Waterford012

Preview of the Waterford Half-Marathon (December)...

Organised by Waterford Athletic Club. Usuually held on the first Saturday of December every year.

Race website.... http://www.waterfordachalf.com/

Location.....Race HQ is at the WIT Sports Campus. This is located just off the N25/E30 road which passes Waterford to the north-west. Just follow the signposts for Waterford as shown below.

Once you leave the N25, take the 2nd exit at the West Campus Roundabout...see map above and photo below...

Course map.....

More details to follow......

Waterford011

Preview of the Rathgormack 5 mile road race...

Location....The village of Rathgormack is located in the northern part of Co.Waterford...

Rathgormack is 3 kms off the R676 road from Carrick-On-Suir to Lemybrien / Dungarvan.

The crossroads which is at the junction of the R678 and R676 roads is 10kms from Carrick-On-Suir. The junction as seen from the Carrick side is shown below. Turn right for Rathgormack...

The race HQ is at the Rathgormack Hiking Centre which is next to the church in the village...

Course map...The course consists of two loops....one small and one large. You start just up the road from the hiking centre and take in one loop near the village. After completing that lap, you then proceed to do the second larger loop in the countryside to the south-east before returning to finish at the hiking centre.

This is the small loop in more detail....pink arrows for the initial loop...yellow arrows afterwards...

Course profile....

Course description...The race starts about 200m from the hiking centre...

As you can see, it's dead straight and slightly downhill making it very fast for the first few hundred metres.

At about 500m, you turn left. As you can see, it's downhill to the junction and then it levels off...

There is a drop of about 20m in elevation from the start to the junction above so that needs to be gained again. The road passes the graveyard at the rear of the church and remains pretty level as far as the next junction...

From there (~0.6 miles), you turn left and begin the gradual climb...

Left again at 0.7 miles and the gradual climb continues....

At about 0.9 miles, you take a left at the crossroads and the end of this particular climb. From here, it's back past the start line and back downhill through the village again...

At about 1.3 miles, you get to the bottom of the hill again except this time you carry straight on...

The next 200m or so are flat and at 1.4 miles, you come to the start of the large loop where you carry straight on up a slight pull...

The gain in elevation here is 10 metres at most and at 1.6 miles, you begin a rapid descent. Over the next 600m, you lose 35m in elevation until you reach the bridge over Aughatanwillin Stream at about 2 miles...

From here, it's a gradual climb again as you gain a modest 15m or so in elevation over the next 800m.

At the halfway point at 2.5 miles, you reach the top of this climb when you turn right at Feddan's Cross...

You now start another fast downhill section which is about 600m long with views of the Comeragh Mountains in the distance...

At 2.8 miles, it bottoms out as you cross over the small stream again. On the other side, there is a gentle climb which soon levels off before falling slightly.

At 3.4 miles, you take a right and head for home...

From here, you have a climb in elevation of about 55m over the next 1.6 miles.

View at 3.8 miles...quiet road and a gradual climb...

Junction at 4.1 miles where the road sweeps around to the right....

You reach the outskirts of Rathgormack at about 4.3 miles with a long straight section ahead...

At 4.7 miles, you finish the large loop when you rejoin the road you were on earlier...

From here, it's flat for about 200m and then uphill all the way to the finish line outside the hiking centre...

Overall......An undulating course with plenty of hills. Possibly not one for setting personal best times.  Nice scenic course set against the background of the Comeragh Mountains.

Waterford009

Preview of the West Waterford AC Cross Country race in Dungarvan, Co.Waterford.

In October every year, West Waterford Athletic Club hold an open cross country event in the grounds of St.Augustines College in Dungarvan.

Update....Changes for 2015 route HERE

These are the directions to the venue...

Location.....

St.Augustines College is located at the eastern side of Dungarvan town...

The easiest way to get to it is from the N25 Cork to Waterford road....See point 'A' below...

Point 'A'...
This is the view as you approach the road junction from the Waterford City side...

This is the view as you approach the road junction from the Cork City / Youghal side...

St.Augustines College is located about 800m from the main N25 road and is located behind these trees....

The cross country race takes place on the grounds of the college.

Waterford008

Preview of the Ardmore 5 mile road race...

Location...Ardmore is located in West Waterford just off the N25 Cork to Dungarvan road and is within easy easy to runners in both counties. Look for the signposts for the R673 road to Ardmore.

Entries will be taken at the local GAA grounds which is just north of Ardmore. See map below...

Note that the GAA grounds are about 800m from the finish line and 0.7 miles or 1km from the start line. Leave plenty of time to park, enter and to run to the start.

The course is basically one and a half loops of a triangular course. You start on a quiet country road at the northern end of the course. From here, you run back in towards Ardmore and then do a small loop around the village.

Second time around, you don't do the small loop. Instead, you head towards the finish line.

As a course, it has a number of small hills. The steepest one is part of the small loop around Ardmore itself but it's pretty short. The other hills can be considered as 'short pulls' rather than anything too serious. You should expect to set a reasonable time.

Refreshments and prizes afterwards at the An Tobar bar. Location in map above..photo below..

Photos...
The start is on a narrow straight section of country road...3.6 miles second time around...

At 0.35 miles, you turn right at the crossroads and the start of some downhill running...This is the 4 mile mark second time around...

At 0.7 miles, you pass the GAA grounds...4.4 miles on the second lap...

At 1.3 miles, you enter the centre of the village of Ardmore. First time around, you turn left and complete a small loop around the village and come back down the hill shown below. For the second lap, the finish line is just around the corner.

At 1.4 miles, you pass An Tobar Bar, the main sponsor of the race. From here, you turn right onto the waterfront...

After about 150 metres on the waterfront, you turn right and start a very steep hill...

Fortunately, the gradient eases off the further up the road you go. It levels off around 1.7 miles and then you turn right at the church...

...and make the very rapid but short descent back down to the crossroads you were at earlier where you turn left...

From here, it's only a 100 metres or so to the 2 mile mark...which is near the finish line...and then you start the gradual climb out of Ardmore.

It starts gradually but gets steeper later. At 3.1 miles, you turn right...

A climb of just over 20 metres or about 70 ft over a distance of about a mile. From here, it's pretty flat to the 3.6 mile mark and the start of the second lap.

Overall...Despite the hills, it's still a relatively fast course. The steep hill in the loop around the village is pretty short while the long hill out of Ardmore is fairly gradual.

Waterford007

Preview of the Ballymacarbry 5 mile road race...

Location...Ballymacarbry is located on the R671/672 road between Clonmel and Dungarvan.

Directions........
From Dungarvan, take the R672 Clonmel road.
From East Cork, branch off N25 at Kinsalebeg, take the R671 road through Clashmore.
From Clonmel, take the R671 south.


Entries taken at the local community hall which is easily the largest building in the village. It's about 250m from the Hall to Dooceys Bar where refreshments are available after the race before the presentation of prizes.

 Ballymacarbry Community Centre....Entries, changing and showers here

Dooceys Bar on the sharp bend coming into Ballymacarbry...prize giving here

Course...

Course profile...

The start and finish of the race is up the small road at the bend in the road near Doocey's Bar

The start line is a few hundred metres out the side road, facing away from Dooceys Bar....

You run east along the Nire Valley towards the Comeragh Mountains on a road that rises gradually, roughly parallel to the River Nier... 

At about 0.9 miles out, you pass a small bridge on the left. For now, you continue straight on but you will cross over this bridge on your return at about 3.9 miles...

 Past the 1 mile mark...

 ...and the 2 mile mark with the road gradually climbing all of the time...

At about 2.4 miles, you turn left as you leave the road behind and cross over the river on a small bridge...

Then you run through a private garden, and head back west on a forest track in the Knockalisheen Woods. There is a bit of a climbing along this section and you exit the woods around the 3.6 mile mark...

From here, there is a rapid descent to the bridge that you passed by earlier...

 Across the bridge...right.......and then the start of a final mile is a gradual downhill section...

800m to go...

Past the point where the race started and onto the finish line...

As you can see from the photo above, the main road is about 200m from the finish line.