The Wicklow Round had been lurking in the back of my mind for a number of years. Its something different, a challenge, not a race, an itch that needs to be scratched. These are the main elements which attracted me to the “The Round”. Only now did I consider myself equipped to take on the challenge. The experience gained over the last number of years through Adventure Racing, Mountain Marathons, Navigation Challenges and Orienteering led me to believe I had what was necessary. Thats the logic anyways… funny enough how it would turn out to be my first proper Ultra!… Read the rest

Myself and Karen always look forward to the Mournes. Its one of our favourite races. This year we were entered in the B class and determined to erase any memories of last years DNF. Karen has been training well of late but I haven’t been able to do a whole pile struggling with achiles tendonites since the Rotterdam marathon earlier this year. I still managed to complete the IMRA Nav Challenges which were great preparation for the Mournes.

Preparation
We have a few Mountain Marathons under our belt and we’ve learned alot each time. As always discussions of what gear … Read the rest

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

Woke up to a bright sunny day, this week trailblazers brought us to Annalong along the coast of the mourne mountains.  Roads were pretty clear for a Sunny Sunday morning as we chirped our way up towards Newry on the way to Annalong. This week we were well prepared even the garage toilets were an improvement on last weeks trip.

Conversation wasn’t too mental as the trip was short. We headed for the Marine Park, only one wrong turn and we were there. Thanks to Ivan for accepting euro.  Everyone was glowing in the sunshine and the time had come … Read the rest

With an 8 o clock start we (Karen Finbar, Richard) headed north for our first MTBO race. The Venue was Portaferry which was accessible via Strangford by ferry. The Journey was long and spent discussing our New Team name !! I can’t repeat most of them, but alter boy soldiers and Toxic Fluffy Vampire bunnies would  kind of cover the range of crap that we were coming up with. Onwards we went and the roads got narrower the drivers more irritating. As a result we didn’t cross on the ferry until 11:45ish. Registration started at 10:30 so we were pretty … Read the rest