Half on the Head (Kerryhead Half Marathon)

ballyheigue

Hi all, Just to let you know about the Half on the Head due to take place on Sunday 1st July 2012.

It is a fantastic route, stunningly scenic, which takes you out from Ballyheigue Village and along the mouth of the Shannon before rounding the point of Kerryhead and returning alongside Tralee Bay with amazing views of the Maharee Islands and Mount Brandon.

ALL proceeds from the run go to Charity (Enable Ireland and others).

Best of all it is only €30 to enter (before the end of April), and this includes timing chip, Tech Race Shirt, Finishers Medal and goodie bag. There will also be a pre and post race party.

Full details are available on www.ballyheigue.ie

Hope to see you there, will keep you posted with updates on this thread.

ballyheigue

Only two weeks left for the special 30 euro early bird offer. Register online NOW.

ballyheigue

Great value - includes a Tech Race T-Shirt, A Finisher Medal, timing Chip and Goodie Bag.

The route is spectacular, and you can be assured of a great big Kerry welcome.

twinkletwinmk

Could you advise whether me and 5 pals who are hoping to participate should stay in Tralee or Ballyheigue. Will there be a good atmosphere later into the evening for some thirsty (hopefully well earned) athletes.

Nice not to have to wait until Sept for a half in Kerry. Is it as tough in terms of incline etc..... tanx.

ballyheigue

Hi Twinkletwinmk,

Ballyheigue is a small seaside village with five pubs, one hotel and a bunch of decent guesthouses. You will find details about the village and accommodation on the www.ballyheigue.ie website or on the marathon.ballyheigue.ie website.

There will be a pre-race pasta party the night before the race and post race prize giving party after the race so staying in Ballyheigue is definitely best option. The run is also the start of the Ballyheigue Summer Festival so there should be a good buzz around the village. I would book soon though as it will get busy.

Tralee also has a bunch of good hotels (check booking.com for details) and is just 11 miles form Ballyheigue.

Hope this helps.

Ballyheigue is of course prettier than Tralee. Tralee town itself isn't exactly easy on the eye, the Kerryhead area is very nice. Though stayed around there after a Kerryhead tri before and it got really quiet. I mean, it was fine for us, we were only looking for a few drinks anyway. But if you want a proper night on the tiles and clubs and late night kebabs and all that jazz, it's gotta be Tralee or Killarney.

twinkletwinmk

Thansk for the links and info.
Def won't be a hitting the tiles. More mingle with other athletes and wind down.
Looking forward to the scenery and completeing my first half !!!

ballyheigue

Twinkletwinmk, look forward to seeing you on the day (or the night before).

With regard to your incline query....There is a gradual incline for much of the first half of the race (no steep hills though) and then it levels out as you near the point of Kerryhead. Once you round the point though it is a lovely steady downhill all the way back to the finish line. Overall its probably not a course for a PB but it is not too difficult and the views along the route are spectacular.

Fore more precise elevation details you can see a route/gradient map on the website http://marathon.ballyheigue.ie/course (There is also a Garmin Readout link showing the elevations along the route).

twinkletwinmk

Good Stuff.

I also saw some prog last ngt on TV about the Ballyheigue Festival which looked worth staying around for. Lots on
Glad to see the course is less steep than connemara ..

See yez in July:D

ballyheigue

Yeah, I did Connemara myself the last few years, tough but good. To put it in perspective, I think it has a total climb of over 500 meters as opposed to Kerryhead which climbs just 500 feet.

TFBubendorfer

ballyheigue wrote: »

To put it in perspective, I think it has a total climb of over 500 meters as opposed to Kerryhead which climbs just 500 feet.

Not even the ultra has 500 meters of climbing in Connemara, never mind the half. It's a hilly race, no doubt, but each of the two big climbs gains no more than 250 feet (less than 80 meters).

ballyheigue

Whoops, you are quite right...I must have been looking a the details for the Nepal Half Marathon or something (Bit of a brain wobble - I have no idea where I got the figures). That said, Connemara does feel a bit like that at times especially when you turn over the bridge to face the final climb. Thanks for the correction.

ballyheigue

Just to let you know, the Half on the Head route is being checked and measured by the AAI to ensure accuracy and quality.

Muppet Man

There is also a hill profile on Garmin Connect here.... not mine though Posted by Bugsy2000 in the Hill Profiles thread.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/174311175

Muppet Man.

ballyheigue

Thanks for the link to the readout Muppetman.

The course was measured by the AAI on Sunday last and works out perfectly. In fact, as they measure the shortest possible route (in the case of a record being broken) it gives us a couple of extra yards to play with which is ideal.

Did Cork full yesterday. Have a few weddings over the next few weekends, might use this to ease back into the running.

ballyheigue

Thanks to everyone who took part in the this years Half on the Head (Kerryhead Half Marathon)

Over 150 people of all ages took part in the Inaugural Half on the Head road race. The weather conditions were poor (persistent light rain) although this did not seem to bother any of the competitors.

The walkers began shortly after 10am with a group of joggers starting at 10:30. The main race itself began at 11am with about 120 runners in the group.

The race was won by Donal O'CALLAGHAN in a fantastic time of 01:18:20 and he was followed closely by fellow An Riocht teamate Joe O'CONNOR who came home in 1:19:49.

The ladies race was won by Nora Barry in a time of 1:38:18 and special mention must go to local girl Mags Kenny who finished second in 1:39:05 (her very first race over this distance).

There were participants from Dublin, Cork, Galway, Clare and all over Kerry and a special mention to the couple from Utah who found out about the event online and decided to take part.


Feedback about the event has been very positive and we look forward to an even bigger and better event next year.