IMRA season 2011

ElectraX

Good luck to everyone running tomorrow. Should be a great day for it. Gonna head out to take a few pics so make sure you're looking gawrjus:D

n-dawg

Best of luck to all the ultra runners tomorrow, I did it last year and it was best race I have ever done. My advice would be, eat a good breakfast and stay as relaxed as you can all morning (I had mental butterflies at the start line). Take your time on the way out... the scenery makes for a wonderful distraction. Chat to people as your running (last year I made several new friends during the ultra). On the way back take it easy up to White hill (that was my big mistake last year). Try tag along with some of the trail runners. Say thank you to the people at the aid stations, they've given up there Saturday to help you. Try to focus on the nice pint waiting for you at Johnny Fox's when you climbing Prince Williams Seat (it'll feel thousands of times harder then any other time you have climbed it). The road from the turn off the wicklow way to Johnny Fox's WILL have got longer since the way out but when you cross the line it'll probably be the longest run you have ever done and it feels fantastic to have achieved it.

Hopefully I'll be back home to do it next year...

jeffontour

Best of luck to all the trail and ultra people tomorrow. I will be there in spirit as I enjoy my last day running in sometimes sunny Spain.

Slogger Jogger

Good luck to all. See you at registration and at some point on the trail where I hope to take a few photos.

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Good luck to all. See you at registration and at some point on the trail where I hope to take a few photos.

And three cheers for Mr. Bus Conductor extraordinaire!

Slogger Jogger

Boardsies in action...

ThisRegard

I really must look up more often in these races, where the hell did that lake come from? I only remember it being misty up there and being unable to see much.

What a race though, it really was one of two halves. Felt great coming into Crone car park just over the hour mark, on track for my target of 2.30 hours. Stopped for water and jelly babies but took about 10 minutes to get into my stride again. Felt good coming into the second water stop but that's when it went all wrong. Just couldn't get going on that horrible relentless climb at all, it was run a bit, march a bigger bit, all the way to the summit. Calves felt like busting at this stage so took the decent much slower than I usually would. Took a time check and at two hours, 20 minutes I had less than 2.5 k to go, an optimist would think my target was still attainable. But that hill up to the main road was a killer, there goes my target. A nice triathlete lady caught me and with some encouraging words I got going with her to the finish, 4 minutes over my target, but still very happy.

Well done to all organisers and helpers out there, fair play, and you gotta admire the ultra guys. Only thing I would say is that I wish there was water in my mug for the walk back to the car but that's a blip in an otherwise excellent day.

T runner

Looked like a good race in store in the trail race from Micks pics. Anyone know how it panned out today??

Krusty_Clown

Why didn't anyone tell me I looked like I was auditioning for Bill and Ben?!

ocnoc

Who won ultra/trail?

Peterx

First time I'm seen or heard a coy Ocnoc:)

Well done to ocnoc on a dominant performance at the university championships. Seamus cnoc, Ocnoc and myself summited together and the two lads took off with two more lads coming through me in quick succession chasing them down the hill. The value of recent speedwork was glaringly obvious on that descent.

Firstname? Cleary had a great descent coming from 5th to 2nd catching the lad in second on the final section of fireroad.

This is a very good route and is a solid contender for a short leinster championship event in the future.
Seemed to be a fantastic day for ultra running as well so hopefully the go long lads got on well.

ocnoc

Peterx wrote: »

catching the lad in second

Twas Seamus... he's family.
It was personal. Very personal.

iamjenko

Well done to the organisers, stewards all helpers, bus drivers etc and especially to all the Ultra and Trail runners today! Great run! Always seemed to be one more killer hill around the corner!!

T runner

Peterx wrote: »

First time I'm seen or heard a coy Ocnoc:)

Well done to ocnoc on a dominant performance at the university championships. Seamus cnoc, Ocnoc and myself summited together and the two lads took off with two more lads coming through me in quick succession chasing them down the hill. The value of recent speedwork was glaringly obvious on that descent.

Firstname? Cleary had a great descent coming from 5th to 2nd catching the lad in second on the final section of fireroad.

This is a very good route and is a solid contender for a short leinster championship event in the future.
Seemed to be a fantastic day for ultra running as well so hopefully the go long lads got on well.

Well done Ocnoc. Thought you couldnt train???

Can anyone update with winners from ultra and trail today?

ocnoc

T runner wrote: »

Thought you couldnt train???

I can't... I got lucky

donothoponpop

Ultra Results are on the imra site, well done to all who finished this. In particular to our own Boards lads getting well under 5 hours, Krusty, the Passenger, and Mithril.:)

ThisRegard

Well done you guys, an impressive achievement.

thepassanger

what a day that was! its a pity im crap at sleeping in in the morning, i wish i could still be fast asleep now!
a very big thanks to organisers and water station volunteers, and motivators along the way.it really was a top class day!
heres a Haiku i thought of while trying to get back to sleep this morning:
UL-TRA RUN ARE WE BONKERS
uh-wha? done it for the craic!
i will defo be back!

Slogger Jogger

Cracking winning time on the trail race.

Bravo ocnoc on yesterday's College race win. A reward for hard training. Bring on the Irish Champs

earlyevening

Was that you thepassanger that I forced to a sprint finish in the last 20metres. Well done in holding me off. I would have that you wouldnt have the energy left after just doing the ultra.

Only did the trail - but enjoyed the race. Perfect weather for it thankfully.

How long before GoHard gets revenge and starts finishing ahead of me again?...not long I'd say.

Krusty_Clown

thepassanger wrote: »

i will defo be back!

I think we ran together for a few stretches thepassenger and swapped places a few times too (you mentioned that you'd never run further than 40k before?). Fair play to you for such a good time, having never run that distance before. Sub-4 would've been a big ask though!

thepassanger

earlyevening wrote: »

Was that you thepassanger that I forced to a sprint finish in the last 20metres. Well done in holding me off. I would have that you wouldnt have the energy left after just doing the ultra.

Only did the trail - but enjoyed the race. Perfect weather for it thankfully.

How long before GoHard gets revenge and starts finishing ahead of me again?...not long I'd say.

i believe it was me. i read somewhere on the imra page that "you have to race!"
well done in the trail. was a great day, i did find it a bit cold on way back over sleepers below djouce. if there was a team event BOARDS would have cleaned that right up!

thepassanger

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I think we ran together for a few stretches thepassenger and swapped places a few times too (you mentioned that you'd never run further than 40k before?). Fair play to you for such a good time, having never run that distance before. Sub-4 would've been a big ask though!

ah, nice to meet you, i should have asked you on the day were you local/boards etc...
i really couldnt get going up prince williams, even when you suggested that sprint finish! well done to you, i tried to come up to you with about 2k to go but was completely wasted.
i always set laughable goals, even if i dont make them its fun to think about how hard it could have been to do sub 4, it means averaging 12.6km an hour (seems doable at first).
here we are i think, /http://www.imra.ie/photos/view/id/49566/

samscribbling

Many miles come and go.
It is mostly quiet.
Except for my mind racing.

Mac Cormaic

I found the last eight miles really challenging, but it was a great race. Well done to all those who took part and special thanks to the organisers and stewards.

misty floyd

samscribbling wrote: »

Many miles come and go.
It is mostly quiet.
Except for my mind racing.

I like that.

ocnoc

samscribbling wrote: »

Many miles come and go.
It is mostly quiet.
Except for . . .

the heavy breathing of the runner sitting on my shoulder. Listening to his body react to the climb. Waiting for the tell tale micro pause or sharper intake of his lungs. Waiting for the signal to pounce and attack the final section of the climb with all hells fury . . . .

Its clear people are in the mountains for different reasons :P

misty floyd

Howdy, I can't get onto the IMRA site to do some homework so maybe someone can help me out. My Uncle has been asking me to do a race in August. It’s the Barrowdale 17m/7000ft and it looks like you need to be well experienced to take it on. On the club website it mentions: “experience of long ‘A’ races is essential”.

What is an ‘A’ race?
Is it ridiculous to think about doing this for a fell beginner?

Advice very much appreciated. No, I've pretty much no experience of fell running but I wanna give it a go. Cheers.

Stark

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fell_running#Race_categories

Must be over 20km, 48m of climb for every km and more than 80% off road.

A category AL IMRA race would be something like Circuit of Avonbeg. Don't underestimate a UK fell race, those guys are seriously hardcore. I did a 10 miler up North last year and it was one of the toughest races I've ever done. Even the 50 year old women looked like Asterix after he'd had his magic potion.

PositiveNegativ

You'll need to provide evidence of previous A grade races. I'm not sure of the exact definition, you should be able to find it here http://www.fellrunner.org.uk/

Here's some questions you'd need to be able to answer before even thinking of entering:

1. Have you done race's like Carrauntoohil, the Mourne Peaks, The Seven Sevens, Donard-Commedagh, the Circuit of Avonbeg, Glenmacnass?
2. Can you navigate solo?
3. Can you run for three or four hours over steep mountains?