Wicklow Way Relay 12th June

Daithi BC

4 stars (good)

My official time is about 15 seconds slower than my watch time.

mymojo

really happy with my leg 4 time of 47mins approx...was hoping to do it in 50-55mins so ended up faster than i guessed ...yay. Knew the start of the leg wud be tough as quite an incline from the beginning ...on the rd. Rathfarnhams team member (donna) had already headed off a good bit before me so i had no-one infront of me visible to chase after! once i got off the road and onto the trails i started to really enjoy the run....my little legs (yes im only 5 ft 1 and three quarters ) felt good and any previous worries of finding the downhill sections tough due to a dodgey ankle vanished as i skipped my way along the route( i sprained my ankle recently so have had to be careful getting back into running on uneven ground over the last two wks)...i loved the winding route midway thru leg 4 and ran along a stoney path dodging trees and turning bends as fast as i could....once i got back out on open trail i started to really feel the heat in the day..bad idea wearing long sleeves and black from head to toe!! running into glendalough was my favourite bit! i didnt know if i cud run across the grass or not to cross the river so i stayed on the tarmac path and nearly knocked a few tourists over as i finished my leg! they obviously didnt understand what the other runners waiting to start leg 5 meant when they shouted to clear the way as i was coming thru! fab day....obviously delighted to have been on the winning team! :) looking forward to lots of similar routes and fun times :P

BeepBeep67

4 stars (good)

^ great stuff pity you couldn't make it for the team photo - we'll have to superimpose you

gerard65

After reading all the stories from yesterday I'm really looking forward to the mountain plod in july, just hope I don't end up getting lost:pac:

banterit

Well done to Boards, a bit of luck on leg 6 but thats all part of probably the most interesting if not toughest relay in the land. You've made the contest more interesting and I'd not be betting against your team doing the double next year.

T runner

Hi Folks

Firstly well done to Joe, Nora and the gang for another super Wicklow way Relay.
Congrats to boards on their fantastic win and commiserations to Rathfarnham. Hard luck to Padraig McC who has put in some super legs for Rathfarnham in previous years. As Paul Mahom once said to me "Ive been that soldier".

Running Leg 2 I noticed the amount of garbage that has been left by campers near the Glencree river. I was there for a picnic yesterday (washed out) and realised i should have brought someblack bags and clear some of it out. Thats the 3rd time ive witnessed it in the last week and I still have done nothing....

Anyway, Im intending to put that right this weekend. Was wondering if any leg 2 ers would be willing to give me a hand? Should have it sorted in an hour and then maybe a hill run after?

Was wondering also if this might be an idea for the whole WW? ie if youve spotted rubbish on your leg maybe orgaanise a run there, bring a plastic bag (in your backpack?)

Maybe its something we could do during our recces each year? I know its probably cleaned eventually but its best done early and we are in a better position than most to do it......

Outdoor gal

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Just wondering where everyone's results in line (see the imra WWR forum thread) with their own recorded time? The official result for me has me 17 secs slower than my own recorded watch time. Not that it makes much difference but you wouldn't want it to be too significant particularly when you worked so hard for those seconds

Leg 4 finish times did not give seconds, this affected times on leg 4 & 5 (as it said on IMRA Forum) does not affect overall time, any seconds lost by 1 runner gained by the next. Congrats to Boards nice to see a new name at the top.

Peterx

All hail the mighty Boards AC WWR Team:D

To be honest it's makes for a better story and day out and drives home the importance of the recce.
Our man held the record for leg 6 and still went wrong, it could happen to anyone so he won't be lynched either. Ask T runner, everyone gets a second chance;)
Hugh McLindon's man simply never finished his leg, he ran home apparently, sportsworld got lost on 7, another guy got lost twice on 7, many many folk ran their hearts out and did brilliantly. It all makes for a fascinating race. All our team (ncluding Padraig running 22kn all out with that sickening dread to contend with) ran their hearts out. Niall ran strongly to set the tone, our ladies combined to extend the lead, Aaron had the fastest time on leg 5, Jason absolutely buried himself on the toughest leg of the day leg 7 in a heroic effort to give John MacEnri a chance and he duly lashed out another fastest leg split although to conclude;

All hail the mighty Boards AC WWR Team:D

Peterx

Outdoor gal wrote: »

Leg 4 finish times did not give seconds, this affected times on leg 4 & 5 (as it said on IMRA Forum) does not affect overall time, any seconds lost by 1 runner gained by the next. Congrats to Boards nice to see a new name at the top.

it's ironic a sports journalist only managed to record to the nearest minute, although in mitigation she took some good photos..

Excuseless

Sounds like a great day out and for sure it is the lost n route mistake stories that often make or break the podium positions for this event no matter who is on them.

There are not many that regular participants that have not in some way been effected by the difficulties of following those wee yella men markers - in year 1 of the race my 8 min error on the "easy" third leg contributed to our team losing by less than a minute tho a few others on the team managed to lose a bit of time too.
T Runner's fame was in not making it to his changover point in time, others have got lost on the road driving etc.

Well done to the winning Boardies, the flying fast Castle Crew from Rathfarnham and a nice podium finish for the orienteers of Setanta too

Krusty_Clown

4 stars (good)

T runner wrote: »

Anyway, Im intending to put that right this weekend. Was wondering if any leg 2 ers would be willing to give me a hand? Should have it sorted in an hour and then maybe a hill run after?

Cracking idea. Maybe synch it with the uphill race on Wednesday, which starts around the corner in Crone Wood? Might get some more volunteers. If you're planning the clean-up on Saturday, I'll try and make it for an hour. Leg 1 was a lot cleaner, as it's not quite so camp-site friendly.

I have to go and replace all those wooden signs with the little yellow men that I picked up during my recce of leg 6 anyway. <joke>

hunnymonster

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Cracking idea. Maybe synch it with the uphill race on Wednesday, which starts around the corner in Crone Wood? Might get some more volunteers. If you're planning the clean-up on Saturday, I'll try and make it for an hour. Leg 1 was a lot cleaner, as it's not quite so camp-site friendly.

I have to go and replace all those wooden signs with the little yellow men that I picked up during my recce of leg 6 anyway. <joke>

I'm going to be in Wicklow on Sunday.Probably won't be running by then (unless physio tomorrow morning is some kind of miracle) but I'll hike a few miles if anyone can suggest somewhere they saw some trash.

Abhainn

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Lets get that National Lottery device out and randomly allocate legs That, or if Joe wants to do back to back legs who am I to stand in his way.

Want to kill me:eek:

donothoponpop wrote: »

Some of those %'s make for weird reading. Abhainn's run (for my money, joint Boards performance of the day- the other being Slooger's breaking the hour) has the highest % of winner, but Ger powered in a phenomenal time.

Go easy. SJ methinks was best

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

You can't really look and compare across legs, you can only realistically make comparisons within individual legs. Abhainn's performance was phenomenal and was key to yesterday's win. Ger's performance over the same leg, is stupifying. Abhainn had better start hitting them hills pretty soon.

Tarmac hills maybe:rolleyes: I don't know I avoided going head over heels on those board steps near the end.

But unreal result. A winning combination surely. Great meeting all you guys at the end alot whom I have not met before. Those few enjoyable pint were nice too.
Congrats team and also our hardworking captain

Slogger Jogger

4 stars (good)

A leg by leg race report...

32 teams were lined up to do the 2010 Wicklow way relay. The event was booked up well in advance and it continues to be a very popular imra event for obvious reasons. The success of the event is the result of the dedication of Joe Lalor year on year. This year was no different and Joe was assisted by various helpers over the course of the day which contributed to a great day for all those taking part.

In recent years the relay has resulted in great races between the stronger clubs, usually Clonliffe, Rathfarnham and Donore. However, the relay has a romance about it which attracts all and sundry and there have been other teams over the years that have interrupted the podium places. The importance of logistics and recces each year is restated. The value of same was confirmed in the days proceedings when straying from the waymarked trail was to have telling consequences on the results, not for the first year.
The vagaries of the imra calendar this year ensured that the relay was going to be a bit more interesting and possibly more predictable that heretofore. The European trial race the day after the relay attracted many elite runners away from their relay teams. No Clonliffe team it would appear, but there was a strong looking Rathfarnham team nevertheless who probably started as clear favourites.

The relay kicks off at Kilmashogue at 7am. The mass start here probably makes it feel more like a regular imra race. Ryan Montgomery was fastest over the leg finishing in under 58 mins. Not bad before most people’s breakfast time. Keith Daly’s sub 54 minute time on this leg from a previous year wasn’t to be threatened this year. Rathfarnham and Donore had runners in 2nd and 3rd. Boards had runners in 7th and 9th – John Ahern putting his route error from last year behind him with a great run Lucy Darcy was first lady home on this leg for Sportsworld in 10th overall.

Onto leg 2 then which started at Curtlestown. Places changed quite a bit on this leg. Fastest leg time (just over 64 mins) was recorded by a flying Ger Butler. A 2nd best time on this leg by Peter O’Farrell would put his Rathfarnham team into an overall lead. A tremendous run by Joe Cawley – running his first ever hill race – would bring Boards A from 7th to 2nd overall. Jenny McCauley was first lady on this leg finishing just ahead of Caroline Reid. The record for leg 2 is the sub 60 min time of Brian McMahon from last year. That time will stand another year, possibly for a great many years!
Leg 3, from Lough Tay to Oldbridge. Team places at the top stayed the same after this leg. Fastest leg time was Fiona Reid’s 30:09, which if confirmed could be a new best time for a lady runner on this leg? Aisling Coppinger and Vanessa Sallier, a last minute addition to the Boards team, ran the same time of 32:42. Ironically Vanessa had switched from Rathfarnham for the day. A twist of fate perhaps.

Leg 4, from Oldbridge to Glendalough. Donna Mahon holds the ladies record on this leg. That record wasn’t challenged on the day but Donna’s time of under 45 mins was still the best ladies time and kept Rathfarnham in the lead. A fine run by Suzanne Kenny – who would run the next day too in the European trial – would result in Boards A remaining in 2nd place overall.

By the time Donna tagged Aaron O’Donoghue in Glendalough at the Leg 5 start to Glenmalure the Rathfarnham team had compiled a serious lead that looked unbeatable. Aaron consolidated that lead with the best leg 5 time of the day, a sub 57 minute time that ranks as one of the best runs of the day. Tim Richards, on the Where’s Patrick team had a cracking run too. Yours truly had a solid run to keep Boards A in 2nd place ahead of Sportsworld. John Brooks record of 53:29 for this leg looks like one of those hard to beat records on the relay. Beth McCluskey was first lady over this leg in a great time of 62 mins which was 4th fastest time overall.

Leg 6 from Glenmalure to Ironbridge was where things were to get interesting. At this stage Rathfarnham had a big lead of somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. Padraig MacCroistal has some of the best recorded times on the leg over the years so he looked to be a safe pair of hands to maintain and stretch the Rathfarnham lead. However, when Paul Joyce from Boards A arrived in Ironbridge he found himself tagging David Walsh-Kemmis into a lead for Boards as Padraig was a no show at that time! The question was whether the Rathfarnham runner had gone off course or was injured? No one knew. Another team placing was to change as Sportsworld moved into 2nd place. Fastest time on leg 6 was Ben Mooney with a sub 59 min time. Jeff Fitzsimons from Boards B showed up his Boards A compatriot by pipping him on this leg. First lady on this leg was Setanta’s Hazel Thompson. Gerry Healy holds the record on leg 6 of 48:57, a time which looks like it will stand the test of time. With Leg 7 having started we have a team order of Boards A followed by Sportsworld. Jason Reid from Rathfarnham could only sit and wait the finish of his leg 6 compatriot. Padraig did finish, eventually, having took 2 wrong turns on leg 6 with drastic consequences. Credit to him for finishing his leg when others on the day DNFed when their team were waiting. Padraig will have to wait another year to correct his error on the day. The relay can be a cruel event.

Leg 7, Ironbridge to Crossbridge. The word had spread that a change in the team order had happened. No one quite knew the extent of the gap between teams. David Walsh-Kemmis from Boards ran a solid leg to keep Boards in the lead. A long leg at the best of times it must seem longer again on a warm day such as it was. Best time on this leg was set by Fred Kiernan of Donore. Jason Reid ran his socks off to bring Rathfarnham back into 2nd place overall. Cormac Conroy had 3rd fastest leg. Lornie Dwyer was 1st lady of the leg 7 distance. The inimitable John Brooks also holds the record for leg 7 – the old leg 7 before it got slightly extended from the bridge to Crossbridge. That time was just 75 mins!

Onto the final leg, leg 8 from Crossbridge to Shillelagh. Boards leg the way and Dominic Horan set off not knowing the extent of the gap he had on the next runner. Dom had run leg 8 the previous year and over many recce’s so the changes of going wrong were slight. Wrong. An open gate where one is usually closed led to an extra ½ a kilometre being run. It made no difference in the context of the day and Dom crossed the line in Shillelagh to give Boards a win on the day. Keith Daly was fastest on this leg today followed by John McEnri from Rathfarnham who tried as much as he might to chase down the Boards lead. Sarah Moores was quickest lady over leg 8 on the day. The record for this leg belongs to Barry Minnock. That record time of 33:33 still probably wouldn’t have been good enough to help Rathfarnham claw back their overall team.

A day of ups and downs. Boards A consistency and correctness in route finding and recces paid off with a winning time of 7:58:44. 8:25 ahead of Rathfarnham who had more than 20 mins over 3rd placed Setanta. Sportsworld had fallen away after their runner had gone astray on leg 7 it seems. The top 10 placings were:
1. Surfing Boards 07:58:44
2. The Castle Crew 08:07:09
3. Setanta SET alight 08:29:52
4. Where's Patrick 08:32:37
5. All the Presidents Men 08:34:16
6. The Wicklow Pain Train 08:43:12
7. Boards Stupid 08:43:17
8. UCD 22 08:44:56
9. Donore Divils 08:49:01
10. Desperate Hillrunners 08:49:39

Thanks to Joe Lalor and helpers. Thanks to the Team Hollandia relay teams who gave the event an international air.

Abhainn

A bit late but my race report can be found here
www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=66426865#post66426865

donothoponpop

4 stars (good)

Leg 1 - Krusty Clown
I did something last night that I haven't done in over 25 years - I went to bed at 10 o'clock. That's how seriously I was taking this race. When I woke up at 3am, I greatly regretted my decision, and by 5am when my alarm went off, I was positively knackered. Strange to see bright daylight at an hour that is normally reserved for wiping off the drool, before turning over in the bed. Porridge, coffee and a shower later, I was in the car headed towards the start line. I arrived in Kilmashogue at 6:30am, and tottered about until Woddle, RQ and EarlyEvening turned up. Nice to finally meet the road legend TheRoadRunner, before the race kicked off sharply at 7am.

I positioned myself just behind the first row of runners, and awaited the count-down to 7am. The legs felt tired and uneager, but I felt the same in Barcelona, so I didn't let it worry me too much. As the shout went to start the day's proceedings I kicked off with an easy pace, in around 15th position. Over the course of the first few miles I picked up around 6 or 7 positions as the early rushers settled into a more sustainable pace. I had planned to keep my eye on the HRM and keep the HR below 160, but that all flew out the window as soon as the race started. The first uphill mile passed in 8:15, and the next steeper mile passed in 9:15. At this stage I could still see most of the front-runners and I was motoring relatively comfortably. TheRoadRunner passed me at a good clip and I figured it would be the last I would see of him until the finish line. The right turn came all too soon, and as we headed for the turn off for Fairy Castle there were three runners ahead of me. I managed to pass two, but RoadRunner was always just out of reach.

As we hit the descent which is a challenging fast rocky downhill (6:29/6:25) I couldn't close the distance on RR, until a runner I had previously passed on the climb went steaming past me, and disappeared past both me and RR like we were standing still. Hmm... Perhaps I'm being too cautious. I decided to follow in his trail, trusting in the brain (and fate) to find the right footing, and soon I was past RR, and on my own. I hit the road and ran the mile in around 6:25, fully expecting RR to catch me at some point, which he dif towards the end of the cul de sac, before the next climb began. We had a good chat about marathon experiences and planned marathons before he deservedly pushed on up the hill to battle with some of his other foes.

Mile 6 was a tough uphill climb of 450 feet, which I negotiated with only the briefest of walking breaks, before hitting the shoulder of Prince William's Seat. I picked up the pace knowing that the hill had been crested, and caught up with RR, who in a previous year had a very bad experience on the downhill, that made him a little less reckless than me. I shamelessly took advantage of the fact and tried to widen as much of a gap as possible, as I figured it wouldn't be long before he'd be breathing down my neck.

A quick check of the watch told me that we had around half a mile to go, and I figured the challenge would come soon. I was feeling tired, but had the 'recces in my favour, so knew what lay ahead. With a couple of hundred metres to go, I heard the inevitable crunch of pounding footsteps. Nothing for it but to push to max, and see if I could hold on. Covered the last half mile at sub 5 minute mile pace, with a max heart rate of 198 (eek!) and was so happy to see the barrier and Abhainn's raised hand. Done. Finished in 7th place, in 63 minutes, a couple of minutes faster than I thought I could do.

Summary: 8.53 miles, in 1:03:24, @7:26/mile, HR=167 (eek again!).


Leg 2 Abhainn
It was Beepbeep 67’s fault. Leg 2 runner was injured, would I take on the challenge? Without thinking and not even looking at the profile of that section I said yes. I never did a mountain race before. I much prefer the level secure underfoot conditions. Here I can set my engine on cruise control and just focus on efficiency and mile markers instead of the challenging terrain where you have to been 100% alert where you put your foot, many gear changes and try and not get lost.
Two weeks before I did the recce with Krusty and Slogger and Magnet. That was enjoyable, the race would be bloody hard.
Early race morning I picked up Magnet from end of leg 2 and we headed to the start of that leg. A short warm up and we waited for out respective team leg 1 runners. The night before captain Donothoponop cunningly sets me a target of 75mins. I hadn’t a clue if that was manageable.
By 58 mins in the first two runners handed over the imaginary baton to their colleagues. I count down 4 more runners before Krusty Clown comes into view at top speed at around 63min. Brill run dude. We tick hands and I race after two guys about 40 secs ahead, one chap an ex work colleague who I know well was running for UCD. He is my target but I know he is a very good mountain runner so this will be some challenge in unfamiliar territory
The first few km’s aren’t flat but are manageable. I try and catch up with the two lads as they will show me the way. In mountain running apart from the difficult underfoot conditions where you can fall trip or turn on ankles etc you also have to find your way i.e. follow signs which sometimes are not in easy view when you are racing along. If I could run with these guys for the first 5k or so I would not have to worry about going wrong.
I overtook one chap and then tried to link up with my ex work buddy. But at around 2k there are tricky and fast direction changes and steep drops and I loose him from view. He flies over this section. From my recce I know to turn right at the bottom and then there is a y in the path. But I fail to see the sign that is blocked by a car. Not too many seconds later I hear a roar and know I’ve gone wrong. I turn on a tuppence and run after the guy I overtaken earlier.
Grand I’m ok now. I just lost 30 secs maybe. I overtake the chap again but the UCD colours are no where to be seen – blast.
Soon after the course takes you along a river and I almost kill myself in tripping over a tent string. The peg goes flying, the tent occupants unwise. Jaysus I'm almost killing myself and the toughest terrain is still ahead.
Crone forest car park is about 1/3 of the way and I see my watch is about 21.5mins – not too bad. I am now entering the hardest 1/3 of the race up to Djouce. I can see two runners not far ahead and I have brief chats with each (really a chance to take a breather) just before I overtake them. This section I find really tough, it is mostly up hill all the way and the trails in areas are just rocks. I run by a section and see beautiful Powercourt waterfall. I am hurting hard now. The ligaments in my ankles and knees ache. My achilles doesn’t now what’s going on. Moorland with many tree stumps is my next obstacle before I descend the steep rocky terrain to the Dargle river, my knees feeling very insecure. I see the two runners in the distance. My UCD friend has come into view and I calculate he is 1:05min ahead (I time when he crosses the river to when I cross). Just ahead of him is the lady who was leading runner from at the start of this leg.
I manage the climb now to Djouce taking some quick walking breaks. I close in on the lady runner who shares a surname similar to mine. I bid farewell and as I am not getting close to the end of this touch middle third of the race. About 5k to go and I wonder if I can chase down the UCD colours. Time gap is now about 1:45. This narrow section around Djouce is tricky in places but I seem to be making ground. Then I am upon the boardwalk - Oh thank God, solid even and fast. I up the tempo and legs are feeling strong. The gap steadily comes down and I play with taking timing gaps regularly. Finally about 1k from the end I overtake my friend just as I see the start of leg 3 area about 1k ahead.
There Vanessa is chomping at the bit waiting to tick my had and take over to leg 3.
Time 73:31. (Ha under the captains target) HR 163

Krusty, Woddle and Racoon Queen are there to greet me and confirm we are in 2nd position.
Well done all boards runners 1st and 7th. Bloody fantastic

Leg 3- Vanessa Sallier
I arrived very early, probably way too early (1h before the 1st runner to arrive) at my leg (3). Got a text from Paul saying that we were in 7th place after leg 2. So when Joe arrived in second position closely followed by UCD I was surprised and very excited as I started my leg.

I didn’t see the guy from UCD as my focus was on Joe coming through and my run! The start of the leg 3 is a very long downhill on the road, not very nice. I kept telling myself relax and breath!! please please please no stitch!!

I had a feeling I was closely followed as I could hear what I thought were steps. As I turned right into the woods I glanced and could see Emma from UCD only a few metres behind me and 6km to go… I put my head down and started climbing the 1st hill trying to think about what I will do if she catches up with me (thinking makes the pain go away up the hill!!).

At the top of the 2d hill there was a gate which was not there 2 weeks before at my last recce and it put me off a little bit… How could have I taken a wrong turn if there was no turn???!!! Surely I was still on track? I climbed over the gate and saw that Emma was still a few metres behind me, she would not be there if I had taken the wrong turn? I felt relieved when I saw the sign a little further up, confirming I wasn’t lost!!!

I felt great so decided to push it on the last hill. Glanced again at the top at the gate and could see Emma was a few hundreds metres behind me now so that made me push even more. Now it’s almost all downhill only a few hundred metres of hard work and all I have to do is relax. I handed over to Suzanne Kenny still in 2d place, with a new pb (32”42)!! Paul Joyce contacted me 2 days before the race as he was looking for a girl to do leg3 to replace Jo Fearon who couldn’t run due to severe blisters on her feet. Little did I know I was joining the winning team, surfing Boards!!!

leg 4- mymojo
really happy with my leg 4 time of 47mins approx...was hoping to do it in 50-55mins so ended up faster than i guessed ...yay. Knew the start of the leg wud be tough as quite an incline from the beginning ...on the rd. Rathfarnhams team member (donna) had already headed off a good bit before me so i had no-one infront of me visible to chase after! once i got off the road and onto the trails i started to really enjoy the run....my little legs (yes im only 5 ft 1 and three quarters ) felt good and any previous worries of finding the downhill sections tough due to a dodgey ankle vanished as i skipped my way along the route( i sprained my ankle recently so have had to be careful getting back into running on uneven ground over the last two wks)...i loved the winding route midway thru leg 4 and ran along a stoney path dodging trees and turning bends as fast as i could....once i got back out on open trail i started to really feel the heat in the day..bad idea wearing long sleeves and black from head to toe!! running into glendalough was my favourite bit! i didnt know if i cud run across the grass or not to cross the river so i stayed on the tarmac path and nearly knocked a few tourists over as i finished my leg! they obviously didnt understand what the other runners waiting to start leg 5 meant when they shouted to clear the way as i was coming thru! fab day....obviously delighted to have been on the winning team! looking forward to lots of similar routes and fun times!


Leg 5-Slogger Jogger
The Wicklow way relay. Another IMRA event that brings a smile to the face. The 2nd year team Boards would tow the start line and this year 2 teams would be fielded. I would run leg 5, as per last year and we had the majority of last year’s team re-appearing with a couple of changes due to injury etc. but all in all our team was quite strong and I was confident we could do better than last year’s 12th place. The fact that the European trail race the day after this would rule out some top runners from running the relay would provide a sense of lottery to the proceedings which are regularly dominated by Clonliffe and Rathfarnham. More of that later.

During the week I looked again at the time I ran last year. 1 hour 1 minute. I wondered if I could repeat the feat. In a recent recce I genuinely struggled to do 1 hour 10 mins and felt tired, but whether that was due to over-running or reduced fitness this year remained to be seen. Ironically I ran well last year having only ran the Edinburgh marathon some 5 days beforehand so I wouldn’t exactly have been fresh then? So who knows what would happen?
Captain Paul Joyce was in charge of proceedings and we received our logistics email beforehand with our instructions and times. My run was scheduled for c. 10.45am give or take 15 mins in Glendalough. The day starts early and the text line is busy with updates on the earlier legs. 7th after leg 1 (great run by Gary), and by John on the ‘B’ team who was 9th at that point. 2nd after leg 2 (stupendous leg by Joe Cawley, a relatively last minute call up. Talk about a super sub!). 2nd after leg 3 (well done Vanessa, another last minute addition ironically from Rathfarnham). I was on the way at this stage to Glendalough. Suzanne was running leg 4 as I was driving over. Not long after I arrived, with some light limbering up on the green road in Glendalough, Suzanne arrived having maintained our 2nd position. Brilliant run girl. According to the masses at the start Rathfarnham, who were in 1st, were well clear. 15 mins or so possibly. I’m listing the split times and paces below but I must say that I don’t tend to look at this stuff during a race. Hardly looked at watch at all – just race your best and get to the end.

I set off along the green road. A relatively flat beginning to a very testing route. 1st k, 3:39 split. Tried to run within myself and not overdo it at the start. The hard work then begins. The steep section up past the poulanass waterfall. Short steps, keeping the breathing steady, slow necessarily but keep plodding away. 2nd k, 5:13 split. From the top of the steps it’s a steady climb up a fire road that acutely cuts back to the right and continues relentlessly upwards. Trying to keep my breathing easy. No idea how far anyone is behind me. Tempted to look around at times to see if anyone is there but never did. Focus on the road ahead. 3rd k, 4:54. The same is true over the next 3k of fire trail. Onwards and upwards, never easy, all the while thinking of the team and how well they have run to get me into this position. Splits of: 4:53, 4:57, 5:55. Getting near the top now. The constant climbing is starting to impact the legs. Starting to sense the top of the climb. I remind myself “we’re in 2nd!”. You’ve not been passed on the climb yet. I know I’m a decent descender, so if someone challenges me I’ll do my level best to stay with them. However, still no sign of a challenger and I slog on along. 7th k, 5:30. Reaching the high point on the run at this stage. Energy levels still okay. Not too hot or windy either. Up and down along the boardwalk section and along the grassy bit of the Wicklow way without any slip or slide. 8th k, 5:01.

Now the fun starts. Downhill through the tricky forest section over slippery steps, trying to ensure you don’t brain yourself against the protruding branches. Jump off the steps at the end and start to unwind the legs for the fire road descent. 9th k, 4:19. The next 3k are a joy. Legs spinning, trying to make gravity do its thing and trying to keep an effort full-on but constant (to the end). Splits of: 3:17, 3:29, 3:43. Some minor climbs in there too to keep the runner honest. Nearing the end now. Keep pushing on. Lungs starting to burn. No challenger in sight. Still 2nd, happy days. Last k, 3:13. Additional 450m in just 1:16. Yippee. Tag Paul and stop to a standstill.

Felt surprisingly good after the run. Felt chuffed to have run faster than last year. Surprised and delighted to have broken the hour barrier. That hour is a good quality mark on leg 5 and I’m in good company from the record lists.
At the end of the leg there was still a good gap to the leading Rathfarnham team. The question was could we hang onto 2nd? The Wicklow way relay has lots of twists and turns though. It transpired that the leading team’s man would go astray and Boards ‘A’ would find ourselves in the lead when Paul Joyce tagged David Walsh-Kemmis in Ironbridge. The Rathfarnham leg 7 runner could only wait. To cut a long story short David ran a very solid leg and we maintained 1st place at Crossbridge. Dom Horan had the honour / pressure of leading the team home on the last leg. Again Dom ran a very solid leg, despite a bit of a meander up a side trail, to lead Boards ‘A’ to a win in the relay. I said earlier I was hoping to do better than last year. At my most optimistic I would have hoped for top 5. To finish 1st was incredible. A memorable day. Well done all. Thanks to Rathfarnham who were very magnanimous afterwards. Cheers guys. Our guy went astray last year so we know how you feel (okay we weren't leading but you know what I mean).

Well done to the other Boardsies for a very solid run too. Could we have 3 teams next year?

No camera man on leg 5,

Leg 6- donothoponpop
Ever since I got injured a year ago, I knew this was to be a "comeback" race of sorts. It's the best race of the year, by a country mile. Eight legs along the Wicklow Way from Marlay in Dublin, (where I grew up), to Shillelagh, Wicklow (where I now live). All the "proper" clubs size this one up, and get their speedster runners out for a jaunt in the country. What your team may lack in speed, you can make up in logistics, as each year races are won and lost by runners not turning up at the right time, or going astray, or whatever. It was back in February that I started looking for a kernal of a Boards team, with a view to working on the logistics side of things, to play it as a strength. Soon we had organized a couple of teams, and began doing recces. My view on recces, as a team captain, is quite simple. I'm dealing with a bunch of six-year olds, who need to be given a map to cross the room. It sounds stupid, but (obviously with a little respect!), works, if you insist that everyone recces and knows their route.

Proof that this works, in my own recce this week of leg 6, (which I had run several times previous), I went astray- one simple turn missed, and my orientation was way off. Thankfully this stood to me during todays race!

Anyway, my plan today was to pace the route better than I had last year, when I was catching runners throughout, and died the final few k. So I set off in second, after some great running from my teammates previous, and began the climb. There's a stage when you can feel lactate building in your legs, so I eased off a bit ascending, whenever I reached this stage. 3 and a half k, turn through the forest, again taking it steady, and soon came out onto the long drag of a climb up the trail. Again, steady, with a view to keeping something back for the second half. Throughout the race, I had preminitions of being caught, but didn't look back to see, wanting to run my own paced race. Hit the top of the hill, and ran down to the road. Felt I could go faster, but was wary of needing energy later.

Turned up for the second climb, steady, steady. Heard SJ shout "he's on your shoulder", but figured he was psyching me a bit, and didn't look back. The heat was a dampening factor throughout the race, but not unbearably so. Ran down the first steep downhill, happy to have worn my Speedcross shoes, no mishaps, and fast enough, if not racing. There's a drag for a couple of k here, where I died last year, but it went solid enough this. Bit of road, then the super fast downhill, and I see people cheering at the bridge. Run up, slap Daithi, and chat a bit. Smiling faces. Back slaps. I look at my watch. Nearly two minutes slower than last year. Feck. Loads of energy left. I paced this too soft, last years "hard first half and then hang on" is the way to go. Annoyed with myself. But then I realize I'm talking to Jase, from Rathfarnham, who should have set off long ago. Asks if I've seen their runner. He's gone AWOL. Happens to the best of us, we've all been there, but Rathfarnham's misfortune means Boards are in the lead. A big lead, too.

And then I remember why I insisted on all those recce's, and all those logistics, and the race is back on. We end up winning, a result that I had only fantasised about. What happened today was Holism, where the result is greater than the sum of the parts. But we did it, we won my favourite race, the Wicklow Way Relay!

Leg 7 -Daithi BC
About five minutes after I arrived at the start of leg 7, the marshall told me that the first runner should be with us in about five minutes. I went off for a warmup and a few stretches and fifteen minutes later I heard the shout of "Runner!". We soon realised that the runner was d'pop who handed over to me with the words "Run your own race, don't look behind you". By the time I got 100 metres into my leg, my brain had interpreted this as "The guy in second is about 50 metres behind me, so run like hell".

I cruised through the first couple of km, and started the first of the two climbs. Got up it ok, but didn't feel quite as strong as I would have liked, but had a nice downhill section on lovely dry tracks to recover and then met Paul when I got back onto the road. It was great to have a domestique to get me a few drinks and keep me encouraged, and I made it to the bottom of the second climb in pretty good order. About half way up, I really started to suffer, and ended up walking the last 100 metres to the first gate. My legs felt like mile 24 in a marathon on a bad day and my stomach was in such a bad way that I was very nearly sick at the top of the climb. Still, I made it over, and got back onto the downhill the far side without anyone overtaking me, and all I wanted to do at that stage was hand over a lead to BB67 to defend.

The last km uphill was just torture, especially as I kept seeing people every time I went round a bend but then realised that it still wasn't the handover. Eventually I got to the finish and sent BB67 on his way, and then found a nice shady spot to recover.

1:35:15 on my watch, so about 3:15 slower than last year. A bit disappointing from that point of view, but I'd take that any day to be on the winning team!

Leg 8- Beepbeep67
It felt like a long morning this year as the excitment grew as the texts and updates came in, leg 1 complete Krusty takes us home in 7th - WOW I thought, eagerly waiting for the next update when it arrived I had to read it twice - 'Leg 2 in - 2nd place' - what a debut by Abhainn, I'm thinking this could be an interesting day. The updates kept coming we were maintaining 2nd place - quick chat with Slogger after his leg5 and all was well. I started getting organised, gear on, leg strapped and a couple of Ibu. So at 12:15 I packed the car and headed off to the finish, where I would get a lift to the start of leg 8. Along the way the phone buzzed so I had to pull in to check - in 1st place - WTF I thought 1st, so had to call Slogger for an update, the leading team had gone astray or something on leg 6, so the pressure was on and I could feel the nerves starting to build.
Got to Crossbridge about 50mins ahead of my start and met Slogger, the excitment was high, headed off to check the first few sections of my leg and then spent some time trying to stay in the shade and keeping hydrated.
Got a shout DaithiBC was on his was and he looked like he put everything into it. So got going no issues with the leg and tried to get into a rythm on the climb, course was very dry compared to last year and some gates were open, which in the end did not help me as I took a detour at a section where I shouldn't have after getting confused with the open gates - this added about 450mts onto my leg but thankfully it wasn't going to impact the result.
Hit the road at the 3k mark and it was welcoming to get a shout from Slogger as he drove past to park further ahead to take some snaps. More encouragement at this stage and this was where the work begins with an undulating uphill 4k to follow. Mick went on his way soon after and I was soon joined by DoNot and DaithBC who again offered support as the temperature climbed along with the heart rate, '2k gap' DoNot shouted 'keep working we may never get this chance again'. Hip was starting to give out at this stage, but getting to the finish line as fast as I could was all that was in my mind. It's strange running a race like this, out in front, it almosts feels like a training running, but you have the adreneline and the other racing elements to accompany you. So hit the T junction with 3k to go, only one last climb of about 500 to go and then it's downhill, would normally be really looking forward to the downhill but the leg was preferring the uphills, but I started stretching out, looking for mini landmarks to tick off on the way home. Seen a few girls cheering on with about 800 to go, thought one of them said keep going he's closing, so I put the boot down and was a little out of control coming down the steep section into Shillelagh and nearly lost my footing on the corner, nice to see the finish and the rest of the team, you never really believe you have won until you cross the line.
Fast last 1.5k in 5:10 albeit mainly downhill, to finish in 42:19, 1 sec faster than last year, but 450mts longer - I'm breaking 40 on this leg next year .
Well done all fantastic day.

RacoonQueen

4 stars (good)

Winning team features in the evening herald today. DP hits the headlines for his captaining skills!

Krusty_Clown

4 stars (good)

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Winning team features in the evening herald today. DP hits the headlines for his captaining skills!

Really? cool! What does it say? is there a photo?
<Krusty squeals excitedly>

RacoonQueen

4 stars (good)

Mentions something about RECCES, a few names, rathfarnham messing up but no there is no picture of you lot in the paper :pac:

BeepBeep67

4 stars (good)

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Really? cool! What does it say? is there a photo?
<Krusty squeals excitedly>

Our very own Boards B team have their mugshots in there for one of the changeovers.

And I think that's Magnet in the background, never missing a photo opportunity.

donothoponpop

4 stars (good)

I'll slot in leg 5 and 8 when I get them, but in the meantime...


Leg 1- earlyevening
Up at 5.30am for a spot of brekkie and off to the start for around 6:30. At least it wasn't raining like last year.

I had thought the recce took 68mins so I had stuck down 65mins as an achievable target. Surely I'd do that on race day. Having a chat with Gary beforehand it became clear that the recce actually took 75mins and he was quite surprised that I was boldly going for 65mins, the same as him. Oh well, not much time to regret it and certainly no time to change my target time.
The race kicked off on time. I guess I ran up the first ascent in sixth/seventh place. I was following Lucy (Darcy, I think) from Sportsworld who had the fitness to power up the hill past me.

Once it came to the descent down to Glencullen I went passed her and stayed there until halfway up the second climb where she once again went past me.

I was feeling the slightest onset of a stitch here and reduced effort just a little for a few minutes. I didnt want to blow up and be seized up totally with a stitch (which had only just happened to me in Sorrell hill).

Again, on the technical descent to Curtlestown I passed Lucy and powered on down. Its a great run down to the end of the leg at full blast. I chanced a look at my watch here and was delighted to see that I was on target for a good finish. I was trying to figure out if I had forgotten a stretch of trail which would add a few minutes but then all of a sudden I saw Dave Bradshaw taking photos and a few other people. It was the end of the leg!
I stopped my watch a few seconds past the line but I think it was just under 66mins so I managed it somehow.

Actually, everyone else seemed more surprised by that time. I definitely feel I could have gone faster. I wasnt at full whack the whole way so roll on next year and hopefully 64 mins.

At least that run makes up for getting lost last year and coming in 40 mins late

Leg 2 Magnet

Stayed in Laragh the night before to be fresher than driving up from Galway, drove to my leg end, saw a cute little Bambi look-a-like and got a lift to Curtlestown with Abhainn.
Met RacoonQueen there too and we were early with no runners through yet. It was cool enough at this stage but you could tell it was gonna get warm.
The runners started to come through quick and fast and EarlyEvening was through in a fatastic time and I was off...
This was my 6th running of this leg between recce`s and races so I wasn`t worried about getting lost but I did 90minutes last year when I was much fitter and this year with a little hamstring/glute problem I was thinking I`d be 95-100 minutes.
Almost immediately I was overtaken by a fella (damnit), experience has helped in the intervening year in my downhill running so didn`t flail as much as run down these, no one was behind me and I tried to maintain my pace going uphill, I had SloggerJogger`s "slow and steady" mantra in my head. I was tackling the uphill when another runner passed me and from the forest section after Crone carpark to The Ridge section a few more runners passed me and I held onto the last runner all along to the stile before Djouce Mountain, picked up my hidden bottle of water that I left there the previous week and I was so glad of it at this stage!! I gave it all I could in the next uphill willing the runner ahead of me to bloody slow down or fall so I could get to the boardwalk before him! It wasn`t to be but I knew that this was where I`d make up some time. Almost at the boardwalk I twisted my ankle and let out a big groan, hobbled a bit but decided to keep going (my team needed me!) and on the boardwalk it didn`t bother me too much as I upped my pace, I got to the end of the first boardwalk section and there was 2 lads there giving the runners some support, I asked them was I last, they laughed but didn`t know if I was or not then... And off I go to the last of this leg willing my body to keep up with my spinning legs on the downhill, concentrating on my running I totally missed the Lough Tay views. Coming into the finish I had no breath to shout "Boards" but spotted RacoonQueen`s pink top and eager hand, highfived her and she was off!!
I finished just under 2mins slower than last year but felt great about it not being the 5/10 mins I thought.
I love this race, Thanks so much to my Team members for putting up one hell of a preformance to get 7th place thanks DP for getting this together again and going further to get 2 teams, 16 people orgainised, no mean feat.
Sign me up for next year...

Leg 3 - RacoonQueen

I never saw myself getting up before 6 to go for a run but when the alarm went off I found it fairly easy to get up and sleepily find my way to the kitchen for a cup of tea and a toasted bagel. Woddle had offered to taxi me to my leg start so I arrived at his house at 6:30 and we set off for the start of leg one where we me up with Krusty and EarlyEvening who were both running leg one and ended up discussing how insane EE's predicted time was, in the end EE was pretty much spot on with his prediction even though he made a mistake when sending his time to DP.

Shortly after the runners set off myself and Woddle headed towards leg two were we hung about until leg 2 runners Magnet and Abhainn turned up. We got there about 30 minutes before the first runners were due in so while Woddle wandered off to take pictures the rest of us stood around waiting for the runners to come in. Soon after I got a text from Woddle to tell us Krusty was nearly in - in an incredibly 63 minutes and in 7th place Abhainn was off and running a couple of minutes later an slightly unprepared Magnet was on her way too as a very happy EE arrived in in 9th place and closer to Krusty than we expected. Incredible performances from both leg one runners put both teams in good stead.

Some chatting later and we Woddle, Krusty and I set off for leg 3, Krusty and I hoping that Woddle did actually know the way. As we passed the car park Woddle decided to take me up the road a bit to show me where I'd turn off and join the trail, I was quietly confident that I'd find my way alright without doing a recce, no thanks to Woddle who had been pointing out numerous times how hard certain runs were to miss. I had been wheezing a bit that morning and was hoping that my incessant chest problems wouldn't effect me on the run. We were fairly early arriving so when we got out of the car I went for a little jog over the first hill and sure enough the breathing got quite tough, I've been running through my it for two months now so once I pace conservatively enough I know I'll be ok.

On the way up Woddle and I had been talking about how it's better to go that little bit slower and make sure you're going the right way than go hell for leather and completely miss a turn ending up being 35 minutes late instead of just being a couple of minutes late.

We had plenty of time to hang around the start of leg 3 where SureWhyNot! who I paced with in Limerick told me I'd find my way around the route easy enough and lied to me by telling me it was all downhill and a girl I work with came over to have a chat with me while we waited for the runners to come in. She was running leg 3 with her friend who was racing and has been reassuring me for the last 5 weeks that I wouldn't get lost The first runner came in pretty early so everyone then headed up to the barrier to watch and wait for the second runner. It was here that we met Vanessa who was raring to go. A few minutes later we saw a runner coming down, everyone said "who's that" then I realised it was Abhainn so Vanessa was off. Absolutely incredible performance for Abahainn to put boards in second place just 11 minutes off the lead team and a gap ahead of 3rd place. Not long after we saw the familiar Athenry singlet coming towards us then I was off.

Full steam ahead I steamed past the parked cars to plenty of good luck wishes, onto the road and up over the hill as I flew down the other side I realised my lace had opened and decided it would be best to wait till I got to flatter ground before tying it, so I stopped tied it and flew off again about 30 seconds later it opens again and I repeated the earlier sequence then 30 seconds later, guess what happened? This time I tied a quadruple knot and stuck the rest of the lace into my shoe - getting panicky as I didn't know how close or far the next runner was behind me and I could still see another runner up ahead - just about. Despite 3 shoe lace stops I still hit sub 4 pace for the first km and felt very comfortable, I knew I wouldn't maintain sub 4 pace with my chest and some tough uphills but tried to keep it even. As I entered the trail and stumbled around the first barrier and up the first hill I could feel the breathing getting quite tough, I already knew I'd probably have to take walk breaks and at that stage I knew I'd have to take a toilet stop as well but kept on regardless. On about 3k or so I gave in and took my toilet break which seemed to take an eternity but it was much needed to help loosen out my chest aswell. Feeling much more comfortable I was ready to go again, climbed over the first gate which seemed a much quicker alternative to opening it and powered on passing a few sheep on the way who looked a bit shocked to see someone running by in electric pink. I was award at this stage that the turn woddle kept scaring me about was coming up soon enough so I pulled back a bit and took in my surroundings and spotted my turn into the forest immediately. Seeing the softer ground as a good chance to make up some pace again I ploughed through the forest, jumping over rocks and tree trunks - hitting the downhill section through the forest and seeing the road up ahead I slowed down a bit on the slight descent until I reached more stable ground and then put the foot down. Over the first stile into the field and sped up again, the softer ground a welcome addition to my aching big toe. Once I exited all the fields and entered the main road again I felt like I was dying on my feet and struggle to get the pace up it felt like I was going about 2 miles an hour. Up the top of the hill at about 7k stood two of our competitior who pointed me right - having no energy to thank them for their help and I hadn't actually been sure at that point where I was to go so they were a GREAT help, I did still double check the road sign to make sure they pointed me the right way. It was all downhill from here but the last k felt more like 5k I knew I was nearly home and dry and I've never been so relieved to see woddle pointing his bloody camera at me - it felt like an eternity from when I saw husavik(who, by the way, wasn't lying when he told me just to look for the best looking bloke there) to when I handed over to him. The last km was my second fastest of the day but definitely felt the slowest. A big plus for me when I finished was that no one over took me so we maintained our position when I handed over.

All in all it took 41:58, I'm slightly disappointed with the time but my lace stops and other required stops probably account for not breaking 40 minutes - which really puts my recent times on the road for similar distances to shame. I never saw myself enjoying running 8k but that was amazing. Serious respect to the guys who run tougher routes than that in training let alone racing. That was really, really quite tough and now, I'm itching to go back for more.

Leg 4- Husavik
This was my first proper trail/mountain run and it was, including preparation, a very satisfying experience. Legs 4 and 5 which I tried were varied, scenic and challenging. The event was well run with a great team spirit and camaraderie throughout the day.

I arrived in Oldbridge at 9.30am. In hindsight I should have PM’d mymojo so that we could say hello at the start. I knew no one and just tried not to look like a spare. Saw Vanessa come in looking strong. A good run by all accounts. Now things were hotting up. Then Krusty and Magnet came and all were good company. Briefly met Woddle too, who very generously came down to offer support and take great pictures.

At around 10.20 I got the handshake from RacoonQueen who looked like she was giving it her all. Again this was a solid performance considering no recce. I had done a bit of a warm up and felt I should start the run (up steep hill) quickly. I pride myself in good pacing but here I really felt I started too quickly. I carried on along, never looking back once. When I got over the brow of the first hill, I could see for 300 to 400 metres across an open meadow - no sign of anyone. Jesus I thought, I must be really slow. ( I was very conscious of the fact that I was already one of the slowest on the team and was thinking this must really be a race for elites). Charged hard up Paddock Hill because I knew I couldn’t charge down the other side. But at the same time I really tried to leap along the rough terrain guiding my steps as I went. To be honest, it’s an aspect of off road running that I really like.

After crossing the footbridge another ascent begins up the shoulder of Brockagh. I felt at times like I was walking here and was in danger of getting down in the dumps. This run I thought, would be about 56 mins like the trial and that, I felt, would be very weak. More often than not the wind came to the rescue, this time on the switch back. I also knew this was the last extended climb. So I got the head up and ran with purpose to the crest. Still would not look at watch, worried it would deflate me…‘just keep plugging on’, I said. I just got across the busy Wicklow gap rd ahead of a dirty big truck ( no doubt followed by a convoy). Met a steward giving directions and some other smart alec trying to put me off. Bounded on into the car park, wriggled through a few tourists and emerged onto an open grassy area. Here I was stunned to see a fellow runner trotting along only 100 odd yards ahead. She looked weary. So I said ‘right, I’ll take her‘. In the end I think we finished together…dirty mare! Then, there was Eamonn looking ready, slapped the hand and it was over to him. Glanced at the watch - 49 something!! I was stunned and delighted.

Once again there was Krusty and Magnet to say hello and well done. Magnet also very kindly gave me her water and a speedy lift back to the motor. Met Jeff too.

The rest of the day was great. It was remarkable that the leading team got lost on leg 6 - what drama. I suppose it is just another dimension of what is a very interesting contest. Well done to team 1, Surfin, thoroughly deserved. Thanks again to Paul and all involved.

Leg 5 GoHardorGoHome

Woke up at 3:55 with the brightness! Thought I had missed my alarm. Not so. Back to bed.

Up at 6:30 for two bowls of cornflakes, cup of coffee and no orange juice (just in case).

Headed into Terenure to meet up with Jeff Fitzsimons as we were carpooling.

On the way to Glendalough we got the first text message from Paul Joyce received. Gary Condon and John Ahern in - excellent! within 2 minutes of each other. even better!

When we got to Glendalough I was extremely glad of the ample toilet facilities there. Red Bull works in mysterious ways! I say Red Bull, but of course I mean the cheap own brand stuff procured from a quaint petrol station on the N81 which smells as bad as Red Bull but you have to wonder is this the knock off low-grade Red Bull that didn't meet quality standards and is sold off in petrol stations. I bought a banana in that same petrol station to make it seem *slightly* healthier.

Jeff had loads of time so he stayed around Glendalough as I warmed up and we chatted to the various teams who were waiting to start. Lindie naughton was recording times and was getting confused as we all were with people who were warming up on the Green Road but it looked as if they were finishing leg 4. Had a quick chat with Oryx as she was running Leg 5 as well.

Boards A runner Suzanne Kenny came flying in in 2nd place. Unbelievable. great - running 3rd fastest on the day.

Husavik who I hadn't met before but who had informed me that he would be wearing a black top and navy shorts came running in like a man possessed. He was determined to catch a female runner and caught her on the line.

Oryx and I started at the same time as Lindie Naughton's photo showed. I went off fairly fast along the 1.5k length of the Green road. I was lucky that there were very few tourists to avoid. Passed by Rene Borg who I had chatted to earlier at the changeover point. Rene has moved to Glendalough so he was going for a jog in his new back garden. Took the left up beside the Poulanass waterfall and tried to climb powerfully. As soon as it became flat I knew I had to get back to running fast rather than continuing the slow plod I had employed on the steep uphill.

Leg 5 is a strange course. It seems to be a continous, gentle ascent. You have to push yourself at every slightly flat bit because without anybody to gauge your performance against it is very easy to slow down and not realise it.

I passed Mary from the Donore team who was sporting an all black uniform and a chest infection - neither of these are known to increase race performance. I passed one other person and we had a short chat wondering whether we were at the top yet?! "It has to be soon". I pushed on.

I had a feeling that Jim FitzHarris may have been a little bit ahead. I hadn't taken a note of how much earlier he had started than me but he was to be my target. I didn't quite catch him but it was good to know he was somewhere fairly close ahead of me. Had a good chat when I eventually met him at Glenmalure.

I got to the start of Mullacor and started racing along the boardwalk. It was quite warm but not horrendously so. I chose not to bring water and while I wouldn't have minded a cup of water half way through, my performance didn't suffer. Down through the forest for the steep slippy part was a little bit mental. There's lots of sharp little branches sticking out from the trees which could take your eye out! The rocky path was a little slippy and wet so it was safer to descend to the left of the path.

I had a moment of indecision when I emerged out of the forest and saw the Wicklow Way sign which seemed to be pointing diagonally into the forest on the other side of the track. Oh no! What had Slogger Jogger said during our recce two weeks ago? "Make sure you go straight down the steep path"? or.... "Make sure you don't go straight down the steep path"? Hmmm. I took the left onto the main trail and was rewarded 50 metres later with a yellow man. Ah yes! I was on the right track. At this stage I should have been pushing hard, hard, hard. I think I lost a couple of minutes on the remaining 5k of my leg. It's not all downhill though! There are some tough flat sections and worse some slight uphill parts which are quite shocking when you're expecting it to be all downhill.

I had missed out on a lone second recce of my leg due to a mechanical failure on my bike and so I may have slowed ever-so-slightly as I was only 99% sure I was on the right track. I probably slowed at potential turning points to make sure I didn't miss a yellow man.

On the last steepish downhill I met Caroline Reid coming up the way. We exchanged pleasantries and I ran around the barrier and lashed it the last bit of the road to the waiting masses.

"Where's Jeff" I roared imagining he had got lost somewhere. There he was in the middle of the cross roads. "HERE!" he roared back. I gunned it towards him. But what was this? A bloody car in the middle of the crossroads. Graham Porter was chatting to the driver. Now the car started pulling off into my trajectory. "You'd better move out of the way because I'm not moving" I either yelled out loud or it may have been in my head. Slapped Jeff's hand and had to stop myself by running up a mud bank.

Niamh Purcell was waiting for Mary from Donore and she was able to return an earlier favour by giving me a much need drink. The delicious green grapes were an added bonus!

65 minutes and 6 seconds was my time. 6th fastest. Would have liked to be closer to Beth McCluskey's 62:05 but there's always next year!

Leg 6- Jeffontour
Gohard dropped over to mine in the morning and we car polled to the start of his leg at Glendalough. Shot the breeze with the waiting runners/interested locals/bemused tourists (some of which thought I was about to run a leg in my flipflops).

Mymojo stormed in, without so much as a stopwatch let alone Garmin, pacing based on how she felt I suppose, I however always feel knackered so this is not an option for me. Gohard set off and so did I in my car to take over from him at the changeover of 5 to 6.

Got to the start point in plenty of time. Had a bit of a warmup, saw slogger come storming in under the 60 minute mark, great stuff. My changeover had accident potential because of a car in the middle of the road which the resident traffic warden failed to control adequately, despite his very best ultra enthusiastic efforts. Got the tag from gohard, who was flying into the transition, and off I went.

I'd only recced the route once and that was slowly, walking most of the uphills. My feeling was that all the climbs were very runnable, just a matter of controlling the pace well to save something for later in the leg. I used my HRM to do this and was happy that the legs were strong enough to keep me going. After about 4km I saw someone ahead and was delighted to have him to chase. It took a while to catch up though and when I did it was just at the point before the section along the road, as he ran through the trees and tried to avoid the muddy patches I chased right through the middle of it and as I passed mentioned he could and should run on the road as opposed to the path alongside. I put the boot down on the road and suffered up the climb that followed, nasty. Then it was time to take stock that I was on for a decent time, stayed controlled on the descents so as not to risk a fall or ankle twist which could lose the ground I'd made on my predicted time and next thing I knew I was done.

Mithril headed off for his long leg in the baking sunshine and my legs turned to jelly. A custard filled donut and a wash in the river helped sort that out then it was on the finish to watch the A team lead the field home and see or rowdy rabble finish a very respectable 7th. A good job all round for all involved.

Leg 7- Mithril
Boards B
21.37 in 1:38:16 (4:35 pace)

Strange leg for me.
I had predicted 1:37 before-hand but it was getting warm by the time my leg was due and I was concerned about the effect of the long leg without water on my running. I have collapsed before in the heat - most recently in the Intel 10K last month. In other races, it does not seem to bother me excessively.

The run started badly for me when I was out of position when in place when JeffonTour came through ahead of schedule and I had to dash quickly over to the bridge, slap his hand and was off.

I had a strong opening KM of 4:11 and headed confidently into the forest for the first up-hill slog. This is never steep but goes on for almost 3 KM and was the section where I suffered worst from the heat. I was disappointed with the 5:32, 5:25 laps but got a lift after the first junction when I overtook a U.C.D. runner. He seemed to have got lost on the way and had burned his reserves getting back on route so I quickly increased my lead on him and never saw him again.

I then saw my next quarry a few hundred metres ahead. I had a lot more difficulty reeling him in since we were evenly matched at this stage in the race. I pulled right up to him and then on a rough downhill track, which was relatively short, he made up a lot of ground again. At the best of times contacts give me only limited vision and my eyes were also starting to water, which was causing double vision. This would not have been an issue if I had properly memorized the route but I really needed a second recce to be confident , ideally on my own, since you get a false sense of security when someone is showing you the way.

We reached the ford together and headed into the final up-hill session and I started to chat to him but he seemed to ignore me. I discovered later that his hearing aid had failed so we made a comical pair of the half-blind and half-deaf.
There was a breeze on the hill which while it did not help my vision by causing my eyes to water did at least keep the temperature down and I found the heat less of an issue on the second half of the leg.
Hard to believe but I managed to wander off route three times in the final section of the course and on each occasion I got a shout from the “Pain Train” runner which put me right, which was very decent of him.
I could only see blurred WW navigation markers as I passed them and I was starting to guess the route with an amazingly poor success rate.

I was tempted to stick with him until the end but he was slowing a lot and I had to push on. I passed the last junction, stopped to double-check the WW marker, and entered what I remembered as a long straightforward route to Derry river. I knew markers were sparse in the final section but I seemed to run for nearly 3 KM without seeing one. I stopped a few times to double-check the GPS which indicated I was still going the correct way and was very relieved when at last I saw Tinahely in the distance.

I had quite a bit in reserve at this point since I was getting quite a bit of recovery from stopping to check the directions so since I was now confident of the route I was able to power down to the Derry River at a good pace and still able to run the final steep up-hill well.

Picked up 2 places and finished in 1:38 which was a reasonable time in the conditions. I estimate though I managed to p**s away about 3 minutes through re-tracing my steps on a few occasions and stopping to re-check the route which cost us a place on the day.

T runner

From IMRA

Thanks Brendan,

Ok leg 2ers! Brendan maybe looking into access for a vehicle from the Knockree side. Otherwise we can meet at the carpark at the gate above the wooden bridge at 10am. Well know more tommorrow. Followed by a hill run. 08seven seven 5 2 7662



Saw your good suggestion Krusty but didnt get it together:(

So an hour on saturday at 10 am followed by a hill run tea and cake!

Whos in?

donothoponpop

4 stars (good)

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Winning team features in the evening herald today.

http://www.herald.ie/sport/other-sports/rathfarnham-let-it-go-again-2223725.html

Thanks Lindie.

Krusty_Clown

4 stars (good)

Who the frick is Gary Conlon? :rolleyes: I demand a retraction.
Must check to see if http://www.garyconlon.com gets registered.
Nice article.

earlyevening

4 stars (good)

Went into work today and one of the girls was telling me about how she was woken up at 8am or so last sat morning while she was camping out near Enniskerry by a load of "joggers" (her word not mine).

I told her I'd give out to all the noisy leg 2ers for waking her up so early. so inconsiderate...:rolleyes:

Krusty_Clown

4 stars (good)

Tell her to get back out there at 10am on Saturday to clean up her own mess (and bring her friends!).

BeepBeep67

4 stars (good)

earlyevening wrote: »

Went into work today and one of the girls was telling me about how she was woken up at 8am or so last sat morning while she was camping out near Enniskerry by a load of "joggers" (her word not mine).

I told her I'd give out to all the noisy leg 2ers for waking her up so early. so inconsiderate...:rolleyes:

Probably the sound of Abhainn coming through like a train.

macinalli

4 stars (good)

Hi all,
Good to meet some of the Boards teams last Saturday. I was running leg 6 for the UCD team and thought it was a great race and really enjoyed comparing stories with the other runners. The race really has an atmosphere like no other. Must also say thanks to Jeffontour for that custard donut at the end - a much appreciated treat!:)

earlyevening

4 stars (good)

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Tell her to get back out there at 10am on Saturday to clean up her own mess (and bring her friends!).

I heard about the mess but she assures me it wasnt left by her crowd. Whoever left the mess was gone by the time of the race.

Krusty_Clown

4 stars (good)

earlyevening wrote: »

I heard about the mess but she assures me it wasnt left by her crowd. Whoever left the mess was gone by the time of the race.

A lot of it was there from previous weeks. When we did a 'recce of the route at the end of May, it was appalling. I can't make Saturday morning, but will bring a bag with me on Sunday on the Plod route instead.