IMRA season 2011

robroy1234

Guys. I can only say that the Snowdon Mountain Race was a real eye-opener. The level and ability of those people who can descend down such a mountain with ease, making Roger Barrett and myself look clumsy and less than ordinary. It was indeed a humbling experience and the descent took everything away from the ascent. As we are new to the mountain running we will learn and hopefully develop a training strategy in order to improve.

Humble pie tastes awful.

woody1

yeah i happened to be walking up ben nevis last year as that race was on, apart from being totally blown away from their speed going up , i was absolutely amazed at the speed and fearlessness on the way down, especially given that the path is fairly narrow in spots and the mountain was crowded with walkers..

Slogger Jogger

I recorded the coverage of the race on S4C and watched it this evening. A great tussle back and forth between Andi Jones and Murray Strain. Really riveting stuff. Andi has a great combination of strength and grace going up that mountain. His 5th win and probably his hardest won.

ocnoc

Murray Strain is a class act.
Not a half bad orienteer either.

He's off to the World Champs for a second year running on what is a very competitive GB O squad

rovers_runner

Anyone doing the end of league handicap this evening?
Was up there last night and the places was covered in midges, brutal it was.

Looking at previous years results it doesn't look like any bottlenecks happened at the finish but I would be expecting it today with nearly 3 miles downhill to finish the race?

guapos

Did you run it in the end? i thought it was a great race but there was an unusually small turnout. do the fast lads not bother with it? I havent been training in 2 months so ran most of the race by myself, only passed someone out with about 500m to go.

rovers_runner

guapos wrote: »

Did you run it in the end? i thought it was a great race but there was an unusually small turnout. do the fast lads not bother with it? I havent been training in 2 months so ran most of the race by myself, only passed someone out with about 500m to go.

Did indeed, my best result ever but got an awful hammering on the last main corner(90 degree bend near finish on grass), tore my knee up and the swelling still hasn't fully gone down.

Was an interesting race for a back marker like myself but the two min penalty (only 6 league races done) cost me nearly 10 places which would have had me well inside top 10, but then again others may have been in the same boat.
A lot less traffic up the front for the early starters and this helped as last few miles were frantic.

The lad who won made up a lot of time on the way up to fairy castle, nobody else went by myself even until a couple of miles out.

Kander

Great course tonight I really enjoyed it. Loved the stretch of down hill till the finish, clawed back 2/3 places from those fast flat ground runners

Nem_e

Yeah it's a nice route, the rain was a nice extra it was pretty muggy until the rain came in.

Tonight was my 1st race back since the ankle injury, took it nice and easy and let people pass, I lost a lot of ground on the downhill, It'll be a while before i get the confidence back to let loose on the decents.

Really enjoyed the run and even improved on last years time by 3 min's .

earlyevening

Enjoyed it too. My best finish position (7th) on my 100th outing!

GoHardOrGoHome

earlyevening wrote: »

Enjoyed it too. My best finish position (7th) on my 100th outing!

Good stuff! Well done EE on your 100th race! A while ago I remember you were in the 80s but I didn't check back at the 100 list on the IMRA website.

I saw your man later who I thought was Kyle. Different guy.

Happy with my result but not happy with the speed I slowed down to going through the car park and on the flat bits later on. Couldn't get the legs to turn over quickly enough. Happy to outkick Martin Francis at the end going *way* faster than I normally take the descents! Can't belive SJ put 15 seconds or so into me on that last stretch.

Slogger Jogger

I can't believe it either GH :-). I was suffering from Galtee legs syndrome.. couldn't get them going at all, which puts EE's great result into perspective. When you went past me on the climb from the car park I thought you were gone but managed to hold the gap you and Martin had, and reeled it in very slowly. Delighted to see my mate Ian nab his first IMRA win. And next week he's on home turf in Devils Glen. No pressure

jlang

earlyevening wrote: »

Enjoyed it too. My best finish position (7th) on my 100th outing!

Well done! Half way there myself now.

robroy1234

World Trials this weekend coming - who will be competing?

Slogger Jogger

robroy1234 wrote: »

World Trials this weekend coming - who will be competing?

The no. of pre-selections diminish the chances of a decent sized field I would think? Hence my post on the IMRA forum. I don't question Brian's selection btw, but feel that runners should be active in some of our races. We have enough of them!

ocnoc

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

The no. of pre-selections diminish the chances of a decent sized field I would think? Hence my post on the IMRA forum. I don't question Brian's selection btw, but feel that runners should be active in some of our races. We have enough of them!

How about even volunteering... a favorite gripe of yours SJ

Enduro

Lads, as you probably know I agree with you both 100%. However to actually do something about it you'll have to get this discussed at the AGM, preferably by means of some sort of motion to get get what you desire. I've tried before, but the motion did not carry. So you'll need to canvas support if you're going to attempt something like that. But debating here or on the IMRA forum won't actually change anything (although it certainly gave rise to some great lively debate 2 years ago!!).

robroy1234

The problem is that there are no races here in West or North-west - Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal - and yet good range of mountains opportunities for races. This restricts our chances of building up score for selection purposes and we have to, like everyone else, get to Wicklow for the trials. It would be great to have more events like the Connacht champs done over these counties and give more food for thought for the selection process.

Enduro

The reason for that is that no-one is volunteering to organise any races there. If any locals were interested in organising a race there it would be great! At the moment the Connaught champs are organised by "the usual suspects" i.e. the most dedicated of our hardcore vounteers, who are Dublin/Leinster based. There is only so much that can be done without local involvement. So if you are local, then I'd encourage you to try to get more local races organised out there. You'll get plenty of support from the IMRA committee if you do. It would be fantastic if there was a connaught league, or if the connaught champs could be extended to add a few more races.

I presume you ran the connaught championships races.

robroy1234

I tried to organise some races here in Mayo - and got shot down by my Athletics Club, and no support from the Mayo Sport Partnership - the same happened with the running workshop I planned. I would like to start up a series of races starting from Donegal down to Galway including the Connacht Champs, but need a lot more support locally. That won't happen until we get some success in the mountain running scene, which is slowly developing since myself and Roger Barrett are now leading the charge...

Raighne

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

The no. of pre-selections diminish the chances of a decent sized field I would think? Hence my post on the IMRA forum. I don't question Brian's selection btw, but feel that runners should be active in some of our races. We have enough of them!

I don't think the preselections have much of an impact on field size (they have other impacts). The only trial I remember to be really well attended by more than the people competing was Trooperstown 2007, since then it's always been small.

I would assume the real reason for the lack of numbers has more to do with the fact that the bulk of normal competitors don't see the point (as they don't expect to qualify).

My own reason for attending these was always I felt they gave me a proper feel for how I compared to international athletes and as a way of spurring me on for further training. In my ideal world, most lads finishing in the top-20 in regular races would attend this race, but if you don't share my motivations I could see why you may not.

Timing impacts it as well as keeping your form from the Euro Trial to the World Trial is a long time. I would have recommended to some of my own runners to only go for one and leave the other, so I am sure there are other coaches out there doing the same.

Enduro

robroy1234 wrote: »

I tried to organise some races here in Mayo - and got shot down by my Athletics Club, and no support from the Mayo Sport Partnership - the same happened with the running workshop I planned. I would like to start up a series of races starting from Donegal down to Galway including the Connacht Champs, but need a lot more support locally. That won't happen until we get some success in the mountain running scene, which is slowly developing since myself and Roger Barrett are now leading the charge...

Keep on trying! Hopefully you guys will get there in the end. You'd think that with the huge popularity of Gael Force, Achill Roar etc that there would be good numbers out west interested in hillrunning. Of course getting people to actually get involved in organising is another challenge altogether! Fair dues for making the effort. One thing worth noting is that very little in IMRA gets done with athletics club's support. Most IMRA races exist totally independantly of clubs.

Enduro

Raighne wrote: »

I don't think the preselections have much of an impact on field size (they have other impacts). The only trial I remember to be really well attended by more than the people competing was Trooperstown 2007, since then it's always been small.

I would assume the real reason for the lack of numbers has more to do with the fact that the bulk of normal competitors don't see the point (as they don't expect to qualify).

Timing impacts it as well as keeping your form from the Euro Trial to the World Trial is a long time. I would have recommended to some of my own runners to only go for one and leave the other, so I am sure there are other coaches out there doing the same.

A good insight there Raighne.

Personally I used to go along to the trials just for the race, even though I had no interest in qualifying. But these days the courses are too damn boring to be even worth that, from my own POV (But there are good reasons why they are that way).

Back to Slogger's original point...
The idea came to my head that a solution of sorts here would be to invert the problem, and reserve a number of qualification slots for regular IMRA runners. Defining regulars could be a simple as someone who has completed any league/champs, along with volunteering requirements. There is a potential motion for you

Peterx

Regular IMRA runners tend to be very good at regular IMRA races and we all agreed that the international race courses are nothing like regular IMRA race courses.
As always the actual solution is easy to say but difficult to implement - the regular IMRA runners need to get better!

A potential compromise would be a decision to send the Irish Champion to the British Championship series (if he wants to go) but sadly the fact remains pure irish hillrunning is not the best preparation for international races.

Brian Furey and Jason Kehoe are the current poster boys for getting off the bog and into the clubs (and the good training plans Raighne) , Barry Minnock has improved a level every year for the past 5 years, plenty of lads are improving.
As Brian MacMahon noted before though the level at the international races is improving as well with the elevation to official IAAF championship status in the last few years.

ocnoc

Peterx wrote: »

British Championship series

Baptism of fire.

A mate of mine, a soild Dublin based mountain runner went Scotland direction - after one long race he was on the verge of quitting the sport.

It be proper mountain running that side of the sea

Slogger Jogger

2 senior mens pre-selections only days before the trail. Is there pre-selection criteria? Why 2?

As an IMRA member I would prefer to see the places going to runners who had an investment in IMRA. By that I mean shown an interest in running some of our races and/or helping our association over the years. With the dominance of African runners in world events the overall result probably won't vary that much whether we have pre-selected or not.

Peterx

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

As an IMRA member I would prefer to see the places going to runners who had an investment in IMRA. By that I mean shown an interest in running some of our races and/or helping our association over the years.

I think this is the crux of the matter really. I appreciate the sentiment but the best route to achieving this goal is to have IMRA regulars good enough to fit the current selection criteria. Changing the selection criteria to exclude focussed non-volunteering athletes would weaken the team.

bazman

With regards to attracting people to run the trial, the size of the field is non-important. What is important is the quality of the field, so it's about attracting the right people. Location wise, a Wicklow based trial makes perfect sense.

Regarding pre-selections. I can understand the logic. If the objective is to send the highest quality team, then the pre-selections make perfect sense. That said, why not get everyone to run the trial anyway unless for some reason they are not available or need to avoid race for recovery to ensure top performance in actual championship?

Personally, running the trial this weekend really does not suit for several reasons - have 3 places I should be this Saturday morning - always the same. Pre-selection would be fantastic, but know I haven't done quite enough to warrant it this year. Guess if I want to be in contention for selection, I'll just have to show up on Saturday

climbhigh

Just responding to the original question in the context of the senior men. Barry Minnock (4th in national 10000m), Stephen Duncan (66 half-marathon), Ian Conroy (top 40 Europeans), Mark Ryan (top 40 Europeans), Tom Hogan (72 in Snowdon), Brian Furey (Irish champion), Jason Kehoe (KoM), Robert Malseed, Roger Barrett, possibly John Heneghan, Peter O'Farrell, Eoin Flynn, etc. would be the main contenders with some of these runners having a proven high performance pedigree.

It is interesting to follow the discussion about non-selection of B standard performances for the Olympics. In reality a B standard is a terrific performance. It is ultimately AAI who allow Irish teams to participate in the World mountain running championships, provide gear, and provide some funding. That delegation is on the understanding that the criteria applied to track & field, cross-country, and walks selections are to some extent being mirrored. Hence it is important that selected athletes are at least capable of finishing within 15% of the World champion.

ocnoc

climbhigh wrote: »

Barry Minnock (4th in national 10000m), Stephen Duncan (66 half-marathon), Ian Conroy (top 40 Europeans), Mark Ryan (top 40 Europeans), Tom Hogan (72 in Snowdon), Brian Furey (Irish champion), Jason Kehoe (KoM), Robert Malseed, Roger Barrett, possibly John Henghan, Peter O'Farrell, etc. would be the main contenders with some of these runners having a proven high performance pedigree.
That delegation is on the understanding that the criteria applied to track & field, cross-country, and walks selections are to some extent being mirrored.

Only 3 would have meet the AAI criteria of competing in the Irish Championships.