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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.

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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.

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Preview of the Waterford to Tramore 7.5 mile road race...

This race begins outside Waterford City Hall in Waterford and finishes opposite the Majestic Hotel in Tramore. Note that runners need to organise a lift back to Waterford to collect your car. Changing and shower facilities plus refreshments and prize-giving usually take place in the Tramore GAA clubhouse after the race.

Travel Options.....

If you cannot organise two car or a lift after the race, you might consider the bus option. Bus Éireann have a regular service between Tramore and Waterford City...

Course.....

Profile...

Course Preview...The race starts outside the City Hall in Waterford City...

In the city, the route is dead flat as you head south-west. At 0.7 miles, you take the left fork...

Near the one mile mark, you reach the Tramore Road Roundabout....a flat and fast first mile.

You go through the roundabout and out the other side. Now the road heads south on the road shown below......no hard shoulder and dead flat.

The second mile is again, very flat and at 2.6 miles, you hit the Ballindud Roundabout...

Straight through again and out the other side. Now the course changes. First of all, the road widens so that you are now inside a hard shoulder. At first, the road is flat but at about 3.3 miles, it begins to climb slowly...

The climb continues until about 4 miles when it eases off again...

At 4.3 miles, the gradual climb resumes again...

......and levels off again at about the 5 mile mark.

The next mile is reasonably flat and near the 6 mile mark, the road begins to drop gradually all the ways down to about 6.5 miles...

At about 6.6 miles, you reach the outskirts of Tramore and the last climb...

...through the first roundabout at 6.7 miles and the road levels off just ahead at 6.9 miles...

Near the 7 mile mark, you come to the second roundabout. Note that the GAA grounds are just here on the left. For the race, you go straight through and out the other side...

Now the road changes completely as it narrows and becomes more residential as you get closer to the centre of Tramore...

The last 800 metres are gradually downhill making for a very fast finish to the race which ends across from the Majestic Hotel which is the large white building on the right shown below....

From there, it's just a half mile jog back to the GAA hall for the post race refreshments, showers and prize giving.

Overall........A reasonable amount of climbing on the course but the hills are very gradual and easy to handle. A lot of running inside a hard shoulder of a busy road. An unusual distance but perhaps the main attraction of the race is for people to start in the heart of Waterford City and to end up on the south coast in Tramore. A popular race with local runners.