction where you turn left...

You run past where the race started and repeat the loop.On the second lap, the finish is just beyond where the race started.

Overall.....Dead flat and as fast a 5 km course as you can hope to get. If you want to try for a personal best, this is the place to try for it.