This was myself and Karens first year to do the LAMM. We had been looking forward to doing it for sometime especially after our experience on the Mourne 2 Day last year. We both knew the Scottish Highlands were going to be alot more difficult but we wern’t afraid to jump right in and “see what happens”.

Race Preparation
I had studied the maps from previous years LAMM’s and examined the route choices on RouteGadget of the top teams each year. I knew the nav was going to be very difficult. We both have a good level of fitness and … Read the rest

Carrauntoohil sees new beginnings… | Mud, Sweat & Tears

Karen’s victory on Carrauntoohil gets a mention over on Mud, Sweat & Tears

IMRA Race Report: Carrauntoohil – Peter O’Farrell… Read the rest

I usually have a smile on my face leaving work on Fridays. This particular Friday evening it was more of a crazed grin We all had been looking forward to this training session for a while. It was going to be our first time training together through the night. We all had an early start that morning and with a full day at work over us this was going to be a good test.

Myself and Karen arrived at the car park at the Glendalough Hotel around 20:45. Sean was there already. We immediatly set about unloading our bikes and … Read the rest

The weather forecast was good for the Saturday of the West Wicklow Roar so proper hydration was going to be very important for this race. I’d been drinking water all week and “taking it handy”. I’d pretty much flogged myself to death cycling the weeks leading up to this race. I havn’t really been doing any running since I injured myself at the start of the year training for the Ultra so I had a few doubths about the run going into this event. It was also going to be my first race involving proper running section (as appose to … Read the rest

Thur 20th May Kayaking (Karen, Sean)
Richard and I took a rest and saved ourselves for the weekends West Wicklow Roar. Karen reported Brians shed was a hive of activity with people sorting out kayaks for the weekends race. Nothing else was reported so the session must have went well!

Sat 22nd May West Wicklow Roar (Richard, Finbar)
Race report here

Sun 23rd May Orienteering (Karen, Finbar)
Karen and I decided it was time to brush up on our orienteering skills before we head of to LAMM in a few weeks. I was recovering from the Roar the day before … Read the rest

We’ve been talking about going to Ballyhoura for ages so it was great to finally arrive. We racked up the 3 bikes on Richards jeep and set off with a quick stop for breakfast along the way. This was going to be Karens first outing on her new KTM Score 3.0 and Richard’s bike was just back from the garage looking good as new.

We pulled up into a busy car park, found a spot and got the bikes ready pretty quick. The plan was to do the red trail around Ballyhoura, the Castlepook Loop. Its a 51km loop they … Read the rest

I better do another training update before I lose track! Training is starting to turn into a blur, there is so much going on these days so i’m a little short on detail.

Thursday 6th Lacken Kayaking (Richard, Finbar, Sean)
Another fine evening on the lake we did a little over two hours. Interestingly we were joined by Beth McCluskey this evening. She is gearing up for the West Wicklow Roar after her recent success with team AR Denny in Seans Total Experience Adventure Race. Best of luck!

Its great to be coming off the water after these sessions with … Read the rest

The circuit is a new IMRA race being held for the first time this year. We all planned on giving it a shot as the route looked pretty epic. A recce would be required however. We didn’t get away until 3pm but the weather was good and we were in good spirits. Up the zig zags we went heading for the first checkpoint “the lake”. We made a mistake coming off the zig zags and ended up taking a path above the forest to the lake. The correct route into the forest would be marked on race day and correctly … Read the rest

It’s been a while since we’ve had a training update but that’s not to say we’ve been taking it easy!

Thursday 22nd Lacken Kayaking (Richard, Finbar)
With Sean busy preparing controls for the Total Experience Race that weekend it left just Richard and myself. Karen had work commitments. Sean kindly agreed to make us some bungees while we were out on the water in preparation for the weekend’s race. We were joined by Eoin Keith and Chris Caufield. The pace was fairly relaxed for a change and Chris took the opportunity to give myself and Richard some useful tips on … Read the rest

Saturday 10th Ballinastoe Technical Mountain Biking Session (Sean, Karen, Finbar)

Sean is our strongest team member on the technical stuff and he led us out. We went off the main mtb trails and headed straight for the large hill that starts the IMRA Ballinstoe race. Its a great climb and the terrain is similar to what we expect to find when we race in Cumbria. We made it to the top and stopped to take a breather and take in the view. Karen was quick to remind us “havn’t we got more mtbing to do lads” so on we went. … Read the rest