Location...The town of Bandon is only about 30 minutes from the South Link Road in Cork City...
Directions.....As you approach the town from the direction of Cork City, take a left at the first roundabout and onto the relief road.
Near the top of the hill, look for the crossroads. Race HQ is located on the right in the local Gaelscoil. Just turn right at the crossroads to access it.
Course map....
Course Profile...
Course description.....The race starts about 500m away from the Gaelscoil on the relief road. As you can see from the photo below, the road is wide and it's downhill so it is going to be very fast from the off...
At about 400m, you take the second right and onto a much flatter section of road.....
After a long straight section, the road turns to the right and you reach a crossroads at about 800m...
For anyone familiar with the annual Bandon 5 mile road race on New Years Day, you might recognise the area at the other side of the crossroads. This is the finish area for the 5 mile race and in fact, the 5k race covers the exact same roads as the last 1.5 miles of the 5 mile race. Of course, it's in the opposite direction.
For now, it's across the crossroads and up the the gentle climb. The photo below shows a typical section of this part of the course. The road twists and turns as it climbs gradually and follows the stream up the valley...
At 2.9kms or 1.8 miles, the road turns right and continues to climb gradually...
At 3.3kms or 2 miles, you come to a crossroads. In the 5 mile race on New Years Day, runners runners go straight through coming from the opposite direction. For the 5k race, you turn right and up a small pull...
At 3.8kms or 2.3 miles, you reach the highest part of the course. From here, it a gradual downhill all the way to the finish line...
This is the finish line at the old mill...
Overall......Fast start. Long gradual climb. Very fast finish. Possibly not the fastest of courses but the course is on mostly quiet country roads to the east of the town.
