Ballyhoura Moonlight Marathon & Half-Marathon

opus

As I didn't get into AON this year (again!) decided to enter the half distance at the IMRA event in Ballyhoura on Jan 10th coming up. Might regret it on the night but at least it's only 21k so won't have to be out there in the storm/blizzard/lashing rain for too long!

Has anybody taken part in it before as would be interested to hear the experience.

dcorcaigh

I have entered the full... disappointed you are only doing half a distance!!
I haven't done the night one before but I have done the day one in May a few years ago. the time I did it I forgot my trail runners and ran in my road shoes, big mistake!! some of the downhills were treacherous in road shoes, I wont be making that mistake this time. The route from memory was well marked and not overally boggy, might be a different story in January at night.

Cabaal

Signed up for the full,
I've not done it before but a friends of mine have and they mentioned the section by the river can be a little tricky, one of them badly rolled their ankle on it last year.

They did say it was very well marked though

opus

Fair play to you both! Let's hope the weather gods are kind on the night.

Slogger Jogger

Did it last year. Hugely enjoyable. Very well organised. Started at midnight last Jan, so the start is earlier next time around. Practice your night runs. Make sure you have a torch (or torches) that will last the expected time out there. Marking was A1. Reflective signs easily seen in the dark.

hermano

What kind of time would ya be looking at for the half? Would it much longer than a regular half marathon?

mloc123

hermano wrote: »

What kind of time would ya be looking at for the half? Would it much longer than a regular half marathon?

How long is a piece of string

Are you used to hilly trail races, are you used to running in the dark with a head lamp etc... Top of the field will probably be pretty close to their road half marathon time.

lenihankevin

Did a recce of the half route this week..wet enough on the descent off seefin..trail runners a must have. The first half of the full marathon will be wet and muddy in spots especially going along by the river.

Fenster

Doing the half with my running club, gonna be a great night.

opus

Best of luck to everyone tomorrow night, fingers crossed this forecast from yr is someway accurate.

kao123

There's a few of us doing the half tonight, did the seefin part at the weekend, trail runners are a must 100%, it's muddy and slippy up there, gonna be great craic slipping and sliding in the dark!

Slogger Jogger

kao123 wrote: »

There's a few of us doing the half tonight, did the seefin part at the weekend, trail runners are a must 100%, it's muddy and slippy up there, gonna be great craic slipping and sliding in the dark!

Mucky and slippy fails to describe the full extent of the underfoot conditions at times. Very tough event. I managed to run 45k due to the inadvertent turn missed at the start by many of us. Great fun all the same and fantastic organisation by MMRA with the beer at the finish a nice extra touch.

kao123

Yup, I may have understated the slippyness factor :-)
Have to agree it was very well organised and good fun too.
Massive thanks to the volunteers and organisers if they are reading this !!

opus

Was a bit worried faceing into this but thankfully went ok. Great work by the people who did the full, the half was plenty for me Very well organised & huge thanks to the volunteers who were out in the middle no where for many many hours.

tbukela

I did the half and really enjoyed it, totally different experience from doing the same course back in May. I'd echo the comments on the organisation and the voluneteers, top notch. The descent off Seefin was like a quagmire in places, I binned my socks when I got home.

opus

Btw if you did the half you should have gotten an email about their laptop crashing, losing the times & asking for you to send in your number, name & time via sms.

Time wasn't really on my mind but it's there on my watch.

Cabaal

Found the first few miles enjoyable but bit of a challenge after that, would have liked between 4-5hrs but it wasn't going to happen with all the mud!

did a race report on it

https://runninginkilkenny.blogspot.com/2020/01/ballyhoura-moonlight-marathon-challenge.html