Galeforce type events?

emcor

Did my first GF @ weekend - in The red wave & a big day on the hill!. Enjoyed it massivly, dont know proper time but round 5 hrs mark.
Saw all the comments on the orginsation & couldent agree more that there is serious room for improvment in the event managment and less money gouging.

Im new to this type of thing and was wondering if there are simalar type events or a season for these types of thing ?

Mickeybags

I would love to do some adventure type racing next year.
Had thought about maybe doing Gaelforce next year.
However having read all the comments to date I will be staying well away from Gaelforce unless they address all the issues raised in the other thread.

Ideally I would like to race in Ireland

silverside

There are loads of races , mainly in the summer

CLEC is brilliant (run by a bunch of amateurs) but the biking is more technical

There is also the Achill ROAR (first time being run this year)

Kilbroney Challenge also

Cappanalea National Adventure Marathon

Ballyhoura blitz / beast and blackrock challenge

sleepmonsters.ie has some events listed but the best way to hear about events is word of mouth

There is the RAT RACE series ... city-based street-orienteering and biking with challenges, this is interesting for something different, I was slightly disappointed by the poor quality of mapping/control descriptions and muddled marshaling, can suffer from having lots of novices, but it's a fun way to see a new city and try abseiling , obstacle course challenges etc.


links:
clec.ie
roar.ie
sleepmonsters.ie


May do a few of these myself next year although will be focussing on shorter-distance training for the start of the track season at least.

Brian Crinion

I was holding back on putting out information until everything was finalized, but this thread seems as good a point as ever for a soft launch to get some feedback from people who have just finished Gael Force.

WAR: Wicklow Adventure Race 2010

13km of mountain running, 50km of cycling and 2km of canoeing. Starting and finishing on the shores of Glendalough’s Upper Lake. The course takes in Lough Dan, Djouce Mountain, Lough Tay, the Sally Gap and the Glenmacnass Waterfall.
Have a look at http://www.wicklowadventurerace.com/ for more detail.

Details like the competitors cycling jerseys might change (but I like Irish Style ‘King of the Mountains’ design). However the basic route taking in the most scenic views in Wicklow shouldn’t change significantly.

All feedback is welcome to war2010race@gmail.com ,

Yours in Sport,
Brian Crinion
www.wicklowadventurerace.com
www.dublintri.com
www.triathy.com

Poncherello

Sounds great, will probably enter and for 65 bucks you better have your sh*t together !

Peterx

As far as I know the next "offroad" event that you can do with a road bike is the Achill Roar. The tactics in this one seem to revolve around a choice of swimming or kayaking.
www.roar.ie

As others have said the CLEC is a brilliant event, although your road bike wouldn't be any good:)

In the north there is a fantastic series of races run by CCAR

The best of them all was the irish adventure challenge, they probably set the bar too high though as it was only on the once.

gaelforce09

hi

With regards to the cycle for the Wicklow Adventure race are those climbs right?
My garmin showed me that the 32k cycle for gael force there was a total 527m ascent.
The website says that the total climbs for this race will be the following:
200m
250m
150m

Is this correct?
I just want to get an idea how difficult this cycles will be compared to Gael Force West. thanks

emcor

Thanks everyone; esp Silverside - great info.
GF09 - Im not a techie but you may want to check how the clacuation is computed as the cycle for GF starts pretty much at sea level.

One other Q is I need new runners for traing and hoped somebody could recommend a brand/type, I have totally flat feel and use orthitice so need good ankle support.

All the best -E

EAD

Was wondering how do-able WAR is. Have been looking at the website and it looks good but I was wondering has it been held before and what kind of times are likely - I'm new to adventure racing and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. Did GF and loved it but would have more of a plod than a stride

Enduro

Just stop wondering and get out and do it.

The first adventure race I did was 5 days long, covered a few hundred km, and involved at least 5 sports I had no idea about before I started training for it (mountain biking, canoeing, swimming, horse rideing, jumaring). But I learned, trained, took part, enjoyed, and was hooked. But then I try not to let my little fears and aprehensions get the better of me.

That race is barely worthy of the name adventure racing. Its as soft as AR comes. So just go for it.

911sc

Mickeybags wrote: »

However having read all the comments to date I will be staying well away from Gaelforce

In fairness, if you go by all the comments to read about races, you'll never enter a race being in Ireland or abroad.
Friends of mine did it and will be back next year as they really enjoyed the day.

EAD

Thanks for the advice ENDURO, very helpful! You obviously had a very good level of basic fitness to begin with, well done.

notsobadinc

Wow Enduro...u are mega fit...5 days...how do u keep your legs from cramping...i iwsh i was as good and optimistic as you:D...where do you train to get such good times considering your climb on last year's gf

Enduro

Lads, when I did that race I'd only just started running. I did my first race (the Dublin city marathon) in 1998, and that 5 day race took place in may/june 2000. I signed up for it in late 1999, so was only a year into any kiind of serious training. My background before that was in hillwalking.

Now I obviously have a huge amount of training and base fitness to back me up, but back then when I started I was in the same boat as ye guys, or possibly even worse off!

Seriosly lads... just go for it! I've never regretting trying something, even if I don't quite make it, but I definitely regret letting a few things go by without even giving them a go. Having a positive mental approach and can do attitude is at least as important as physical fitness and preparation, if not more so.

how do u keep your legs from cramping

Go slower! Train well, keep yourself fed and watered during the races. And, especially in the early days, I used to cramp a lot!

where do you train to get such good times considering your climb on last year's gf

Most of my running training is in the Dublin mountains, which definitely helps. Cycling in the hills is also hugely benificial.

Peterx

Enduro wrote: »

That race is barely worthy of the name adventure racing. Its as soft as AR comes. So just go for it.

Lovely stuff:) I'm sure that will be the tagline for the race next year...

Without having seen the run course I'm guessing the roar will be easier then gael force (assuming you can swim 800m). You have less transitions, less people and I'm sure the bike park will be immaculately prepared.

There is a RAT RACE on in Galway this coming weekend too.

911sc

notsobadinc wrote: »

.where do you train to get such good times considering your climb on last year's gf

May be it's too early for me.... but thought that "gf" meant Girl Friend? was wondering where poster was getting at:)

jollylee

Peterx wrote: »

.........

There is a RAT RACE on in Galway this coming weekend too.

More info on this please if you have any. Thanks a lot!

Peterx

http://www.ratraceadventure.com/page144.asp

I haven't done any but I believe it's running cycling puzzles challenges in an urban environment.

Enduro

911sc wrote: »

May be it's too early for me.... but thought that "gf" meant Girl Friend? was wondering where poster was getting at:)

Made me LOL!

Enduro

Peterx wrote: »

Lovely stuff:) I'm sure that will be the tagline for the race next year...

Good marketing alright BTW, you do know I'm referring the WAR, and not the ROAR there, I hope!

Peterx

Ahh , I was wondering why you were slagging the lads's race alright but in fairness any race that use a roadbike with no nav can be considered entry level events and it seems they are the most popular version right now.

It's all good though - the wider the base is the higher the likelihood that you and yours will have more good folk filtering though from the easier events and with 2100 entering GF6 the base is very wide indeed.
Some of the top ten at GF6 were triathletes and in much the same way as I'd love to see Fionnulala Britton hillrunning for Ireland I'd love to see the likes of Brian Keane let loose on the GF route, sub 3 hours might be feasible then.

CCAR event on in October - back on topic:)

Ms HOPE

<Snip>

Rineanna: I know it's for a good cause, but that doesn't exempt your post from the charter:

If you're trying to sell something consider adverts.ie, if you want to link it here, please pm a mod first to check. This covers used equipment, website links, product promotions or race / event promotion.

Peterx

See?
The triathlon market must be saturated:)

Causeway

Not forgetting Diamond Quest Ireland, which will be back in 2010, very much the same idea as GF but on a much smaller scale. Run, Kayak and then Road Bike.