This event is available as a Permanent
Please note that a Cycling Ireland annual licence will be required to take part in a Permanent. Day licences will not be available.

Organiser: Mike Law

Address: 11, The Crescent, Rockfield, Church Road, Blackrock, Cork.

Entry Fee: €5

Entry Fee: €5 (Entry Form). CI licence required.
If paying by PayPal please be sure that you agree to pay any charges yourself, and that the full entry fee will be received by the organiser.

Closing Date for Entries: N/A

Start Point: Midleton, Co. Cork

Start Time: N/A

Facilities: Free parking at start.

Cycling Ireland licence, Helmet and good lights mandatory.

Map

The event starts with a gradual climb out of Midleton, over the Nagle Mountains and past Mallow before reaching the most Northerly point of the route, Kanturk. (If so inclined, riders could detour to take in a few laps of the outdoor velodrome, but that’s probably better left to another day.) Shortly after Kanturk, the route heads South and reaches the first control of the day – Millstreet. As the next 80km features the two highest climbs of the day (as well as several smaller ones) and the route will only pass through a few small villages with limited facilities, now would be a good time to refuel.
Leaving Millstreet, the course takes a long clockwise loop through the Boggeragh Mountains gradually takes us past the “Kerrymans Table” and up to the highest point of the day (~ 400m) outside the Millstreet Country Park. A long, lumpy descent takes us through a number of small villages and across the main Cork-Killarney road before starting the ascent of Reenanaree.
After Reenanaree has been dispatched, a quick drop into Ballingeary and up again, this time through the Pass of Keimaneigh. After the Pass, there is a long descent to Ballylickey and that stalwart of many an Audax event, the supermarket at Eagle Point!
The next section brings the event out onto the Beara Peninsula which gives the event its name. The rolling road brings riders through the coastal villages of Glengarriff and Adrigole before reaching the town of Castletownbere.
From Castletownbere the route loops around to the North of the peninsula and then swings South again over the Healy Pass. Unfortunately, the last few hundred metres of the climb are very steep, but your reward at the top is a spectacular view down the valley and out to sea, and a fast hair-pinned descent once memorably described as looking like “ a ribbon of tarmac that had been dropped out of a passing plane”.
At the bottom riders rejoin the main road at Adrigole, a point they passed several hours previously, but this time heading for home (though that’s still a long way off). For the next 30km, the route retraces its steps before veering right in the small village of Kealkill and the long climb to Cousane Gap . Riders should note that from the small store in Kealkill, there is still 100km to go but the route is not well served with late-night facilities until Lissarda @ 342km (open to 11pm).
After Lissarda, the route crosses the river Lee at Coachford and then follows the river downstream to Cork city, where riders can refuel for the last 25 push to the finish.
From Cork, the route takes the old Midleton road to Cobh Cross, before taking the quieter back-road to Midleton and the finish.

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