Belfast 24h (Ireland first 24h run race)

locteau

Hey guys,

Ed Smith is organising a 24h ultra run race on the 6th of August in Belfast. It will be Ireland first 24h run race.

I entered myself and I am really happy to see the ultra community growing fast now.

So in Ireland we have a few annual events :

- Connemara Ultra 39miles (oldest and first irish ultra with AAI permit)
- Connemara 100 miles (first 100miles road race in Ireland)
- Portumna 50km and 100km (first 50km in Ireland and first 100km open to the general public with AAI permit and AIMS membership, applied IAU label)
- Belfast 24h (first 24h in Ireland with Athletics Northern Ireland Permit permit and IAU)
- Dingle 50km
- Wicklow way 44km (IMRA permit)
- Mourne way ultra 85km (IMRA permit)

This is the list we can all take part in...... :P

Zuppy

Don't forget the Art O Neill race.
Another mountain Ultra that I hope will make its come back this year. A great race.

TFBubendorfer

Dingle is 50 miles, not 50km

Slogger Jogger

The imra Wicklow way ultra is now 50k.

If you are mad enough you could run the Wicklow way relay as a 1 or 2 man team. Thats 120k or thereabouts. The full Wicklow way was run in record time by Enduro 2 years back. Not that thats an event, but it was eventful.

Enduro

locteau wrote: »

Hey guys,

Ed Smith is organising a 24h ultra run race on the 6th of August in Belfast. It will be Ireland first 24h run race.

I entered myself and I am really happy to see the ultra community growing fast now.

So in Ireland we have a few annual events :

- Connemara Ultra 39miles (oldest and first irish ultra with AAI permit)
- Connemara 100 miles (first 100miles road race in Ireland)
- Portumna 50km and 100km (first 50km in Ireland and first 100km open to the general public with AAI permit and AIMS membership, applied IAU label)
- Belfast 24h (first 24h in Ireland with Athletics Northern Ireland Permit permit and IAU)
- Dingle 50km
- Wicklow way 44km (IMRA permit)
- Mourne way ultra 85km (IMRA permit)

This is the list we can all take part in...... :P

There is a long list of corrections to all that.

The oldest Irish Ultra that is still going is the Wicklow Way Ultra. It predates connemara by a considerable amount of time. There were also at least 2 100km races that predate connemara. (Also, ultras don't require an AAI permit... if they want a permit then they should get them from URI).

The description of Portumna as the first 100km open to the general public is pure fiction. There have been several 100km races that were open to the general public, the most obvious being the Galway 100km last year, in which several other boardsies also ran. (A race which had an IAU label)

As noted earlier, Dingle is 50 miles. It's also the Irish 50 mile championship, and has an IAU label. I suppose that makes it the first 50 mile race in Ireland open to the general public with an IAU label.

The Wicklow Way Ultra is Ireland's oldest ultra race. In its current incarnation it is approximately 51km long. IMRA doesn't issue permits. It is currently an IMRA organised race (its had two previous "minders").

The Mourne Way Ultra does not have an IMRA permit since IMRA don't issue permits. Even if they did, it would fall under NIMRAs juristiction, if anything (they don't issue permits either AFAIK).


And the ommissions...

The Art O'Neill is likely to be organised again this year, probably for late October/early November.

The 50km world championships will be taking place in Galway in August alongside the Galway City Marathon. The 50km race will also be open to the general public. It has a IAU label.

Zuppy

So the list so far

- Connemara Ultra 39miles (oldest and first irish ultra with AAI permit)
- Connemara 100 miles (first 100miles road race in Ireland)
- Portumna 50km and 100km (first 50km in Ireland and first 100km open to the general public with AAI permit and AIMS membership, applied IAU label)
- Belfast 24h (first 24h in Ireland with Athletics Northern Ireland Permit permit and IAU)
- Dingle 50m
- Wicklow way 51km
- Galway 50km
- Mourne way ultra 85k
- Art O Neill (if it runs again)


With quite a few road ultras maybe it's time we held a few championships.
I reckon my favorite line up for it would have to be;

Dingle for the 50 miler
Connemara for the 100 miler
Portumna for the 100km
Belfast 24hr race
(no other options at those distances)

The toss up would be Galway (if it runs next year) or Portumna (is running next year) for the 50km distance.

TFBubendorfer

What's still missing in this country is a decent number of trail ultras. I follow several blogs of American ultra runners and the number of trail races there by far outweigh the number of road ones, in marked contrast to here.

With the recovery times from trail races apparently being much lower than from road ultras, I'd love to have a go at them.

Zuppy

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

What's still missing in this country is a decent number of trail ultras. I follow several blogs of American ultra runners and the number of trail races there by far outweigh the number of road ones, in marked contrast to here.

With the recovery times from trail races apparently being much lower than from road ultras, I'd love to have a go at them.

I agree, but we are kinda short on those long looping trail (like in US) down here in the Sunny South.

Krusty_Clown

The Wicklow Way Ultra is essentially a trail race (the shorter version of the race is actually called The Wicklow Way Trail). Having been up around those parts a few times over the last few weeks (visiting the Plod route) in the good weather it even looks like a Utah/Californian trail.

I presume the Mourn Way Ultra would cover a similar type of ground, and parts of the Burren Marathon, but certainly, more trail races (marathon+ distance) on the calendar would be great.

Enduro

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

What's still missing in this country is a decent number of trail ultras. I follow several blogs of American ultra runners and the number of trail races there by far outweigh the number of road ones, in marked contrast to here.

With the recovery times from trail races apparently being much lower than from road ultras, I'd love to have a go at them.

As Krusty correctly points out, we already have trail ultras in Ireland

The Wickow ultra (still, and always will be no matter how many times one pretends it isn't, Ireland's oldest Ultra) has a huge amount of climb and descent for its distance. Only about 4km of it is on road. The rest is trail.

The Mourne Way Ultra also has a significant amount of climb and descent, and is a real mixed bag of terraine, with a bit of everything. A class race.

The Art O'Neill is road for the first third, and then majorly off-road after that. Much harder than most trail ultras for multiple reasons (Terraine, light, weather)

So there are at least 3 regular ultra trails in Ireland already, one of which has been in existance since before my running days (so well over 10 years old). I hope you've all at least tried the existing ones out before bemoaning the lack of additional ones.


To top off that list, the world championship ultra distance trail race will be taking place in Connemara next year. Its going to be a great course. It doesn't really get much bigger than that.

I agree, but we are kinda short on those long looping trail (like in US) down here in the Sunny South.

Jesus man, the south is full of trails! There is massive scope for huge numbers of trail ultras down there.

Enduro

Oh, and I forget the Wicklow Round!!! Not a race as such, but definitely an ultrarun of considerable significance.

Peterx

presumably the stone cross to Lug relay could be run all the way by one person adding another event?
Or maybe that's against the rules/spirit of the thing?

TFBubendorfer

Enduro wrote: »

As Krusty correctly points out, we already have trail ultras in Ireland

The Wickow ultra (still, and always will be no matter how many times one pretends it isn't, Ireland's oldest Ultra) has a huge amount of climb and descent for its distance. Only about 4km of it is on road. The rest is trail.

The Mourne Way Ultra also has a significant amount of climb and descent, and is a real mixed bag of terraine, with a bit of everything. A class race.

The Art O'Neill is road for the first third, and then majorly off-road after that. Much harder than most trail ultras for multiple reasons (Terraine, light, weather)

So there are at least 3 regular ultra trails in Ireland already, one of which has been in existance since before my running days (so well over 10 years old). I hope you've all at least tried the existing ones out before bemoaning the lack of additional ones.

I know there are trail races and I've said as much; my point was that in the states there seem to be 10 trail ultras for every road race, here it's almost the other way round.

As for moaning while not trying the existing ones, the mentioned races are all on the other side of the island from where I live and I would hesitate to run my first ever trail ultra on unknown trails. I know this is a problem that can be solved, but between work and family time there isn't much scope for long recce trips. For the time being it's far easier for me to run Dingle, and the trail races will have to wait.

Enduro

Well, I'd recommend you give either the Wicklow Ultra or the Mourne Way Ultra a go. Neither require a Recce or navigation skills beyond following permanent trail waymarkers. As easy as you're ever likely to get for a first time ultra trail. If you feel you need to recce the trails before running an ultra trail race you won't get many done. So go on... just give it a go!

In terms of road:trail ratios, the history has broadly been..

Many many years - 1 trail (WWU) : 0 road
4 or 5 years - 1 trail (WWU) : 1 road (Connemara)
last year - 2 trail (WWU, AON) : 3 road (Conn, Galway 100k, Conn 100m)

So the ratio has actually been pretty good. Not 10:1, but then the Americans stand out in stark contrast to the rest of the world on that one.

hot to trot

This is probably a daft question but how do you know what kind of ultra you would be up to?
I managed the 50k recently - not fast but very comfortably on the legs. Would next year be realistic for seeing how far I could get on the 24 hour quest? or do you have to be running for much longer and far more experience of ultra runs?
Not sure where to go from here...but really liking doing lots of long weekend runs so far

sarsfieldsrock

hot to trot wrote: »

This is probably a daft question but how do you know what kind of ultra you would be up to?
I managed the 50k recently - not fast but very comfortably on the legs. Would next year be realistic for seeing how far I could get on the 24 hour quest? or do you have to be running for much longer and far more experience of ultra runs?
Not sure where to go from here...but really liking doing lots of long weekend runs so far

I thought that the 50K there was merely a stepping stone to the Dingle 50?
If not then the natural (?) progression would be to Connemara next year.
Its really up to yourself in being able to find the time to train.

pablo t

zuppylurk, kerry has the dingle way the kerry way and the beara way along with sheeps head is close by in cork (i know there are stretches of road along these but there still considerable in distance. . .there are a number of trail/road ways in cork namely duhallow, ballyhoura etc. and then you have a large network of mountainbike trails in ballyhoura which i regularly run on and there is no problem with gettin creamed by guys on their bikes.

with the dingle way you have a ready made 100 mile trail/road ultra right there. i know its 112miles long but whats an extra 12 having done 100. it would be great if this was ever organised. i have recently been considering doing it on my own at some stage in the future. should probably start with something a bit shorter like wicklow first though
sorry for going off the topic

Zuppy

pablo t wrote: »

zuppylurk, kerry has the dingle way the kerry way and the beara way along with sheeps head is close by in cork (i know there are stretches of road along these but there still considerable in distance. . .there are a number of trail/road ways in cork namely duhallow, ballyhoura etc. and then you have a large network of mountainbike trails in ballyhoura which i regularly run on and there is no problem with gettin creamed by guys on their bikes.

with the dingle way you have a ready made 100 mile trail/road ultra right there. i know its 112miles long but whats an extra 12 having done 100. it would be great if this was ever organised. i have recently been considering doing it on my own at some stage in the future. should probably start with something a bit shorter like wicklow first though
sorry for going off the topic

Yes I know we have lots of trails. We have lots of road too.
My point was we don't have enough Ultras. I meant organised races. We are short of a few 100 mile trail ultras :-)

RacoonQueen

Enduro wrote: »

Well, I'd recommend you give either the Wicklow Ultra or the Mourne Way Ultra a go. Neither require a Recce or navigation skills beyond following permanent trail waymarkers. As easy as you're ever likely to get for a first time ultra trail. If you feel you need to recce the trails before running an ultra trail race you won't get many done. So go on... just give it a go!

Probably not the best person to ask given you won the bloody thing, but how would you rate the difficulty of the Mourne Way Ultra? Hope to give the Wicklow one a shot next year if I can pull myself away from the Connemara one.

ocnoc

Would the Rogaine not class as a 24hour race??
Thats been around since 1998ish as far as I know

Enduro

hot to trot wrote: »

This is probably a daft question but how do you know what kind of ultra you would be up to?
I managed the 50k recently - not fast but very comfortably on the legs. Would next year be realistic for seeing how far I could get on the 24 hour quest? or do you have to be running for much longer and far more experience of ultra runs?
Not sure where to go from here...but really liking doing lots of long weekend runs so far

HTH, you know what kind of ultra you're able for after you cross the finish line. That's the genuine answer, not a smart alek one. You could analyse to death whether what you are or aren't capable of, but the only way you're actually going to find out is to go out and do it. So if you want to run a 24 hour, just go an do it. Even if you don't make it you'll learn an enormous amount (I guarantee that!). A friend of mine who is far from a natural ultra-runner gave one a go 2 years ago and got himself through 100 miles over the 24hours. And I can tell you he was delighted he gave it a go.

Enduro

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

I thought that the 50K there was merely a stepping stone to the Dingle 50?
If not then the natural (?) progression would be to Connemara next year.
Its really up to yourself in being able to find the time to train.

It might look like a natural progression, but all it is is a step up in distance, which is different.

You don't have to start at 100 metres and work your way consecutivly through all the distances to arrive at the point where you're ready to run a marathon. The very same logic applies to ultras of all distances.

In fact IMHO no amount of 50k, 50 mile, 100Km races could really prepare you for a 24 hour race, as its a completely different type of race (No less than Yanos Kouros (sp?) is of a similar opinion... he reckons 100kms are just speed events and not true ultras!)

Enduro

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Probably not the best person to ask given you won the bloody thing, but how would you rate the difficulty of the Mourne Way Ultra? Hope to give the Wicklow one a shot next year if I can pull myself away from the Connemara one.

Wicklow would be good preparation for the Mourne Ultra. Wicklow is more "up-and-downey", but the extra distance of the MWA makes it quite a bit harder. Wicklow is an absolutely brilliant introduction to ultra distance trail running. I loved the race from the very first time I gave it a go.

Objectively speaking, I'd rate the MWU as the most difficult ultra race I've done in Ireland. But 60 people entered it this year, and AFAIK most if not all of them finished it.

Enduro

ocnoc wrote: »

Would the Rogaine not class as a 24hour race??
Thats been around since 1998ish as far as I know

Obviously its literally a 24hour race, but it's not an ultra run per se, in the same way that a standard orienteering race is a race which involves running, but its not an athletics event. Sure I've never got any idea of what distance I cover in the rogaine!

(oh, and by the way....

6, 7, 15, 29, 37, 28, 22, 27, 38, 39, 26, 25, 21, 24, 23, 20, 19, 35, 36, 42, 34, 41, 40, 32, 33, 17, 31, 16, 30, 14, 5, 2)

ocnoc

Enduro wrote: »

Sure I've never got any idea of what distance I cover in the rogaine!

Piece of string and patience

jaymack75

Enduro wrote: »

In fact IMHO no amount of 50k, 50 mile, 100Km races could really prepare you for a 24 hour race, as its a completely different type of race (No less than Yanos Kouros (sp?) is of a similar opinion... he reckons 100kms are just speed events and not true ultras!)

any advice on what would prepare you for the 24hr race.......also any tips on successful race pacing / strategy? (i.e. what it takes to do well)

hot to trot

I read somwhere at the weekend that you only run what you are currently able to cover. I feel I could run for 6 hours at present ( posssibly a bit more?) . So apparently I would plan to run for 6 hours out of the 24 and walk the rest. How I decide to break that up , would be up to me.

What does anyone think about this?