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Gaelforce West 21/8/10

Vitamin C

I mapped the 2010 route with the change on stage four on MapMyRide if anyone's interested:

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/ie/co.%20mayo/965127068504897146

Its handy because it can show the topography etc, but it can also show a graph of the ascents and descents. So, if like me you're a first timer this year, it'll give you an idea of the hills.

It's not 100% accurate due to the odd missing road on Google Maps, but I think it's fairly close.

Just getting properly stuck into training now...can't wait!

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Comments

Mr Freeze

watergal wrote: »

scrap the muppet tshirt- it's at the bottom of the laundry basket.

Have my roar.ie blue tshirt on instead !

Where did you buy a roar.ie shirt, or did you get it as part of one of the ROAR events???

strummer_ie

Ha, I'll be the one crossing the finish line on their hands and knees

In case I don't get the chance to say so later, best of luck to all !
Now to load up the car.....woohooo !!!!!

watergal

CKWPORT wrote: »

Where did you buy a roar.ie shirt, or did you get it as part of one of the ROAR events???

I bought it at an adventure race in Tulfarris in May. It's a HH top and requires no ironing, so that did it for me !

watergal

strummer_ie wrote: »

Ha, I'll be the one crossing the finish line on their hands and knees

In case I don't get the chance to say so later, best of luck to all !
Now to load up the car.....woohooo !!!!!

good luck tomorrow all. I've loaded up the mazda so am off into the west now. Have to make a stop in the shops & also the folks to say hi to some relations that are over for the weekend, so will hopefully be on the N4 in an hour or so.

Go on ya good things !!

Wonkagirl

Good luck boardies, i'm signing out, it's been REAL!

May the wind be on our backs, and may we all get over the finish line without injury and with a smile.. thanks for all the tips and i'll be looking fwd to the aftermath next week.

GFW, i'm ready for you, bitch!

spurscormac

Wonkagirl wrote: »

Good luck boardies, i'm signing out, it's been REAL!

May the wind be on our backs, and may we all get over the finish line without injury and with a smile.. thanks for all the tips and i'll be looking fwd to the aftermath next week.

GFW, i'm ready for you, bitch!

And with that post, the thread quietens down til Monday.

Best of Luck all.

Trotter

5 hours drive starts now!

Mountain 1 this is Rubber Ducky..

IM COMIN TO GET YA.

yop

this time tomorrow we will be either on the last leg, in hell with pain on or last legs or EVEN finished

helimachoptor

yop wrote: »

this time tomorrow we will be either on the last leg, in hell with pain on or last legs or EVEN finished

this time tomorrow i'll be 3 hours in, so probably getting onto the bike around now...

Mountain Rescue

Any1 no wats the story wit mp3 for run,is it yea or nea,couldnt find any info on the site,bit off a blue sky here at moment,i reckon its gonna be short lived tho,pretty windy here as well,if its like this tomorro reek will be tough going,lets hope mayo mountain rescue have a quiet 1,CAUTION coming of the hill,reek has broke and badly damaged about 20-25 legs this year!!!

yop

Mountain Rescue wrote: »

Any1 no wats the story wit mp3 for run,is it yea or nea,couldnt find any info on the site,bit off a blue sky here at moment,i reckon its gonna be short lived tho,pretty windy here as well,if its like this tomorro reek will be tough going,lets hope mayo mountain rescue have a quiet 1,CAUTION coming of the hill,reek has broke and badly damaged about 20-25 legs this year!!!

Read on their FB page that you can use MP3 players. But watch them on the bike

Mountain Rescue

thanks yop,only need it for the run and the reek,good luck

Arjan

Right we're heading off following this route...
galway, oughterard, maam cross, leenane.. few km from there to killary adv centre..
somewhere in this thread there was a good tip for a restaurant on the way but can't find it now... anyone?

opus

Best of luck to everyone competing in this tomorrow, just had a text from a friend saying he's on the way there.

spurscormac

Arjan wrote: »

Right we're heading off following this route...
galway, oughterard, maam cross, leenane.. few km from there to killary adv centre..
somewhere in this thread there was a good tip for a restaurant on the way but can't find it now... anyone?

I think the restaurant tip was if you were heading on the Dublin - Westport route, not Galway.
My advice would be to judge your time when you get to Galway. There's a nice pub on the right as you leave Galway city heading towards Moycullen. Its called Kelehans & its just before Glenlo Abbey Hotel. You could try there for food - but bear in mind, the later you get to registration, the longer it will take. If you're doing well on the time, you could stop, or consider just getting registration sorted and getting food afterwards in Westport.

Wreck

Right, I'm hoping to be off soon enough, although my driver is delayed in work. Once again thanks to everyone for all the advice, and best of luck to everyone taking part. Would be nice to have a few boardsies in the prizes!

ManFromAtlantis

jeeze didnt realise what an event this is till i checked out the website.

im not doing it but BEST OF LUCK to all ye guys that are.

lovely part of the country if i may say so my self.

enjoy............

toomuchdetail

Registeration was soo much easier than last year .Delphi still tight thou .

alot of talk here about the Reek and off road cycling , forgot that the cycle from Delphi itself is a challenge .

Bought a XL GF cycle top , its not as xl as it should be would fit a large . Anyone interest in purchasing a momento let me know.

Trotter

Took us 7 hours to get to the end of the bike drop off from leaving home in the South East. Tired out now!

I ordered a large tshirt on the registration but all they had left at 8pm was a medium. Would they have extra tshirts next week by any chance?

I'm gonna squeeze on the medium after the race for photos etc so I'll wash it asap when I get home and maybe someone here might pm me if they want to swap my medium for a large?

Best of luck lads n ladies, see ye there in the mornin.

Git101

Finishd. Interesting route changes.
For 98 euros I would have liked a sports drink at the finish.. I'll have soup later with my dinner :rolleyes:

toomuchdetail

Today my mistress Gaelforce and I had a big falling out , she slapped me around the legs , zapped any enegry I had and shattered my pride , body bruised she chewed me up and spit me out, shes a tough mistress but I never expected this .She told me not to come back til I grow a pair, maybe shes right.

Needless to say I had a dog of a day , 50mins slower than last year , everything seemed tougher , a lot to be said for structured training .Legs zapped even before Kayak , cramp on the bike ,even 15mins with first aid guys couldn't help .
Some days your the statue , some days you the pigeon.

Some super performances from guys on here from the few I spoke with.

darabbit

It was a great day overall. Perfect weather, great buzz and there was a good athmosphere at the finish. For the price of entry more refreshments at finish would have been appreciated.

Croagh Patrick was seriously dangerous today. I thought that there was going to be a domino effect as so many people were slipping on the badly eroded surface.

Does anyone know how the guy that went over the bridge on his bike is? He missed the sharp turn left!!!

I'm off to find a physio!

Slogger Jogger

toomuchdetail wrote: »

Today my mistress Gaelforce and I had a big falling out , she slapped me around the legs , zapped any enegry I had and shattered my pride , body bruised she chewed me up and spit me out, shes a tough mistress but I never expected this .She told me not to come back til I grow a pair, maybe shes right.

Needless to say I had a dog of a day , 50mins slower than last year , everything seemed tougher , a lot to be said for structured training .Legs zapped even before Kayak , cramp on the bike ,even 15mins with first aid guys couldn't help .
Some days your the statue , some days you the pigeon.

Some super performances from guys on here from the few I spoke with.

Sorry to hear that TMD. You've a great way with words despite the setback. Some times we all have days like that. Next year you'll come back stronger and beat last year's time.

toomuchdetail

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Sorry to hear that TMD. You've a great way with words despite the setback. Some times we all have days like that. Next year you'll come back stronger and beat last year's time.

Thanks Slogger :not sure I will make any decisons today :

Enjoyed it thou and a big positive for me was that in sections the bike had good avge speed but more importantly for me was that it was soo much easier to quit and I thought about 6 times very seriously(had phone in had to call in troops) but I am a thick pig. So delighted to see it out.
Slow pace better than no pace:)

acurno

Right,
The negatives first. That change to cycle route. Treacherous and frustrating and potentially costly to bike and body. Give me a ten mile climb any day over that bog road, at least you can train for that. It was pretty much the talking point for everyone I talked to after the race. Everyone agreed it was a nightmare. Talked to one of the top ten finishers and he had serious doubts about coming back due to the potential damage to his frame and expensive wheels.
I appreciate this is an adventure race but considering 90% of the people were on racers there should be no or very little offroad sections to navigate. I passed plenty of people with punctures and a few whose wheels had buckled. And on the offroad after Croagh Patrick some girl came off heavy and had to be airlifted to hospital while we were passing. I think adventure races should either be all onroad or all offroad. If Gaelforce is serious about becoming one of the premier adventure races in Europe and wants to attract the very best competitors it needs to sort this out. They should seriously look into paving those roads, it can hardly cost that much. 5, 10. 15k? Would be totally worth it.

Okay, Rant over!

Besides that it was positives all round. Excellent organisation, perfect weather. 95% of the route was brilliant. Great camaraderie with everyone. Thought it was great that you got a printout of the splits straight away,and that soup and roll combo was unreal. Though no water tent??

Excellent event, and besides the little issue above will definitely be back next year.

yop

Well that’s another GF over. Better prepared event this year so hats off to the organisers. A few more physios could have done the job but outside of that it was proper done this time.
Personally, like toomuchdetail, the cramps were once again the bane of my GF.
Went into the event with the plan to go sub 6hrs, last year was 7hrs 1 min but I felt better prepared!

4.30am out of the cot was tough but once the feet are on the ground the breakfast (porridge and bagel) and the checklist is checked, checked, checked and checked then into the car and back for the bus.
Good crowd gathered, met a few mates there and over heard one 6.30am wave man asking if he could go out early.... that man needs more sleep

Bus journey was Moroccan, driver seems to think we were in a Sauna, add to the that the lad in the seat ahead eating boiled eats and I was on the verge of a puke, too early for that.
Off the bus then, we had to wait at the junction for the Elites to pass, they got a great round of applause from us (well done us hee hee), the leading runs were like fellas who were late for a bus the sprint on them. Machines!!!

So down we went, the usual panic, have I enough, have I took much, had over 1.5 litres of powder and water in the new bladder, so I was happy with that. Buzz on the beach, excitement and nerves either knowing what was ahead or for the newbies the unknown, read so much on boards, forums papers but still not “knowing”. Sometimes you wonder is better to know what’s coming up or not!
So off we go, out like rabbits, up the big hill, pass the next wave, great clapping again, then into the hills, everyone still when on these hills have doubts about their ability, don’t think that ever changes!

So up and down the hills, past last year’s turn right up the hill, “Good riddance to you I say”, and then we take a new turn. It’s fairly similar to the route last year, wet and slippery in places, nothing too here. Did this leg in 100 mins last year, knocked this new route down to 86 mins, happy with that. Waiting for me brother to arrive into transition for the kayak leg and waved off a few friends first.

Kayak was spot on, we worked well, got that down in 8 mins but the dib was further away so took me to 10mins.

Next section was nothing but gutter! Awful to run it so plodded it until the next tarmac and that was spot on, disappointing time of 29 mins here. Bikes here we come, was looking forward to this as I have done a lot on the bike, changed into the bike shoes, took on some water and ½ banana and off I tore. Passed about 10 people in the first 2km, then disaster “Mr Cramp”, I couldn’t believe it, not again! Fell over onto the side of the road before I could get out of the pedals, legs in the air, at one stage I thought it was over, but 10 mins later and after plenty of offers of assistance (Thanks Mr Snipe ) I was off again, gentle at first and low gears, took on ½ litre of NUUN and water and said a wee prayer, up Sheffrey no problem and took the full bike route without coming off again. Did get cramps but dealt with them on the bike, time 1.54, expected 1.5 hrs, so not happy.

The Reek – first steep off the road onto the bog section and the legs go again, I think the 2 girls there thought I was a loon which the groans out of me  , got rid of cramps. Dibbed then so that didn’t add time to my CP leg, legs were in big big trouble going up, doubts again about finishing, looking for familiar faces to get some hope from but it was the GF people who drove me on with offers of drink/bars/gels, spot on bunch of people.

Plodded away, stopped 3 times, one time the lad beside me puked his guts, “F-ing gels was his response”, 57 mins to the top, happy enough with that considering, meet a few mates on the way down, doing brilliant, then I dibbed and flaked it as fast as I could. Stuck out to the very outside and surfed the stones, passed a good few, then just as I approached Mayo Mountain Rescue.... I slipped and feel in on top!!

Niiiiiice
Up I got, spotted a few had taken a direct line and against my better judgement but in sheer desperation to get sub 6hrs I went after them, it took .4km off my route, and I was down in 29 (thought it was 25!) but the dib is the correct time.

Meet with a cycling mate who was also suffering with cramps, we took on some gels and water, put back on the shoes and tore into the last leg. He got 2km into it and punctured, offered to wait but he didn’t want me to, so I keep going, another .5km I got a cramp again, this time in the inside of my thigh! Never happened there before but now I believe the use me as a tester for cramps lol.

Got rid of it and back on the bike, carried it for about .5km but then back on, caught up and past the lads on the MTB’s, adrenalin, stubbornness whatever it it’s just erupts when you know that home is near. Made great time on it, pass the finish line as I thought, “keep going” was the shout, looking for the dibber, knew there was a dash somewhere, into the field, guy in there said you have to run to the finish. Jumped off the bike, bang legs gone again. 500m took me 10 mins, terrible, I had to stop and start, rub the cramps, curse GF for doing this

, eventually I saw the tent, as I approached the gap in the wall my legs went again, speed wobble, a “whooooo” went up from a few close buy expecting a crash but alas I stumbled on.

Happy days, got me sheet, 6hrs 45!!! God no that’s cat, ah wrong time, 6.08. Not sub 6hrs but last year it was 7hrs 1 min on a shorter course so I was pleased with that.
A big cup (3!) of soup, met the lads who did A1 in fairness. So it’s over, the questions re “Gear”, “Gels”, “tubes”, etc etc put on the shelf, will I be back, I don’t plan to BUT when it all starts again, we will see!!

Hats off to GF, a 1000% improvement, staff and volunteers were very friendly.
Also to the boardies, thanks for your chat on here and your help on the road today.

Time for a bath and snooooze

Until we meet again, Slán go foil

ThisRegard

Had a big bloody post typed but my phone decided to switch itself off near the end so a full report will have to wait till after I tend to my blackened nails.

I wouldn't be at all critical of the organisers for the inclusion of the Famine road, I think it added a great tactical element to bike selection. I always thought bikers had an advantage over non bikers at events like this but now we have a great leveler. Don't get me wrong, I hated every centimetre of it but still rode the full length on a flat bar road bike with a carbon fork and never felt unsafe doing so. I would say the top ten guy made a wrong decision on what bike to use but then again he did have an excellent finish.

It was surreal though seeing such a long line of people walking in absolute silence, as a fellow boardsie said to me, all that was missing was Barbers Adagio for Strings from Platoon.

Great to be finished all the same, off now for food other than pasta !

nerraw1111

Great event and a perfect day for it. Hats off to the organisers for a brilliant and brutal race.

I loved the off road parts. Really pushes you to the limit. Absolute carnage on the road to base of cp. All that was missing was the soundtrack of barbers adagio for strings. It's an 'adventure' race. Htfu.

my race went beautifully. Was in 2nd last wave which I enjoyed. Started off fast, faster than planned. But felt good. The imra season helped as was flying it in places.

Got to kayaks in no time. Bit of a queue of about 20 mins. Water seemed a bit rough and had trouble keeping the whale of a kayak straight. Still felt good running through bog.

Bike section was fine but started cramping about 20 mins in. Stuck some nuu s and that sorted it

getting to the off road section it seemed either ppl
were erring on side if caution or were shattered. Roadside was littered with bodies. You know you were in a tough event. Stayed on the bike and gambled, ploughing through gravel.

CP was incredibly tough. Lots of ppl on mtn but never felt dangerous. The descent was great as ihad the confidence to let it go. Again stayed on bike for last bike section. Gambled paid off again and was in westport soon enough. Hardest part was last 800 metres run to finish! Legs were gone at that stage.

Much much tougher event than last year IMO but a better course.

Got home in sub 4 50 which I'm chuffed about. Well organised and marshalled. Huge improvement on last year

GoHardOrGoHome

Haven't read the race reports yet but well done to all of you.

1st. Padraig Marrey
2nd. Peter O'Farrell (9 seconds behind)
3rd. Thomas something?! (O'Dowd?)
4th. Eoin Keith
6th. Paul Mahon

I didn't find the offroad part too bad. I didn't have to get off once. I was very glad that I didn't get a puncture though. Found the first run quite tough but my stomach settled down after that and the rest of the race was pretty good for me.

Registration was much better than last year and I didn't see anybody not carrying their mandatory kit so that was cool.

How did all the Boardsies do?!

ThisRegard

5.33 for myself, that killer final run almost broke my heart and stopped me getting a sub 5.30.

Still working on that extended report ! ;-)