Wild West 13.1 Trail Run, Killarney - 25/02/2012

Micilin Muc

Saturday, 25th February 2012

Judging by the linked video on last year's thread, only 50 people took part.

The trail half-marathon starts in Kenmare and takes the Kerry Way over the mountains by Torc Waterfall to Killarney National Park.

I haven't signed up yet but it looks very well-organised. I'm afraid I'll come last!! (I have a flat HM time of 1:57)

Entries available from Run Ireland.

TFBubendorfer

God, I'd SOOOO love to do that one, but it's the day before the 50K in Donadea - no can do.

RacoonQueen

Is Donadea not on the 18th?

TFBubendorfer

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Is Donadea not on the 18th?

You are absolutely right! But the race calendar here on boards has it on the 26th, which is what confused me.

Unfortunately, one week is still not enough. Maybe next year.

donothoponpop

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

You are absolutely right! But the race calendar here on boards has it on the 26th, which is what confused me.

Unfortunately, one week is still not enough. Maybe next year.

I scraped what was in the old thread when starting the new one, it seems quite a few of the dates were wrong. Can you amend the 2012 calendar if you see any errors? Thanks.

RayCun

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

You are absolutely right! But the race calendar here on boards has it on the 26th, which is what confused me.

My fault, I think. There's the same thread for 2011 and 2012, and the 2011 date was the 26th...

Have signed up. Know the road, but this will be my first off road competitive run/jog/doubled over walk. Will be going with the old runners approach, which could be tricky over some of the road which is on sleepers and over boggy land. The first few kilometres are tarred uphill and tough, followed by trail uphill and tough, but at least the worst part is over before the half way point and from there on one can enjoy the scenery. If the Maxi Marathon advertises itself as the world's most beautiful road race, this could possibly claim to be one of the finest off road races, some of the scenery in the National Park across to the Reeks from this road is lovely.

gaf1983

I'm looking forward to it, have done on-road half-marathons before in times of about 1:45 but from speaking to a friend who did this one last year I shouldn't expect anything near that.

Seems to be a beautiful course.

MichaelRD

Hi Guys,

Do yee know if this run is on this coming Sunday or the following Saturday.? Its advertised on runireland as being on the 25/02/2012, but is being advertised on activeglobal as being on the 19/02/2012.

I have registered on runireland. Also emailed the contact email address on runireland but have yet to get a reply.

Cheers

Thought its Saturday. That's when I'll be turning up anyway.

Well, that was tough!

Great day though. Very well organised. Numbers up from 50 to something nearer 250, so good crowd left Kenmare. Weather was really good. Hills in the first couple of miles were very hard, think the ascent in that part alone must be in or about 400m as there was a couple of descents. That was the first of 4 climbs, though the rest not nearly as bad. Route spectacular and they had stewards and a couple of water stations. Rolled on my ankle so was a bit tentative in second half of the race, got 2.04 but had hoped to beat 2.

gaf1983

Great race, great event, I'll be back!

Found it very tough - haven't done any trail running since Gaelforce West in Auugust - been doing quite a bit of road running this year in training but nothing I did prepared me for the hills and terrain. 2:57.

Does anybody have a link to the route on MapMyRun or a similar website?

Haven't seen one, would like to see the profile alright.

Walked back to Kenmare along same route afterwards. Think that may have been a bit much, legs stiff today. Route looked great after run though, very little damage, very little litter, picked up a couple of discarded gel sachets and that was about it.

zulutango

How anyone could discard their gel sachets in such a stunning place is beyond me. I've never ran through such beautiful scenery in my life.

Didn't use any gels. Probably should have because the last half-mile was torture.

Loved the route, even though is was very tough. It's meant to be!

The one complaint I'd have is the information, both pre and post race. It wasn't easy to come by. There was no dedicated website. Myself and friends decided to go straight to Kenmare, not realising that it wasn't possible to pick up our race numbers there. It was all a bit chaotic and ultimately frantic. I'm glad we missed the briefing though, because I'd probably have got back in the car if I knew what lay ahead

Also, at the end we weren't sure about what the post race shennanigans were planned. The guy with the mega phone at the end was saying some stuff, but there was mixed messages.

All in all, it was very well organised and thoroughly enjoyable, while being incredibly painful at the same time

Any sign of results??

zulutango

zulutango wrote: »

How anyone could discard their gel sachets in such a stunning place is beyond me. I've never ran through such beautiful scenery in my life.

Didn't use any gels. Probably should have because the last half-mile was torture.

Loved the route, even though is was very tough. It's meant to be!

The one complaint I'd have is the information, both pre and post race. It wasn't easy to come by. There was no dedicated website. Myself and friends decided to go straight to Kenmare, not realising that it wasn't possible to pick up our race numbers there. It was all a bit chaotic and ultimately frantic. I'm glad we missed the briefing though, because I'd probably have got back in the car if I knew what lay ahead

Also, at the end we weren't sure about what the post race shennanigans were planned. The guy with the mega phone at the end was saying some stuff, but there was mixed messages.

All in all, it was very well organised and thoroughly enjoyable, while being incredibly painful at the same time

Any sign of results??

Didn't see any results.

It would be handy if they had a website or Facebook page alright to get more information out there. They said afterwards that they were setting up a Facebook page.

But great to have an off road run around these parts. You'd think Kerry would have loads of them, but apart from the IMRA Carrauntoohil run I don't know of any. With the most famous mountains and the most famous mountain runner in the country, and in the Kerry Way one of the most famous trails...

Stark

Conor74 wrote: »

zulutango wrote: »

How anyone could discard their gel sachets in such a stunning place is beyond me. I've never ran through such beautiful scenery in my life.

Didn't use any gels. Probably should have because the last half-mile was torture.

Loved the route, even though is was very tough. It's meant to be!

The one complaint I'd have is the information, both pre and post race. It wasn't easy to come by. There was no dedicated website. Myself and friends decided to go straight to Kenmare, not realising that it wasn't possible to pick up our race numbers there. It was all a bit chaotic and ultimately frantic. I'm glad we missed the briefing though, because I'd probably have got back in the car if I knew what lay ahead

Also, at the end we weren't sure about what the post race shennanigans were planned. The guy with the mega phone at the end was saying some stuff, but there was mixed messages.

All in all, it was very well organised and thoroughly enjoyable, while being incredibly painful at the same time

Any sign of results??

Didn't see any results.

It would be handy if they had a website or Facebook page alright to get more information out there. They said afterwards that they were setting up a Facebook page.

But great to have an off road run around these parts. You'd think Kerry would have loads of them, but apart from the IMRA Carrauntoohil run I don't know of any. With the most famous mountains and the most famous mountain runner in the country, and in the Kerry Way one of the most famous trails...

IMRA do a race on Mangerton as well

ailyoc

Firstly, respect to all the runners that took part. That race was unbelievably difficult. Having finished the Dingle Half in September and training mainly on the hills locally, I felt ready, but I was completely unprepared for the degree of difficulty and obstacles on that course.

Full credit to Conor74 for walking the course backwards at the finish. I think Ironman training would be more in your line!

I read in some pre-race info that the climb was 340m, but it seemed like significantly more than that to me. I'd also love to see a GPS tracking of that course if anyone finds one. I believe that they changed the route slightly from last year to make if more difficult (:eek:). The loopback hill just after mile 10 was very nearly my Waterloo.

A dedicated website/Facebook page is a must for the race organisers going forward. There was some confusion about the dates for us at the start due to 2011 info floating around the web. Would like to see results as well.

On the day, the run was well marked out with very patient people waiting at various turns and mile markers and water at 5mi and 10mi. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking (as if I had any to spare) and the day was perfect for running. That said, I think I'll stick to the roads from here on in!

Just FYI, there is an Adventure Race in Dingle as well that combines hiking, running, cycling and kayaking. You can do all 4 parts yourself or split it in a team of 4 people. http://www.dingleadventurerace.com/

I didn't walk backwards...I walked normal like...;-)

Do a lot of hiking so used to being tired with hours still to walk.

I'd say the highest point is 340m, but with some descending, especially after the Windy Gap, would have thought overall climb easily 100-200m more. Think last year they had more on the flat lands around Muckross but this year put in the loop - which was a killer alright. Glad I did Mealagh run a couple of weeks back, that was a tough course. Was a bit disappointed with my ascending, but was trail runners so had the confidence to fly down the descents.

Thanks for Dingle info, didn't realise there was a stage over Mt Brandon itself. Interesting. Must see if I can recruit a man with a bike and a kayak...

gaf1983

Deleted User wrote: »

Haven't seen one, would like to see the profile alright.

Just found the route on MapMyRun:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/71068598

mp80

Deleted User wrote: »

Haven't seen one, would like to see the profile alright.

Walked back to Kenmare along same route afterwards. Think that may have been a bit much, legs stiff today. Route looked great after run though, very little damage, very little litter, picked up a couple of discarded gel sachets and that was about it.

Hi Conor, I done the run on Sat aswell. 2hr10min. It was my first off road trail run having done two marathons and a few smaller runs I thought it would be a good and interesting change. Having read the course description on the runireland site I was aware of the general layout but I was still blown away by the start.
I was wearing a garmin watch, heres some of the data.
overall elevation gain was 2,236 ft
by mile 1.5 we had climbed 604ft
by mile 3.5 we were up to 1040ft, the highest point.... some goin!
In my training, I climbed 1,200 ft over a 9mile run, running the HILLS of Cork city, but it still didn't prepare me for the MOUNTAINS of Kerry. Thats what I realised Saturday halfway through the run. The difference between hills and mountains! The only way to train for that sort of run is to get on a mountain side.
Hope you find the data interesting.

gaf1983

Just spoke with one of the organisers and he says the results will be up during the day so when I get them I will fire up a link. I guess they're based at the other end of the country so can appreciate it takes a bit of time to get home and settled and get all this stuff up online.

They also said that during the week they will also put up pics and videos...not sure I want to see how red my face was!

gaf1983 wrote: »

Just found the route on MapMyRun:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/71068598

mp80 wrote: »

I was wearing a garmin watch, heres some of the data.
overall elevation gain was 2,236 ft
by mile 1.5 we had climbed 604ft
by mile 3.5 we were up to 1040ft, the highest point.... some goin!

Excellent stuff, thanks for that. My first off road run too, so good to get any idea of ascent etc. Though see the mapmyrun site suggests a gain of 413m, and your info suggests it was over 600m, so not sure, maybe I'm reading something wrong in the linked map.

Would love to see more runs of that type and distance around this part of the country. Know there's one in Millstreet in a few weeks...but that's "only" 7km! Know IMRA are having a training camp here over Easter which will have a run from Sneem to Kenmare along the Kerry Way.

YankeeRunner

Thanks for posting the mapmyrun link and course info. I found this board looking for the results.

I had a great time as this was my first off road race. I train in flat conditions where we think a 50ft climb over a mile is a hill. I was amazed at the speed I was being passed by the crowd coming down from the windy gap. I took my time to stay off my ass and came in at 2:17. My legs were fresh coming into Muckross as they had not yet run....they had climbed and braked but probably only ran for less than three miles.

The event was well marshaled and organised on the course.

zulutango

Pretty sure that was Ireland's greatest mountain runner at the nine mile mark?

YankeeRunner

Yes, yes it was. I walked up Carrantuohill a couple of years ago to watch the IMRA race, yes he won. That made me want to try this stuff. That is also where I learned that very fit people can run up hills but exceptional athletes can run down them.

BTW...my program needs a 19 mile long this weekend. Are there any groups in the Tralee/Killarney area doing long runs? 8:15 pace give or take

Results in!

And some pics too.

http://www.runireland.com/news/wild-west-run-results

File linked to the page...

YankeeRunner

YankeeRunner wrote: »

I was amazed at the speed I was being passed by the crowd coming down from the windy gap. I took my time to stay off my ass and came in at 2:17.

Were you in trail runners? They make a huge difference.

YankeeRunner

no trail shoes or courage.....

Poc ar Buile

Has anybody heard anything about this taking place in 2013? Did it last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Fantastic race in a beautiful location. Haven't seen it advertised anywhere for 2013....

Outside

Poc ar Buile wrote: »

Has anybody heard anything about this taking place in 2013? Did it last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Fantastic race in a beautiful location. Haven't seen it advertised anywhere for 2013....

It's Back! Great race, hopefully make it this year again! http://www.runireland.com/events/wildwestrun

jfh

entered this too,looking forward to it

TFBubendorfer

I would love to do that race, but one week before Ballycotton? Seriously? Could they not have put it on maybe one week earlier?

jfh

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I would love to do that race, but one week before Ballycotton? Seriously? Could they not have put it on maybe one week earlier?

damn, forgot about that, bad timing alright. ive entered both now

zulutango

Why is it on the Sunday? It was on a Saturday last year, wasn't it?

jfh

would one actually need trail runners for this, there seems to be quiet a bit on road?

Poc ar Buile

jfh wrote: »

would one actually need trail runners for this, there seems to be quiet a bit on road?

The majority of the race is on trail with the first mile or so on a tough uphill as you leave Kenmare (on the road). There is one section in particular around Torc Falls that is fairly mucky and I was thankful for my trail runners on that part last year! Another tricky section is running along the railway sleepers where some serious concentration is required. Last year I reckon the split between road and trail shoes was 50/50 as a lot of the trail is dry dirt track and grip is entirely necessary (weather dependent)!

jfh

route change on this it seems, anyone know if there's a big difference in terrain, it's now a 15 mile race going from killarney to Kenmare

Poc ar Buile

Looks like some fairly substantial changes alright. 50% 'country' roads and 50% on the original trail. Starting at Molls Gap going via The Black Valley, Lord Brandon's Cottage and Killarney's Upper Lake. Should still be a good scenic race getting the road section out of the way first before finishing on some savage trail.

Exact details on Runireland - http://www.runireland.com/active/all-events

jfh

IF THIS MAKES THE RACE IMPOSSIBLE FOR SOME WE WILL BE HAPPY TO REFUND
as per the latest route change info.

anyone else try to get a refund on this, met with stony silence so far.

templecal

if it is starting at molls gap, can we register there or is it in Kenmare.

templecal

i have just seen now that you need to register in kenmare.

celeniu

I have tried to contact organisers 4 times on facebook and PM but no response yet.The lack of communication is annoying to say the least.

templecal

i have emailed them just to make sure they have my entry as i did not receive any conformation but no reply back

celeniu

Hi Templecal,
May I suggest you print off your email confirmation of your race entry which should contain the order number and bring that with you....just in case....

celeniu

Stall d ball...all is forgiven.I have just received an email from organisers outlining where to collect race number and goody bags etc.

Roll on Sunday.

templecal

i didnt get any conformation email of my entry but i have received the email last night and the payment was taken so i presume i am in there.

celeniu

Hi Templecal
I entered using runireland and got a confirmation email.Did you use them.

locteau

James Doran won that race, but looking for the results if anybody has them please.

TFBubendorfer

locteau wrote: »

James Doran won that race, but looking for the results if anybody has them please.

Results are here:
https://sites.google.com/site/runninginireland/results-of-the-wild-west-trail-run-sun-24th-feb-2013

celeniu

Loads of pics here too.www.munsterrunning.blogspot.ie
Scroll down till you find the event.Excellent route.still buzzing after it.