We ran until I saw two Mountain bikes which were sweepers with Medic packs and it was time to start the race, I was breathing and tried to ease a little as people were shouting at me and making slow down gestures with their hands. I was running at Tempo uphill as we climbed up to 937m and then eased as we moved onto single track Trail. The trail was very dry but it was narrow, difficult to pass and it was very rocky so you really had to mind your step. This was pretty continuous for a lot of the day except it widened in parts breaking into fireroad. Watching your feet was a constant. The first section I knew was going to be easier going as in there was a lot of downhill over the first 21KM. Coming from the back of the field I was passing people which is great to keep you ticking along. The downhill was very gradual and it was very difficult to judge how fast you are going. People talked to me as I passed or were talking around me in small groups of people who were running together. I took out my phone on a climb to txt Trish to say, I was ok probably had lost 5-10 minutes but it was nothing in what was going to be a long long day.

In the first section it eventually around the 18km mark ran us down through the Vineyards to a huge lake, this was a feed point but also a crossover for those who were doing relay. The atmosphere was fantastic as they cheered us along to the transition. Your name was on your running number so they called you by name which was nice. I wore my Salmon pack with 2 bottles on the front and no bladder. I hadn’t taken any water on at this time as I hadn’t time to fill with the sudden start so I filled both bottles dropped it NUNS, handful of raisins and chocolate and moved on. I spied the coke but skipped it on this occasion as I was conscious of getting the water in and didn’t want the caffeine lift to make me forget this. It was now 10:00am as we moved onto the second section.

The second section was a lot more lively, sharp short climbs and sharp short rocky descents and then it would roll up over long stretches of rocky fireroad. I had a printout of the routebook with me and lucky I had printed it to 1 page as I needed to see the distances and the climbs that were approaching as my Ultra Running Italian was limited. It wasn’t too long before we crossed the picturesque village of Sweater with its decorated houses, and then touch the lakes and Moncrivello Sweater, before passing to the Shrine of Miralta before falling to bridge Baltea. Around the 40km Mark I was getting very hot, the trail is designed so that they pull you back out to the road for the feed points. I knew there was one here and I needed it as I was totally out of water and pretty weak as a result counting my steps to distract myself away I started to dehydrate from what felt from the inside out. I filled the bottles with water and got a High five in 1 and then Zeros in the other and hoped it would be enough. As we passed the 1:00pm mark I was starting to cook and had to slow a lot at the 50km mark. With 7km to the halfway mark I had no choice but to take the rest of my liquids apart from a few drizzles on board. The sun wasn’t helping and I had slowed to a walk for a few seconds run for a few minutes on the flat. It took for ever to get to the halfway point I lined up 8 cups of water and sat down. I needed to hydrate and eat properly and took my time as I drank all the water, took a Gel and filled my bottles, water and Zeros again. I txt Trish saying I had hit the half way mark and with 6 hours down it was looking like I would make 12:00pm but I had slowed down a lot. Picked my very very tight legs up and shuffled up the road. I was happy to have hit halfway and started the countdown in my head. If I was to run it again I would skip this point as there is a big food point with Pasta 10km further up the trail.

Section 3: Surprisingly my legs came back, I felt much better and the hard climb at the 67km Mark in the sun was no problem. I sat with 3 cups of Coke and had a bowl of pasta. At the next feed station 77km I wasn’t planning to stop but Trish, JT and Jules were there. That was all I needed to lift me through the rest of the race, It lifted me through the forests as it started to get dark. The harder climbs were to come but I was also conscious that darkness was coming and I wanted to finish the section taking to me to 92km before it got dark. The 3^rd section was undulating hard rocky terrain again. There were even some warning signs at the top of some of the descents the trenches and rocks were a bit like the descent off Maulin, but not as runnable with the rocks ridged rather than moving. As it got dark this terrain was getting tough to run and the legs and brain and Torch were having to concentrate hard to keep speaking to one another. The descents weren’t going as quick as they were on the bright and the climbs were a welcome sight. It was difficult to see the markings so the junctions were slow work. Eventually I got to section 92km that was a candle lit bridge crossing, it was very cool and what was even cooler was that I was now only 18km from the finish and it was only 8:00pm. I thought I might make 11:00PM but wasn’t sure on how hard the climbs were.

Section 4 began with a long walk from 150 Meters backup to around 625km, it was steep but really long and made me wonder how long it was going to take. As we moved onto trail it moved faster. I was joined by another 2 runners. They spoke as we slowly climbed. It had taken 95km before someone had spoken to me and all I could say in Italian was – sorry I don’t speak Italian I am Irish. The girl just smiled the guy spoke. They had only completed half the race but we moved well together. We chatted a wee bit and after a while as we climbed higher they started to slow so I bid them farewell. As I broke on to a junction I couldn’t find the marker so I met them again around 10 minutes later. We spread out to find a marker and I eventually found a red tape about 200meters up off one junction of the cross road. They told me go on and I ran on alone starting to worry about the next junction. It was the same problem at the next V junction. No markings again it was 150meters down past the junction, the second one I looked down of course. I reckon these would have been seen easily in the bright but now it was becoming difficult. I hit the last transition and just drank a coke as I asked in Italian how far was it now. 3 people babbled at me, hadn’t a clue what they were saying as I held up my fingers and asked again how many kilometres in Italian. 6km, how long will it take me to run. They told me 50 minutes to an hour. It was 10:00pm. The legs were painless now apart from my toes, I could feel the nails had been moved slightly but going well considering. The shuffle in the dark was back on and it was only going to be another hour. I had enough water taken on and began to reflect on the race I was going to complete, the 3 points for UTMB ad trying to imagine the finish and hope there wasn’t a really steep climb. I climbed, I walked and then ran as we started to contour around the mountain again another junction with no markings. This time a tarmac road was the correct route which was a sign we were approaching a transition except this time it was the finish. It was another climb up to a village on a hill. We could see it 2 km away, which wasn’t great as you could see the climb. I passed 2 people on the final climb as I was running as I knew it was the last 2km. The 2 people came with me and we shuffled our way in the direction of the church steeple. As we neared we were directed to a set of lights where we were asked to dip our hands in Red Paint and then put the paint on our faces, symbolising fire or something and from there it was a run in the direction of the music. I was pretty nervous of making another wrong turn, but eventually I saw it. The great big red Gantry – and lights and music and people dancing. There was a wee festival in full swing. It was 10:50 and I crossed the finish line. The man who had grabbed my hand and ran with me to find the race earlier that day was there to meet me. MicroPhone in hand he started to speak to me in Italian. Fantastico!! super!! He talked more, I was clueless, I said I am Irish, got a big cheer and then Franco came grabbed the microphone and spoke to me in English. My legs began to cease and I found a seat where wine and food were almost instantly placed in my hand.   In my rush to the start I hadn’t transferred a kit bag to the Finish so froze for the next 2 hours.. lucky I had my space blanket to stuff inside my

For anyone looking for 3 UTMB points I would recommend this race. Its easily finished at a reasonable pace within the asking time of 24hours. Its dry trail, but rocky,  well marked, feed points are well stocked and great support along the way. Unlike the wicklow round, that is not so much trail at the beginning has 3000meters more climb, no support, not marked at all as you need to Nav and you have to rely on people being at pre-agreed stops aswell as not meeting too many other people on the day. It still doesn’t take from it been a great Ultra with nice scenery, food and warmth !!! I would definitely recommend it.

Finbar and I arrived into Sterling on Friday night, picked up Maps Saturday morning and got stuck in to the maps as we waited for Enda to arrive Saturday afternoon and Mary Sunday morning. As Finbar and I laid out the Maps and read through the route books the plan came together. The course looked very long (apparently I always say that J) it was clear that we would need to be a bit tactical and doing all controls may not be the wisest thing for us to do. We had some big decisions to be made, but shortening one of the Bike sections and doing the long Trek looked imminent. Taking on the long Trek would really depend on how Enda’s leg would be. We put our heads together and it looked like we would need to drop one of the early bike controls 2 controls on the first Trek to enable us to hit cut offs give us enough time to do the long 70km cycle out to the long Trek 105. This was provisional until we got to the race briefing and also was largely dependent on how Enda would be on foot. The first Trek was to be the tester.

With Mary arriving early Sunday morning we were tight enough on time to get the Kit and Bikes loaded for 5:00pm on the evening before the race. Having to compete in the prologue the night before also added a little to the pressure. For the Prologue we tried to play as much to our strengths as possible. Richard starting with the Trail run, handing to Finbar on the Orienteering section (with Maps from the 1898), handing to Mary who had the first more straight forward Mountain Bike section who handed to Enda who had the more technical ride to the Monument and back. Our strategy was to take it easy for the Prologue – that lasted around 3 seconds. 7 Minutes off the leaders was a great result and we would have to serve a 14 minute penalty during stage 2 of the race.

Race morning was late in comparison to other races, sure it was like a lie in. we were to return to the Castle for 8:00 Monday morning. I went in search of my bike shoes only to discover I had packed them into my Kit Bag the night before. We asked the lads on the other  teams knowing they wouldn’t have a spare pair – but I decided if I struggled on the cycle back up to the castle with them I would buy a new pair during the first bike section (it started in Sterling itself). The drama got us to the startline before I knew it. I was fine on the climb back up the hill and so it was 80km in trail shoes for me J. As we picked up our tracker and the Dibbers it was great to see the faces of our mates on the other 3 teams. Team Ballyhoura, Irish AR and Moxie races.  We have all become friends over the years and it was great that we were all here competing and supporting each other on this race.

Stage 1: 10 km trail run

8:45 and we left Sterling Castle for a 10km run through Sterling to the Wallace Monument and back. The run was pretty relaxed as we took time to get to know Mary, and chatted about what lay ahead in the days ahead. The weather was pretty warm so we were glad not to be carrying packs at this stage.

Stage 2:  80 KM MTB

The run took us back to the castle to head out on our bikes out of the castle to exit Sterling . We started with a flurry of teams taking a wrong turn, but then we all corrected and moved at a descent speed out of town and into what was going to be a rocking 5 days. The first 30km of the bike section were on road so we were moving at a pretty decent pace we rolled out of town. This 30km was broken up with a visit to Rob roys Grave and by Doune Castle (from Monty Python Movie). The next control moved us from Bike to a paddle across Scotland’s only Lake.  Enda declared in Pirate fashion that he would take the helm. It was a row boat Enda taking boat Oars. It was an opportunistic time to wind him up a bit as he had his hands full. We then got sense and decided to put a person on each Oar and got our way back. Back on the bikes and onto Rob Roy way and our first dose of the wet underfoot and Mucky bike pushing that would raise its head many times throughout the week. It was mud after mud and then onto road. We stayed on the long course as we were feeling good and although it was mud it seemed to be only in Pacthes, the next section however provided a good selection of Push mud and climb, it was pretty heavey going. We then climbed up over 600Meters, pushing the bikes through some pretty dry rocky terrain while Enda just cycled up it and waited at the top. When I say we I mean us and all the teams around us. The Mud, hike a bike and climbs made our mind up for us about the next 1.5hr penalty we dropped a control and ended on a very nice paved bike trail that took us to the transition before our 1^st kayak section.

Stage 3: 6 km canoe

The transition had 3 different areas for Kit, Bike Boxes and Canoes in different places – this caused us to spend a wee bit longer that we would have liked to before then carrying our Canoes from Transition to the lake. It was a bit of a haul but we got there eventually. We were at our next transition, Milton Lodges within the hour.

Stage 4 : 30 km Trek

It was pretty bright here so our plan to move fast on the bikes to bag daylight for the Trek had paid off.  Our plan was to hit the 2 most difficult ones Tarmachan Ridge and Ben Lawers in as much daylight as possible and then return to the transition in order to bag some sleep before the Canoe section opened at 3:00am. We were giving ourselves as much time as possible with the long Trek being the target.

We headed out onto the trek food in hand. We made a decision to hit the 2 most difficult controls first. These had a 4hr penalty as opposed to the 3hr of the other 2 controls. From the maps we could tell they were the most technical but would yield the greater award.  We hit the first two controls pretty much spot on and in daylight which left us in high spirits. As we were moving well we were moving well we decided to trek to a 3^rd control. It took approx. another 3.5 hours with some tough climbs thrown in. The last climb was a pretty much a vertical 600meter climb with around a 900meters descent down a rocky Path. We made it back for around 1:30am which gave us the 2 hours we need to sleep before the next stage , the Canoe, which opened at 3:00am. I have to say I slept little this time, combination of buzzing and fear of sleeping out. We didn’t sleep out and having ate, slept got our kit in order we were on the water in the Dark at approx. 4:30.

Stage 5 Canoe 40km

As we started stage 5 we were on target and in good spirits in the Canoes.  From memory we avoided any casualties getting onto the water this time.  We had estimated the next section to take around 6 hours, the first 3 hours were very very very long, lucky there were a few teams around for company. Canoeing against the wind and rain for 3 hours so early in the morning isn’t when one is at their best. We moved from side to side of the lake, but it was hard to find any shelter. Conversation was limited and bike lakes just seem to take an awfully long time to cross. We well I thought we could see boats at the entrance to Kenmore, it was just racers ahead. We caught 1 or 2 teams on the water and then at last we made it through Kenmore where we stopped to hit a control. The movement of limbs was welcome.  Enda and I were first back onto the water. As we turned we could see Finbar in the Canoe, Mary was pushing the boat off the bank which unfortunately capsized as it came off the bank at an angle , the bull was submerged– the ducks were happy as Finbars sandwich went floating through the air and landing on the water top. To follow was a quiet few moments to the rapids, we knew he was cold but we needed the Bull to settle before we would re-ente conversation.

We proceeded to Canoeing over Rapids and fast moving waters over the next 2.5 hours, which had us back beaming  …..no casualties so the Canoeing that we did with Mick had paid off. The rapids were well Marshalled and their instructions clear and we definitely had fun. The rapids lasted right until the transition at Grandtully. Here  the third decision but probably the biggest was made – we were going long!!! This meant we were going to take on the long cyle out to the long Trek, it was a big decision but although we would probably end up out there toward the back of the field it would mean that we would climb up the table fast as we worked our way back in to the shorter Transition option.  We now had to pack our bike boxes that would be sent onto a Transition that was at the start of the long Trek. We had to make a few decisions around sending off a tent,  I made sure not to send off my bike shoes this time J… It was a nice part of the race – it was pouring rain, my chain had managed to get in a not in the bike box and we really knew we had to get going. We broke the Chain got the bike boxes shipped and got ready to head. Grandtully was the major transition of the race, as this was the middle of a giant figure 8, and we would be back here final morning to re-join our canoes for the second last stage of the race. (I have to say I read that and didn’t even realise that was the same place J )

Stage 6: 160km MTB

I remember the start of this bike as been some of the nicest fire roads treks  and views that we had in the race. There was the occasionally mud Hike n Bike, but this was becoming normal in the race. It was very wet underfoot and we continuously passed through puddles of mud , streams and large puddles but the bikes and bikers were moving well. Mary was loving Taryns bike, she was flying and eating up the trails as we went.  We arrived at the canyoning in the warm sun – approx. 3 hours ahead of schedule. We met Moxie racers on the way in which gave us a a nice lift. Good to see a the lads and their friendly face mid race. They were on the full course and had just had a sneaky sleep in the sunshine, there first in the race so far. We actually thought something had happened to them at that stage.

The race brief told us it was the best Cannoning in the UK. (Falls of Bruar – falls of Brrrrr!!!). The crew at the transition checked our harnesses, slings and carabineers etc …. The sun was shining as we wandered aimlessly to get to the Top of the canyoneering section. As we climbed up we past waterfalls and we could see an abseil. We eventually made it to the top where we were greeted by a guide. We were directed to a ledge – 1.5 meter drop straight into Ice Cold water. There was a girl from Cam Racers sitting on the edge. She wasn’t encouraged by the darkness we were jumping into. I launched first – it was f*cking cold – but the jump was enough to keep the blood pumping. We were all in and asked to float on down as the water took us. Next was a rope climb across some rocks some fun before we slid down some small waterfalls – it was cold but we were moving. Next was the abseil we were strapped on and been honest it was a wee bit unclear if they wanted us to climb down or abseil down. I was first and I started to climb down when he asked that we lean back – as I leaned back the rope dropped and I slipped down off the rock , dropped down and then swung under the rock face as the rope became tight again, and I swung out and then in, I came crashing against some sharp rocks on the back of my hand with the weight of my body swinging into it, it happened so fast I hadn’t time to stick my legs out to protect myself against the Rock face. I felt heard a crunch and just focused on getting myself down off the rope and I couldn’t release the Carabeener, my hand was swollen and I couldn’t grip with my hand. I held it under the freezing cold water to numb it a bit or reduce swelling and fumbled at the carabineer with the waterfall crashing on my numbing head. Meanwhile the man from above kept pulling at the rope. It seemed to take forever but eventually I got it off and escaped out into open water. I had a wee throbbing golf ball on the back of my hand –the Marshall was concerned  – I explained my logic to him, refused to see a medic and assumed the cold water would keep it from swelling too much until we completed the course, we needed to keep going.  The lads were sympathetic and we rolled on down the waterfalls hammering our buts off the rocks as we went. We were lead by another Marshall down in the direction of the top of a waterfall – with a weak hand I wasn’t swimming too well but shuffling through the water, during the shuffling I was pulled by a current and off down the wrong waterfall – I held out my hand to the lads as I passed our meeting point but it was too late for them to catch me – luckily there was a tree about a foot down the waterfall, I caught the tree and held on tight. I looked at the waterfall below and asked the Marshall could I jump as we had done some of the previous plunges… His answer was no – that didn’t make me feel too comfortable.   My hand was aching I was hugging the tree and me nuts were getting number by the secong. One of the marshalls climbed the other side – grabbing me sore hand , the rescue was not going well. Eventually we worked it between us and I managed to scramble back up the rocks and was back to loud cheers with my team !! I felt a spaz for the drama but was keen to get it now finished and out of the cold. We rolled on through the remainder of the canyoning and we got back to the heat of the tent. I attended the Medic who reckoned something was broken by the swelling – he put something on it – pain killers – bandage and we were on our way. The bandages provided some support on the bike, helped to keep my fingers straight which kept the pain at bay.

From there it was back on the Bikes, we had decided back before the race started that we would cut this bike section – this was the sacrifice to have enough time to take on the long Trek. It was back to Blair Atholl and up Glen Tilt – the route book called out clearly that the long journey was for those who were on the full course. This along with Nick Gracie describing it as one of the best biking routes he had ever done encouraged us to take the short course option. A long hike a bike along single track in the dark, with some sheer 30 meter drops into a dangerous looking collection of waterfalls , deep river gorge, all while being attacked by swarms of Midgets may have been a slightly better description.  A 5km hike a bike that seemed to take forever we were happy to be back on the saddle and it wasn’t long before we arrived in silence to Mar Lodge.

Mar lodge we ate courtesy of the Clive Ramsey man in the Van, got coffee and slept in the tents for 2 hours, it was Tuesday night and we had already covered a lot of ground. Eating, sleeping and blogging was important here before we took on the next part of the course 70km out to the long Trek. We opted to skip the Orienteering course here, looking at the times that it was taking Addidas Terrex to complete it , didn’t inspire us to take it on in the Dark. We waved goodbye to the roof full of sculls and it was back on the bikes as the day started to break.

We exited along a maze of fireroads, I can still feel the morning chill, we needed the sun to come up and out soon. Onto the road and again we were moving along at a good speed. W e estimated around 25km + was on road passing Queen Elizabeth’s summer gaff Balmoral Castle along the way. Apparently she was in as a control that had been there originally was removed.  A break before the Paralympics.  The cycle out to the “house of Mark” seemed to be moving quickly. But after every road there is pain – we moved on to fire roads and farm yard roads. As we climbed we did a bit of weight distribution – ahem before the realisation of the hike a bike ahead – Christ what a sight, Mount Kean – we could see it from at least 5km away –  it was warm and we stopped for water and refuelling and I needed to repack my bag to fit someone else’s additional gear J at that moment a new team was formed there was seven people on this new team as they moved up the Mount Keen leaving me behind. Yes I soon caught up to the back – langers !!  It was great to meet another Team on the 1000 meter climb as it made the carrying of rocks across a boulder field go quicker. It was mayhem everyone taking different paths through the boulders all bringing with equal amounts of difficulty. There was no easy way and no way Mr Gracie that someone would cycle up this. The other side a different matter !! There was a rideable descent off it. My hand hurt like hell from the vibrations of the descent – I think you can just understand from this point on the hand was fecked – not a race report about me hand – but it swelled up largely at the end of this and stayed moreor less that way for the rest of the race – throbbing and swollen !! The descent was incredible – grins on faces all around us, with the odd ground plant as people (on other teams) miss timed the jumps over some of the Drains. As we descended down in unit a helicopter came into view and filmed us on the way down and tracked us into the house of Mark. This added to the excitement of what was already an awesome bike section!!  Hopefully we will get to see this on Channel 4 SOON!!

Stage 7: 105 km trek

We got to Marks house in the middle of Zog – We were treated by Finbar to 2 Bacon sandwiches courtesy of Mark – I guess – the man who owned the house. Badly needed for the long trek ahead. We packed the bikes back in the boxes – packed the tents, fooding and Clothing and exited the transition with Team Salamon. Both Enda and Finbar were with walking Poles and a trekking we would go. The first climb was horrendous, of thick thick course grass and took a while before we eventually got near any sort of descent terrain – descent terrain was a clight sheep trail up a large climb. It was nice to have a team about so we weren’t out there all alone. As we gained a bit of height it was fair to we could see Munroes as far as the eye could see. What seemed as a close control on a map seemed an eternity in view – there was a lot of ground to cover and the Terrain was mainly peat hags and occasionally would break into something better as we hit higher ground.  The underfoot was pretty wet but at least it was dry – We trekked all day picking up 3 controls – the wind howled and howled and at around 6:00pm Wednesday evening we looked for shelter off the ridge to get the Stove heated up for Mary to have her tea J She needed to get a bit of hot food in as the Wind blew cold and hard and between that and the boggy terrain it was energy sapping.  The trek was hard going and having been out there for a hard 14 hours we made the decision to sleep when we hit the  Check in at Spittal of Glenmuick – As we still had a pretty hard trek to go we opted for additional sleep and bagged 3 hours to give us that extra recovery time. As we defrocked my feet were soaking – they had been soaking for days from boggy conditions and I had used all my socks – slept with no socks and applied hydropel in the morning – but as my socks and shoes were still soaked – ah it wasn’t much help. The wind remained blowing hard and cold as we ventured back out into the hills in the Darkess. We ventured onto a firer road and climbed along rocky paths up and up and up – we headed for Lochnagar for the 2 scrambles – We weren’t 100% what the scrambles were going to be scramble up scree was kind of the expectation – as we approached Lochnagar the darkness was lifting and we could see a light up in the side of a cliff. We contoured across with a lot of difficulty, no paths really available but rocky scrambling was required. The instructions were a little vague we were undecided weather to go down to the lake to meet a marshall who would point is at the right gulley or if it was the light perched on the hill. After making our way back down to the lake we realised contouring was probably the right decision – moaney hand didn’t need the extra climb as I borrowed a stick from Enda to reduce the leaning on my hand. As we approached the first scramble – they radiod ahead and I got a rope assist to get me up the scramble it was basically crawling up scree – to the top we went and then to the control – all I remember is the wind the mist the cold – it was miserable – we need to get to lower ground – off to the next scramble we went. More boulder fields and small cliffs just what the doctor ordered. I think it was the boulder field where Enda really started to notic his ankle and started to slow – his Achilles kicked was kicking in and the drugs were fading. He kept moving forward but it was a slow pace as we approached the Stuic ridge – Up in the distance through the mist and howling wind we could see another team at the top of the Ridge climbing around the Rocks around 400meters up. Em they seemed to be rope free – but thought it was just the lack of sleep making my eyes not work. We checked in where the marshalls just asked us to put on our helmets and follow the Red Tape (IMRA style tape) Without thinking we stormed the boulder walls using my elbow on my left hand and knees for climbing – It wasn’t as free climbing as I would have liked it to be – and with the wind blowing hard it was better not to look back or down – Finbar was behind me to cushion my fall but was overcoming his own wee difficulty and wasn’t at all happy with the heights we were climbing unassisted – cant blame him it was nuts !! We hit the top with much relief in one piece and trekked some more ….. a lot more !! Still moving we went to control 29 as we chatted on route about what other controls we would pick up. We crossed through more bog and eventually hit the north Summit Cairn in search for an Airplane wing Tip. EM there were actually a few small things that looked like airplane wing tips, boulders that looked like wing tips J eventually we came across a rather large un-missable wing – as e hit the control MOXIE racers appeared and Mary disappeared… she was way off with the sound of Music on the other side of the hill. We eventually found her had a chat with the lads who were in great spirits and doing well – it lifted us along over the hills in the direction of 31. From there we decided it was better that we headed to Glenshee Ski Station as we needed to get some food as we were starting to run a wee bit short and the pain in my feet was getting worse. I rem putting on my sun glasses so one may not see the grimace in my eyes – it was like there was a stones in my shoes but I had emptied them – there was blisters forming – and I thought they would be grand – but they were getting worse – I slowed down to Enda pace as we neared the ski station and was glad to get there so I could get a Medic to check them out. At the ski resort Enda and I arrived a few minutes after Mary and Finbar – Enda was at snails pace – I, unless I got me feet sorted wasn’t going to be going anywhere fast either.  Finbar had a sleep – Mary had a wee moment and some eggs and Enda and I negotiated the penalty if we were to leave here on our bikes. The Medics sprayed my feet with iodine, covered them with tape and as I had no socks wrapped them with bandage to match the one on my hand – dressing was changed on my hand along with some numbing gel !! Diephene and coffee and we were ready to role –

Stage 8 : MTB 60 KM

We decided for the Bike option and headed off for another 60km approx. The start of the bike Journey for me was a bizzare one , as I rode the front of the Train I was really struggling to keep the lines on the road – lucky it was bright or I would have been on the ditch – we stopped at a pub for Crisps how nice were they – and Mary gave me a nodoz or a tablet – I was a new person as climbed we caught a team ahead and I was mad happy to have a chat along the way…. The Tiredness totally lifted as we climbed to yet another Hike A Bike – this was a 3km of walking in bogged ridden fields. We were forbidden for cycling this section. It was nice to be around some teams again but it was a long Hike a bike as it started to get Dark and the Rain closed in. We hit control 40 and then went in search for 41. We circled around the lakes and then up a lane. Another hike a bike up a lane that felt like it hadn’t been used in 400 years – it was wet, I was silent as we hit what felt like a dead end – we trounced through more undergrowth and after probably the guts of over an hour searching for a control that had a .30 minute penalty we cut our losses. We cycled back to the Grandtully Transition for around 12:30pm on the Thursday night. Thankfully the Marshalls allowed us to sleep in the hall – we were given a time of 6:16am to be on the water – the final 2 stages approached and we were getting fed by the man in the van and then to sleep – we got 4 hours sleep in.  Enda and I slept it in as did Diarmuid and Eoghan (Irish AR) Finbar had thought he saw Enda and I awake  and roaming. The same with Dan and Maedhbh who thought they saw Diarmuid and Eoghan !! There was a Fuck lads its 5:30, we jumped up it was a blur and it wasn’t long before we had the bikes packed and were on the water for 6:35am …

Stage:  9 60km Canoe

We took off into a current and the guys followed behond – they caught a tree on the way round and were tipped out of the Canoe – don’t worry our time was going to come J We moved on down the river. We opted to skip the Orienteering, Enda’s Achilleas wasn’t any better so no time to be gained here.   As we approached the first weir there was a lot of shouting me telling Enda not to paddle so I didn’t loose control of the boat going down the weir and the Marshalls shouting paddle !!! Cameras ready action !! Both Canoes passed without incident the same was to occur over the next 3 sets of Rapids. We were then told that was the end and continuously on the look out for rocks and mistook a small weir for a rock and ended up with a close up view – in to the water – cold wake up call we swam the boat ashore emptied the Canoe and our pockets and got back on the water. The remaining journey was basically a Canoe down a river full of fishermen up to their shoulders in water fly fishing – lads with sticks waving wool at the water!! It was a bizzare sight and they really weren’t impressed with us being on the water !! Big License costs had been purchased and smelly, grumpy hairy AR racers wasn’t part of what they signed up for. We eventually after around 5.5 hours we hit the end of the Canoe and what seemed like civilization. We hit the Transition ahead of Team Terrex who had a trolley for their Canoe as we carried our wet canoe and bags. At this transition the boats were inspected for Damage, we were happy that we had avoided any additional dents or scrapes. No change required here – we put the bikes together and began our last Stage

Stage 10 : MTB 60KM

We exited Perth eager to complete the Race – we rolled out of time chatting with Team LastminuteAR.  JD was in good spirits as we chatted briefly. We pushed on with still some racing left to do. The last 60km seemed to go very fast, the Train moved at full Tilt, it was a great feeling to be still racing at that speed on the last stage of the race, it wasn’t long before we completed our last climb to take us to within 15km from sterling – from there it was some pretty fast downhills as we approached closer and closer to Sterling and the finish line. As we passed through sterling memories of Monday morning were flashing by as we retraced on bikes what had been on foot Monday. It wasn’t long before we saw Peak Sports center where we had registered, insight we seemed to still be getting faster as we approached the finish line. We were directed in to the paddock where we would drop our bikes for the final time. We were then directed to the finish shute where we ran, shuffled, limped and kind of  stumbled our way across the finish line where James and Nick were on hand to give us a warm welcome home, we were glowing  as we were quickly interviewed having crossed the finish line. We were then presented with champagne and Medals and loud cheers and cameras we had done it !! An amazing accomplishment to have finished the 5 days of racing in an expedition style race.

As we wallowed in the moment other teams arrived in for us to cheer, the Irish Army AR team (Dan, Maeve, Eoghan and Diarmuid) arrived in around 20 minutes after us and we gave them an almighty roar !! We were stoked as were they and it the Post Race analysis and reflection began, the  it was the turn of Ballyhoura.com. It was nice to return the favour to the lads, to be able to cheer them in as they had done to us many times out on the course. There was many moments of encouragement out there and Paula’s attempt to give us food poisoning by cooking for us the night before the race had failed miserably. Lastly about 5-6 hours later came the warriors, Moxie Racers, the only Irish Team to complete the full course. It was now dark but you could still see Chris’s smile in the dark as they approached the finish line – we caught them on the way for food away from the finish line, but they joined us soon after. Moxie had a brilliant race finishing 4^th, have to say it was  a proud moment seeing friends of ours doing so well, and it was great to see what it meant to them as they beamed for the following days.

On a final note we would like to Thank James and Nick and team for a fantastic experience and a super race course, what a way to see Scotland. We would like to thank all the Marshalls who were always always friendly. I would like to thank Steve (the Medic) for the on-going support continuously checking me throughout the course and relacing me bandages and giving me bandages for my feet as a new pair of socks.  Thanks to Taryn for the loan of the Bike (next time she will be on it J) and to Karren for all her equipment. Thanks for all the messages of support online and lastly a Huge thanks to Mary – who flew the whole way from New Zealand to race with us at very short notice, to race with 3 strangers!! Take a wee bow MacT!!

Stage 1: Trail Run 10km
Stage 2: MTB 80km
Stage 3: Canoe 6km
Stage 4: Trek 30km (optional)
Stage 5: Canoe 40km
Stage 6a: MTB 30km, Canyoning
Stage 6b: MTB 90km, Orienteering 10km
Stage 6c: MTB 70km
Stage 7: Trek 105km
Stage 8: MTB 40km
Stage 9: Canoe 60km
Stage 10: MTB 60km

The race looks like a bit of a monster totaling over 630km. Our aim as always will be to have fun, enjoy the race and most importantly finish.

If your in the mood for some arm chair Adventure Racing next week you can track us, along with the other Irish Adventure Racing teams (Moxie Racers, Irish Army AR, BallyhouraCountry.com) over at: http://live.adidas-ar.com

The live website will not be available until closer to the race start on Monday. In the mean time more information is available on the main race website: http://www.adidas-ar.com/2012/terrex/

Don’t be afraid to send on the odd message of support during the race!

I wasn’t alone. I had talked to Richard on a number of occassions about a Round attempt. We decided 2012 was the year. In the months running up to the attempt, and as word got around, we were joined by Greg Byrne, Adrian Tucker and Billy Reed. Alot of time and effort went into preparation. Adrian’s previous unsuccessful and successful attempts were of vital asistance. We also called on the expertise of current Wicklow Round record hold Eoin Keith for advice on the most optimal route. We knew the majority of the route but their were question marks over some sections (Silsean – Oakwood, Carrawaystick – Drumgoff, Scarr – Knocknacloghoge, Tonduff North – Prince Williams) Each of these sections were recced and we were happy with our choices.

We had originally planned for an attempt in early May but the weather Gods conspired against us. I was happy enough as it gave me an opportunity to recover from the GodZone Adventure Race and slowely get back into training. The weeks passed and the weather showed little sign of improvement. I was becoming increasingly frustrated and just wanted to go. Richard was glued to the weather forecasts and we received updates almost daily. “Met Nunan” was on top of it but just as the weather started to turn in our favour Richard picked up a nasty chest infection. At the same time Adrian had to pull out after getting plantar faciatis, so we were a man down. It was bad timing. As the June bank holiday approached it looked more and more like this would be our only chance. Richard was no closer to recovering in the week leading up but we made the descision to go Sunday morning at 2 a.m. A late weather warning on the Friday meant we had to bring it forward 24 hours. A flurry of emails on the Friday and a last minute phone call to Billy and we were all set to go Saturday morning at 2 a.m

We met at Gregs apartment, transfered our gear to the support vehicle and made our way to the start at the Kippure service road. It was a mild night but the cloud cover meant we would get little benifit from the full moon. At least we had no mist to contend with. After a few photo’s and words of encouragement we set off 5 minutes early at 01:55am. Eoin yelling after us “now lads, don’t fall over in the first 100 yards like Jason!”. It felt good to be finally on the Round. Leaving the service road our taughts immediately switched to conditions underfoot. We were pleasantly surprised, conditions were good, not perfect but considering the weather we had we were happy. Summiting Kippure we had a magnificent view of the Dublin city lights. The view was interrupted by Richard who was already vomitting and struggling with the affects of his chest infection. We took the road down off Kippure and there was not let up in pace approaching the Sally Gap. We each picked up a small rucksack each with bladder and made our way up Carrigavore. It was still dark but we could see the sillouettes of Gravale, Duff Hill, Mullaghcleevaun and the immediate route ahead. We had a magnificent view of the sunrise as we summitted Mullaghcleevaun. It suggested we may have some warm weather to contend with for the remainder of the day. Our splits up until now had us on track but we were now starting to fall behind. We had hoped that Richard’s condition would improve as he got into it but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. It was clear that he would be unable to continue once we got to the support point at Ballinagee Bridge. Crossing from Moabane to Silsean Richard instructed us to go on ahead without him. It was a brave attempt on his behalf.

We were now three. Eoin and Karen were waiting for us at Ballinagee Bridge and fresh from an hour or two sleep were happy to see us. We had a slight dillema as Karen’s small car would not have enough room to take an additional passenger now that Richard was pulling out. Eoin quickly changed into his running gear and fell in behind for the next section across to Drumgoff. It is worth pointing out that Eoin did not help us in anyway breaching the rules of the Round. He did manage to take some wonderful photo’s all the same It was still early morning and the mild temperatures made conditions excellent for running. The terrain heading up Oakwood, across by the 3 Lakes and to Table Mountain is some of the most difficult on the Round but we seemed to move well. We had some great running on our approach to Lugnaquilla and with clear sky’s we had a magnificent vista. We had plenty of time to take it all in as we trekked toward the summit. Spirits were high and stories a plenty. We took the opportunity to get some fluids on board in preparation for the descent to Drumgoff which would be fast. After Carrawaystick we hit the fire road and then it was all downhill picking up the Wicklow way before hitting Drumgoff. The downhills are punishing and this particular descent goes on for ages. As we approached Drumgoff we were greated by Adrian who came out to offer his support. It was great to see another friendly face and in particular someone who had done it all before and knew how you might be feeling.

There were more friendly faces at the support car. Richard, Trish and the kiddies. We took some food on board and switched from our rucksacs to lighter bumbags. We had completed the two longest sections and would now see the support vehicle at more regular intervals. Distance wise we were roughly half way and now turning to head for home. The toughest climbs still lay ahead but it felt good that every step was a step closer to the finish. It was a good time to take stock. Without saying it in the run up to the attempt I think we all wondered how taking on the Round as a group would work out. It’s a very difficult challenge to find the perfect balance but I think our experiences of Adventure Racing played an important role in us finding our rythmn. The pace was fast, no one was in their comfort zone but yet the unit was strong. I felt on the limit but in control, exactly where I like it.

Heading up Mullacor I looked back to see someone chasing us down in full cycle gear. It was Paul Nolan who had missed us at Drumgoff but caught us up. He wished us luck before returning back down the hill. We were blown away by the gesture. It seemed like no time until we were skipping along the ridge across to Derrybawn before descending to Glendalough. As we approached the support car Karen jumped out in shock saying “your not suppose to be here yet!” We had given instructions to have some hot food waiting for us from the cafe but we were ahead of schedule. Karen still managed to get the hot food by skipping the long queue. The trek up Camaderry is tough on fresh legs but with 70+ km under your belt and a bag of chips in your hand it takes on a whole new dimension. We were still power hiking our way up Camaderry and moving at a fair clip on our way accross to the Resevoir and down to the Wicklow Gap. We noticed a few rain drops on the descent and we could see cloud coming in over Tonglagee. We’d been blessed with the weather so far but it was begining to show signs of cracking. The climb up Tonglagee was long and visibility was poor at the top. We took a bearing before starting our descent and heading to Glenmacnass waterfall. The descent to the carpark was fast. It was a little colder now and we took the opporunity at the car park to change some gear before the heading out on the next section which was longer. Heading up Scarr we let our taughts drift for a moment toward actually finishing. We had faught the temptation all day. Having recce’d this section I was happy to put off any such taughts until we reached the summit of Djouce. The route from Scarr to Knocknacloghoge was to backtrack and head back down to the forrest before crossing the river and picking up Logans way. The recce’s were paying dividends and we had very little use for our maps all day. We still had a fair amount of daylight to chase on the way home. Everyone was still strong and in good spirits so we had no problem chasing. The view from Knocknacloghoge was stunning. I had only been to this summit once before and it is quickly becoming my favourite. Lugalla next and the route was simply a straight line down and then back up. It was a tough climb at this stage of the Round but there was another more difficult climb in the form of Djouce which lay ahead. Coming acrooss Logan’s way, heading up Knocknacloghoge and across to Lugalla you couldn’t help notice the signs of immenint growth which would no doubth have made our route more challenging if we had to postpone to a later date. At the summit of Lugalla we could just about make out Karen’s small car parked at Sheepshanks bridge. We stayed high before turning at right angles for the bridge. The heather was up but we still had some good downhill running conditions to the stream before making our way up to the bridge. Here we were greated by a large group of supporters. Brendan Lawlor, Grainne, Richard, Karen and Adrian were there waiting for us which was great.

The weather was about to turn against us and we geared up for what would be a very wet section. Our large band of supporters wished us well as we set off. The route from the bridge up Djouce was again a straight line. The rain must have distracted me because I remember thinking that the terrain was worse when we had completed a recce of the section a couple of weeks before. Reaching the summit of Djouce we didn’t hang about, it was cold and the rain seemed to be getting alot heavier. Visibility was poor and growing worse by the minute as we made our way over War Hill. The summit of Tonduff North was covered in mist and we wasted a few minutes pinpointing the summit. We actually ended up visiting the summit 3 times and in the process hit Tonduff South twice with Billy counting paces to ensure we hit the correct summit. Eoin tagged along for this leg and in the surrounding mist was a haunting presence, an especially useless haunting presence. We were working completely off map and compass at this point and two bearings later we found ourselves back at Military Road exactly where we would have wanted to rejoin it. Here we met Adrian who took some fantastic photo’s which he entitled the “Gorilla’s in the mist”. Adrian drove behind us for safety purposes allowing us run in front. I’m not sure how but we were all still strong and moving well. Karen had the car waiting for us at Lought Bray. At this point we were soaked to the bone and the cold was taking its toll. A complete change of cloths was required before setting off on the home straight. The weather was miserable but it couldn’t dampen our spirits. We were within touching distance of the finish. We had a convoy of cars behind as we sped down the road before reaching the forest entrance and starting the gradual climb to Prince Williams Seat. The legs were sore and the pace dropped. We had chased the light all day and it finally ran out leaving the summit of Prince Williams Seat and heading for Knocknagun. We bumped into some people from Mountain Rescue en route to Knocknagun who were surprised to meet 3 hardy souls in race gear in what were now inclement/complete shite conditions. Back on the road and back on the gas for the final kilometer to the finish. We were determined to break the 21 hours and we did, finishing in a time of 20 hours and 56 minutes. The 3 of us stood in the middle of the road in the pouring rain grinning from ear to ear happy with our days work We were congratulated by our large group of supporters which had swelled further to include Gareth Little. We received a bottle of champagne, kindly provided by Eoin, which was opened with care as we were in desparate need of refreshment other than water or some form of electrolyte mix.

After having some time to reflect and recover from the Round I finally set about writing this report. It wasn’t an easy task. I’m use to writing reports about Adventure Races or Mountain Marathons that tend to have many dimensions be they tactical, strategic or otherwise. The Round is very different. You eliminate as many of the risks in advance through recce’s, weather reports, watching moon cycles and conversations with people who have made attempts. The preparation is vital, can sometimes feel endless and can become frustrating. At the end of it you are still left with the same challenge:

“A looped course covering 26 peaks totaling over 100K and over 6,000M climb inside 24 hours.”

As challenges go its probably the purest form of endurance I have experienced. I don’t have the words to give a proper insight into what you will experience during a Round attempt. You’ll meet your own deamons along the way but I am continually surprised by the punishment the human body can withstand.

On behalf of myself, Greg, Billy and Richard I would like to thank our support team of Karen and Eoin. It was great to have such an experienced bunch supporting us on the day. A special thank you to everyone who came out on the day to offer words of encouragement. It is also worth mentioning the patience of our partners who had to sacrifice weekends and put up with each of us obsessing about the Round.

Wicklow Round Times – IMRA Records

Garmin Route Log

Friday
After two weeks of our honeymoon in NZ we finally arrived in Queenstown the Friday before the race. After months of emailing it was great to finally meet Ian and Wendy. Its fair to see we hit it off immediately and we were on the same wavelenght. That night we discussed important topics like race food, sleep strategy and race gear. Myself and Karen learned we would require a trip to the MacPac shop to pick up some gaiters. We’d never done a race before that required gaiters!

Saturday
Saturday morning we went to race HQ at the school in Queenstown. There was a real buzz of activity. All the top teams were there Seagate, Subway, Blackheart… I was pretty awe struck when we joined Seagate for a demonstration of the Yellow Brick GPS tracking device we would be carrying during the course of the race. We collected our race bibs, completed the mandatory gear check before having our team photo taken. At this point we received a sheet of paper outlining the overall course. We wouldn’t receive the race maps until late Sunday afternoon en route to the overnight camp before the race. The course was made up of 11 stages. Each team had 4 gear boxes labelled A,B, C, D and we would have access to different boxes at the end of each stage. Some boxes we would see many times, others only once. We would have access to our bike boxes at the start and end of each bike stage. We could also store additional gear/food in the hold of our kayaks. It was going to be an interesting race logistically.

Before leaving registration we got our first look at the kayaks for the event. These were brand new kayaks build specifically for Adventure Racing and this would be the first time they would be used. They were slightly narrower than what myself and Karen were use to. Ian and Wendy were more use to racing on the edge of a razor blade so they were a good deal wider than they;re usual boats. We also got a look at the canoe’s we would be using.

We picked up some fresh bread and other food items before returning to base for the rest of the day. After digesting the race plan we set about packing gear and food into each of the boxes. It was slow and deliberate process to ensure everything was in its rigth place. Any mistakes made at this stage could cost us dear during the race. As the day progressed everyone had a clear picture of what lay ahead. It was largely a trekking race. The stages were as follows:

Stage 1 Kayak “Milford Sound” – 15km
Stage 2 Bike “Milford Road ” – 49km
Stage 3 Canoe “Eglinton River” – 36km
Stage 4 Trek “Dunton Range” – 54km
Stage 5 Bike “Oreti Cromel” – 81km
Stage 6 Trek “Eyre Mountains” – 48km
Stage 7 Canoe “Mavora Lakes” – Stage Cancelled
Stage 8 Bike “Thomson Mountains” – 129km
Stage 9 Trek “Earnslaw Burn” – 24km
Stage 10 Bike “Rees Valley” – 21km
Stage 11 Kayak “Lake Wakatipu” – 46km

WILD RACERS – Full course fly through from NothinButShorts International on Vimeo.

The real “meat” of the race lay in stages 4, 5 and 6. Stage 4 was estimated to take anything between 17:00 – 24:00 hours. Stage 6 estimated to be 22:00 hours. Stages 1,2,3 were nothing more than a sprint out the gate for the top teams, stage 4 would shape the leaderboard and the rest of the stages would test each team differently according to ability, fatigue, injury and mental toughness.

Sunday
While the race was based in Queenstown, the actual start line was at a secret location which we would spend most of Sunday being bused to. We handed in our bike and gear boxes in the morning before boarding the bus. We still hadn’t received any maps. We all presumed the race start would be somewhere in the magnificent Milford Sound. Without the maps we were free to kick back, enjoy the journey and chat to the other teams. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere (no sign of “the Bull”). We stopped off in Te Anu for some lunch where we were I had the pleasure of chatting to Nathan Faave as we queued in a pie shop waiting for lunch.

WILD RACERS – GODZone Pre-Race Journey from NothinButShorts International on Vimeo.

At 4pm during a short stop we received the maps and returned to bus. The race start was indeed Milford Sound. Before reaching the overnight camp we stopped off to assemble our bikes in preparation for Stage 2. We were given 30 minutes to do this. It was getting dark when we reached the overnight camp but there was still enough light to take in the magnificent surroundings. The remoteness of the race start meant teams needed to be self sufficient providing their own food and accomodation the night before the race. We quickly located a good spot to pitch tent before moving to the ferry terminal where we set about marking our planned route on the maps and have some food. Stages 1-3 were relatively straightforward. Most of our time was spent contemplating the many route choices available on the long trekking stages. We generally opted for a safe route. The safest route not necessarily being the easiest navigationally we needed to consider other factors like terrain, team safety and available daylight. With 11-12 hours darkness each day the going would be slow on some of these stages. The NZ landscape offered many route choices and the organisers made no attempt to force teams down any particular route. I really, really liked this. There would be no “cotton wooling” of competitors in this event.

Stage 1. Kayak “Milford Sound” – 15km (Monday):
4 am and all teams were packed into the Milford Sound Visitor Terminal. We were all waiting to board a cruise ship to the start at Bridal Falls. When we got to the bay we were brought to shore on a small rib. Still dark at this point I was having trouble believing my eyes. The whole thing felt like a dream. The shoreline was alive with head torches like fire flies. You were surrounded by large columns of rock illuminated by moonlight with Bridal Falls in the backdrop. We sat in our kayaks staying warm before being allowed on the water. Richard Usshers team were first onto the water. Again I was a bit awe struck as a the Coast to Coast champion and his wife (another coast to coast champion) paddled in front of me. Then it was our turn. We moved out onto the water with Wendy and Ian in the front of our boats dictating the stroke. Conditions were choppy and only for the pressence of Ian and Wendy myself and Karen would have been uncomfortable. Instead we were confident and calm as other teams struggled around us.

The hooter sounded signalling the race start and we were off. Immediately Ian and Wendy went up a few gears. Our first task was to paddle around the cruiser before turning and paddling down Milford Sound. It was a little frantic and congested at this point but Ian and Wendy had us in good position. So much so we bumped into Team Seagate and Nathan Faave’s boat. That doesn’t happen everyday As we rounded the cruiser we were now exposed to some very choppy conditions. The boat was totally submerged at points. Teams were struggling to stay in close contact with eachother. The video footage on 3 News gives you a good idea of the conditions. We had no such problems. We now had a tailwind, some big waves and more importantly ace paddlers in Ian and Wendy to take advantage of the conditions. We surfed wave after wave and held 4/5th place for the entire paddle. Myself and Karen did our best match Ian and Wendy’s cadence and follow their instructions, these guys were good…very good! Approaching the first TA and to cap off only what can be described as a sureal start to the race we were greated by a pack of dolphins. They were within touching distance and playing with our boats for the final km of the paddle. An experience we will never forget.

Stage 2. Bike “Milford Road ” – 49km (Monday)
We forgot to checkin immediatly at TA1 when we came off the water so unfortunatly our 4th place did register on the leaderboard. Still that was our blaze of glory and now it was time to settle down and focus on what lay ahead.

After a slow transition we were on Milford Road and settled into formation. The climb out of Milford was long and steady until we reached the Homer Tunnel. During this time we were passed by a number of the stronger teams and we took up our true position in the pack somewhere around 20-25th. Cycling through the Homer tunnel we then began a fast decent in the direction on the Upper Eglington river. It was cold and we were well wrapped up with gloves, hats and jackets. The road was wet and myself and Karen struggled to keep pace with Ian and Wendy on the descent. They’re 29 inch Gary Fisher MTB’s definetly rolled better than our KTM’s. As we reached the end of the stage we were comfortable and in good shape.

Stage 3. Canoe Eglinton River – 36km (Monday)

Entering transition we immediatly set about breaking down our bikes and packing them into their boxes. We grabbed the opportunity to take some food on board as well. Before we could get on the water for the canoe stage we had to collect and inflate the canoe’s. This took some time and meant another relatively long transition. After inflating we had a short portage to a put in on the Eglinton River. This stage contained the only dark zone of the entire race. We needed to be off the water by 19:00. The water level was very low and the race organisers even started the race ahead of time in fear of teams being caught on the water after dark. We paired up for the paddle the same as the Kayak (Ian & Karen, Wendy & Finbar). Wendy and myself struggled to gain control of the boat early on this stage so we changed the pairs to be (Ian & Finbar, Wendy & Karen) Wendy’s boat was now alot lighter and easier to control now that I had been evicted. We wasted sometime coming to this conclusion but from that point on we made some excellent progress. It was still a very slow paddle but we had other teams like Hard Yucca’s and ProActive Physio for company during this stage. The canoe’s which were meant to be self bailing were anything but. We found ourselves pulling over to tip out water every 15-20 minutes. We also had to reinflate the seats on the boat on a good few occasions. Late on in this stage we would enjoy some deaper waters and rapids.We reached the end of the stage around 18:00, comfortably ahead of the cutt off for the dark zone.

WILD RACERS – GODZone Day 1 from NothinButShorts International on Vimeo.

Stage 4. Dunton Range – 54km (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)
Exiting the water temperatures had dropped as evening had closed in. I was cold and shivering along with a good few others in transition. Ian took care of deflating the canoes before returning them to the organisers. We changed out of our wet suits and into our trekking gear for the first trek of the race. We completed a mandatory gear spot check just before exiting transition after dark. This would be our first night on the course.

We set off for CP4. We could see headtorches in the distance and behind us in the early stages. As we got closer to CP4 we ran into ProActive Physio and Team 215. They were having some trouble locating the CP. I knew we were still quite a bit short of the exact location and we moved on to find the clearing where the CP was located. The navigation was tricky but nailing the first CP was a good boost for confidence especially after passing a few teams along the way. We now had a long trek to CP5 with some challenging nav. We covered as much ground as we could that night safely. Around Dunton Ridge we encountered some strong winds and were faced with contouring along a steep bank of scree in darkness. We decided at this point to drop down into the tree line and take our first sleep. The ground was uneven which meant the quality of sleep in the tent wasn’t great. After 2 hours of sleep it was now bright and after some food we were better equiped to tackle the immediate terrain and progress to CP5. We ran into “Asses Ears Bites Back” briefly before pushing on and following a creek down to Upukerora river. The terrain was steep but once we entered the creek we were happy with our route choice as the descent to the river was relatively easy. We were making good progress and our navigation was spot on as we got closer to CP5. At this point we were passed by “Shakespeare & Co” exchanging some friendly banter. The terrain at this point started to become very difficult. Our chosen route involved traversing some major windfall and bushwhacking down to a stream where we would ascend and follow a ridge to CP5 located on the second summit. The descent to the stream was the most physically challenging terrain I have ever encountered in an adventure race. We were literally crawling under and climbing over windfall for hours. Once we hit the stream and saw the ridge we were confident of finding the CP and we did. Careful navigation was becoming critical. It turned out that many teams struggled with CP5 and missed the cuttoff of 23:00 on Tuesday night at CP 6. The route between CP5 and CP6 again was long but we reached the manned CP6 at the Hunters Hut around 21:30 on Tuesday night. The hut was jam packed with teams huddled around the fire. Some teams suffering with injuries and others who had failed to pick up CP5. It was a cold night and no one was in a rush to leave the hut. The next stage of the Trek was up over Snowdon and navigation wise was a very tricky leg. Teams were given instructons that we would be sent an alternate route and be unranked if we did not leave the hut by 23:00. We still had another 8-9 hours until sunrise and we were reluctant to head over Snowdon in darkness. We left the hut but made a tactical decision to set up tent only one kilometer away. This confused many who were following us on the GPS tracking but the race organisers knew exactly what we were doing The ascent of Snowdon was a very steap climb which navigationally wasn’t too difficult. We estimated it would take roughly two hours and we should aim to hit the summit around sunrise. We set our alarms for 3:30am and settled in for a slightly longer sleep than planned. That night temperatures went to as low as -3 and the following morning we awoke to find our shoes and socks frozen solid. Shivering in our tent we used our body heat to warm ourselves and thaw out our shoes. Luckily we had the steap ascent of Snowdon to keep us warm that morning. As we reached the summit the sun was just rising. Perfect timing. We took the safer route contouring left around and down to the stream before moving in the direction of TA5. We covered alot of ground this day and were happy with the tactical and navigation decisions that we made. Later in the afternoon we bumped into “Rogue Samurai by Macpac” who had experienced some problems during the night. The remainder of the Trek took us into late afternoon/ early evening before we finally reached the TA. This stage took us a whopping 46 hours. The terrain and tricky navigation had claimed many teams. We managed to get through the stage on 24 hours food and were in good spirits. The scenary was spectacular especially as we summit Snowdon as the sun rose.

WILD RACERS – GODZone Day 2 from NothinButShorts International on Vimeo.

WILD RACERS – GODZone Day 3 from NothinButShorts International on Vimeo.

Stage 5. Oreti Cromel – 81km (Wednesday, Thursday)
It was a beutiful evening and entering transition we received a round of applause. Well deserved we taught after 46 hours of treking! We were all starving having got by on just 24 hours worth of food in the previous stage. We weren’t alone in transition, our friends ProActive Physio were there and so were Rogue Samurai by Macpac. We got some hot food in and assembled our bikes for the stage ahead. At this point the stage had been shortened slightly for teams. We would skip CP’s 8, 9 and 10 and take a more direct route to CP 11. After receiving our instructions we set off just as it got dark. We would cycle 21km before turning off a gravel road and down towards the Oreti river. It was very dark and our first challenge was to find a good crossing point on the river. After pacing the river bank for a while we picked our spot and crossed. The water was cold but somehow we managed to stay warm. On the other side we were greated by long grass. It was difficult to pick up any sort of track but we made good progress. We would cross another river before reaching CP11 at the entrance to the Exotic Forrest. CP 12 wasn’t far away located at a track stream junction.
The nav proved tricky as we missed a turn off for a path to our right as we climbed from the Oreti River. We were quick to spot that we had climbed too high after checking the altimeter. Returning to the correct altitude we found the turn off and the control at the end of it. Everyone was getting cold and tired at this point. We had a quick pitstop for food. It was 02:30 and we had a long cycle to CP 13 but I explained to everyone that the navigation was easier and we should try and get as much of it done in the dark saving the daylight hours for more tricky sections that lay ahead the following day. Everyone dug deep and we hammered out a large chunk of this section before finally setting up tent for 2 hours sleep. The following morning conditions were thankfully alot milder. Just as we packed up tent we were joined by Shakespere and Co. CP’s 13 and 14 we picked up with relative ease. CP 15 proved very tricky. We failed to pickup the correct path and as a result were too low on our approach to the control. After some major bushwhacking we finally picked up the control. It was late afternoon and the sun was beating down on us as we rolled into TA.

WILD RACERS – GODZone Day 4 from NothinButShorts International on Vimeo.

Stage 6. Eyre Mountains – 48km (Thursday, Friday)

Shakespere and Co were there having avoided our problems at CP15. Breaking down the bikes we began contemplating the Trek that lay ahead. It was every bit as challenging as the first Trek we did and our timing meant that we would have some very difficult night nav. We made sure to pack plenty of food before departing on this stage Exiting the TA we made a conscious effort to pick up the pace and hit CP17 just past Mansion Hut.

WILD RACERS – Stage 6 Mansion Hut from NothinButShorts International on Vimeo.

We managed to do this before nightfall and locate our attackpoint up the western side of the mountain just before dark. It was very slow going at this point, surrounded by thick forrest as we ascended the ridge we were very careful not to leave our bearing. This of course meant loads of bushwhacking and climbing through windfall. Add to this the fact we were all suffering with the sleepmonsters we took a couple of power naps along the way. Once we hit 700m we changed bearing to continue along the ridge and up to a height of 1100m were we would finally emerge above the tree line and get a view of the night sky. Visibility was good and we could see our route along the tops before descending to CP18, a hut at Irthing stream. We could see the lights of a number of teams ahead as the exited the hut and made their way to the next CP. We were greeted at the hut by Hugh who had been manning the hut for a number of days now. It was roughly 5-6am and the time was right to get some sleep before pushing on in daylight. We took a short sleep of about an hour but the relative luxury of the hut meant it felt longer which was a bonus. We had been passed by a team as we slept and now we were the last team on this stage. Hugh was now free’d of his maning duties and joined us as we departed the hut on the remainder of the Trek. CP19 had been dropped and we would now have a more direct route to TA6 (CP20) at Black Spur Creek Hut. It was still along way but we were blessed by clear sky’s and some absolutly breathtaking scenary on this day. We were treated to some amazing views as we crossed over Shepard’s Saddle and descended towards Shepherds Creek hut. We now had a clear view of our route up Eyre Creek which lay ahead. We would follow the creek all the way to a saddle before descending and joining a stream on the other side which would lead to TA6. There terrain was good and we had a nice track to follow up the creek. Once the track ended we were left with numerous stream crossings as we followed whatever paths were available. The terrain was beginning to deteriorate and we were left to follow the stream bed. We caught up with another team at this point, the “Stunts”. One of their team members was suffering badly with injury. We kept eachother company for the remainder of the stage. We were now climbing over rocks and wading through rock pools. The water was cold and we were running out of daylight fast. We were anxious to get over the saddle before dark and down the other side. Up on the saddle, in fading light, we managed to catch a glimpse of the view back down Eyre Creek. It was pretty special. The remainder of the trek was relatively straightforward. We arrived at Black Spur Creek hut around 23:30 were we received some warm soup and bread. It tasted soooooo good. We built our bikes for the next stage before catching a few hours sleep in the tent.

WILD RACERS – Black Spur Creek Hut from NothinButShorts International on Vimeo.

Stage 7. Mavora Lakes – Stage Cancelled

Stage 8. Thomson Mountains – 129 km (Saturday)

We had been on the go for 5 full days and the organisers were now routing teams back to the finish in Queenstown. Our route involved cycling down the Vonn Valley picking up CP30 before making our way to Walters Peak where we would get the ferry back to Queenstown. The views on this shortened stage were absolutely stunning. The descent was very cold in the shadows of Pasture Hill and Mount Nicholas but we were greeted by the sun as we approached Lake Wakatipu. Distracted by the views and suffering with tiredness we overshot CP30 slightly. At Whites Bay we turned right for Walters Peak and the home stretch. We still had to push hard but arrived at Walters Peak in good time for the 10:45 ferry. We were now slowly re entering civilization and the restaurant at Walter Peak was busy with hungry teams looking for scones and coffee. After boarding the ferry this theme continued and the coffee dock on the ferry being raided by hungry adventure racers. I enjoyed my first cup of tea in almost a week and I have to say it tasted alot better than the hot water and Nuun tablet combo I had been drinking as a “fruit tea” The ferry was busy with tourists and it was strange to be surrounded by so many “ordinary” people after our adventures in the wild. The cruise back gave us time to reflect on the race and determine our final race position. We worked out that we had finished 19th out of 31 teams! We never set ourselves a target in terms of the leaderboard knowing that if we focused on “our race” that our final position would take care of itself. Arriving in Queenstown we disembarked and had a relaxed cycle through the town centre before crossing the finish line. We finished ranked on what many considered to be one of the toughest courses set for an adventure race. We felt pretty good about that!

Aftermath
GodZone was an amazing experience for both myself and Karen. We were very lucky to find two excellent teammates in Wendy and Ian. The gamble paid off and we gelled well as a team. We all had our ups and downs but we pulled together and got each other through.

We would like to thank the race directors for staging a truly epic adventure race. I hope we can return to NZ in the future and do it all again.

Finally we would like to say a big thank you to our fellow competitors. We were blown away by the friendliness of the other teams.

Other Race Reports and Interviews
Seagate Part 1, Part 2
One Square Meal
Subway
Nathan Faave – Team Seagate
Adam Fairmaid – Event Director

Lost Worlds 100k Race

I needed to do something while Karen and Finbar went on their super adventure to “Godzone”  adventure race. They had got married on the day of the Wicklow Ultra so its their fault I had to go and look for something else to occupy my mind. Having completed the Art O Neil and looking at the footage of UTMB last year courtesy of Eoin Keith I decided 2012 was going to be the year to pickup 5 points for the UTMB. This has now changed to 7 points in 3 Races maximum. Lost Worlds looked like a really awesome and with Event organisers from Primal Quest, Extreme 26 and our friend Duggie it was bound to be a blast and if I didn’t finish I knew that the lads would look after me. So on that it was off to Ballintoy way up there on the Antrim Coast.

Registration at Ballintoy, (near the famous Carrick a rede Rope Bridge) was manned by Ian and Rowan good to see friendly faces in a place what looked to be a crowd of Tourists all round getting stuck in to Pasta. A second glance told me it was racers and their families all sitting together in a friendly atmosphere. There was a new race start time announced for 6:30, which meant a liein til 5:30a. Met Taryn McCoy (Team Mate)  who had come down to help out with the race, and we got registered for our next adventure Terrex 2012, best to get that done in case not finishing my first 100km race put me off.

5:00AM rise and I went with Taryn to the start line – a convoy of cars and a mini bus droped us to the start Glenarm. Well a place from where we could walk to the start. People took photos of the sunrise as I nervously mingled talking to a few of the racers where making comments on my Art O Neil t-shirt. A great race and this was the perfect one to take the t-shirt on its first outing. Off we walked and I have to say this was a surprise for me and some of the international racers who were thinking we were walking a very long mile. Comments like that they hoped they had used a different course designer to measure the 100km kept us in high spirits. Here I chatted with Paul Nesbit and Allan Boggle on the way out. Allan had great food stories while I wondered what damage the previous weekends wedding would have on my race. The 30 minute walk got us to the Start line where Ian Cummings sent us on our way. We headed up a road for around 500 meters where we then headed into the left.

We couldn’t see too well but someone had given it welly and was gone bounding down the road at a very fast pace. We headed into the glen to follow the Moyle way up the side of glen through a forest. We were at a walk shortly and already the calfs were burning. The cruelness of the race had started early, and I was happy to hear Matty Hewitt and Paul Nesbitt beside have  a similar complaint. We power walked up the hill passing Diane Roy, UK entrant who wasn’t enjoying at all the early calf burn. We were walking up vertically to get up into the hills – the views were incredible with the mist and early sun coming through across the hills. We ran on a few miles to be met by Ivan who had that evil smile on his face and warned myself Matty and Paul that there was a nice Irish Bog ahead waiting for us. Where Ivan is concerned you know this is bad news.  However we had a feeling that we had the advantage of local knowladge here and it gave us a spring in our step as we approached another runner, Tod a Canadian chap. Tall and not liking the terrain at all. I took the lead into the forest of the four of us as I felt I was better equipped to navigate our way through the path less forests. The forests made great running hopping across streams and over bolders while looking for our next marker. The guys had marked the trails well and we joked as we imagined Rowan dragging his Bike through some of the quiet challenging terrain. It wasn’t long again before we were out onto open bog , slieveanorra mountain ( I think)  – similar to the back of Mount Brandon (Dingle) and we moved at a pretty fast pace down to where we could see the first sign of like we had seen for around 16km. Ivan Greg and Rowan were there comparing Race Organiser Bellys as we grabbed Cake filled water and ate bannanas as we ran on down the road. Again we disappeared into a forest with a pretty wicked climb up onto  “Trostan” another wicked climb before the long decent down to the next checkpoint. This was perhaps the 25km mark – but I think there as some confusion as we were only at 20km on the Garmins – we ran on following trails along until we were out again around the 32km mark. Here we followed roads for a bit in the direction of Ballycastle here we were passed by 4 other runners as we walked some of the uphills. We were holding back as we thought of the long journey ahead of us. We took our time so as not to get pulled in by Helena Dornan,Declan Falkner,  Christian Lewis and Todd.  Back on to the trails with the guys ahead in site when Diane Roy came from behind having passed us an hour earlier. Diane had taken a wrong turn and was now playing catchup while shouting at yellow arrows on the ground. She wasn’t happy !!

After a while we were back on the road again down into Ballycastle, I was starting to feel good, but we were all in need of water and food. As we pulled into the village Helena’s sister had come out to greet her with Water and treats for everyone. Jaffa cakes, madrains, snickers all inhaled with 3 cups of water and we were off down the road.  Here Matty and Paul began to move off the pace slightly. I don’t really know what was up – but the lads were going steady and as neighbours in their own home town I knew they would look after themselves. I went passed  two runners(Declan Falkner,  Christian Lewis) as they remarked that I must have got a second wind I hadn’t but had the halfway mark in sight, it was 10km and I needed to get there as I needed proper refuelling before I started to really drop. I needed to go steady and the time for chatting was over.  Diane and Helena were at the halfway in front of me and Christian and Declan came in shortly after. Diane and Jason headed out before me. I changed my bog drenched socks and shoes made sure to drink a liter of fluid before I left and ate an oatmeal bar for slow release before I left. Ivan kindly filled my bottle and I was ready to go. Matty and Paul arrived in I was happy to see the lads in and had expected I would see them later. On exit I was surprised to see Helena still there but a quick transition was required and I walked out drinking as I went. I caught up to Christian who told me he was going to walk for a while and so I headed off on the part of the route I knew. I had run the causeway coast marathon previously and didn’t remember any major challenges. Diane was ahead of me but she seemed to take another wrong turn to get on to the beach. The sun shining, the wind coming in off the sea and the sound of the waves provided the perfect background for what was now the 54km mark. I was comfortable to be in the second half of the race and mentally was trying to treat it as a new race.

Even with the renewed energy in the legs I knew there was still a long way to go and the 60km mark took along time to come. I was surprised on approach to see the 50km lady approaching (Winner of the 50km) she was gliding around the horseshoe shaped cliffs. I asked how long was it until the turnaround, receiving mixed answers in miles and kilometres I left with my head down into what was now becoming a strong wind. On across the Cliff tops I walked the uphill’s and steps as I could feel my legs aching and my body with it. I slowed after 5/6 km to get some Gel Shots into me, I was starting to fade out here on the cliffs alone and was wondering why I still hadn’t seen any runners coming in the opposite direction, another Kilometre they started to arrive and it was a welcome distraction to what was becoming tired legs. I had to be careful not to push too hard as I could feel the energy streaming from me when I upped the pace – it was hard to keep a rhytm with the up and down of the hills on the cliff tops. It wasn’t long before I saw the Giant’s Causeway. Floods of memories of myself and my then pregnant wife came to my mind as I approached the causeway. It was tough avoiding the human traffic with 65km in the legs. All taking photos across this moving bag of bones, as I walked up a hill I heard a child say to his dad, why doesn’t he just jog its not that steep. I remember feeling that I needed to get out of there as I passed other runners how far the turn at the castle was. 5 miles Noooooo!! That was longer than I thought. The mind was wobbling as I looked at my watch and started to wonder if I would make it home before Dark. Then I saw Goeff smyth heading the opposite way after I passed the causeway arch. A quick keep her lit, and at last I could see ultra runners returning to the finish.  At this stage I was welcoming the hills so I could get a breather. This section seemed to go on for a very long time. After another KM a man asked me was I sure I was running the right way, everyone else was running the opposite way. So discouraging 74km into a 100km race J who paid him to say that, April fool is tomorrow !!!

Diane passed me at around the 72km Mark. Even her compliment of trying so hard to catch me back since around the 53km mark were not enough to lift me. I was fading and told Diane that I was looking forward  to sitting down for a minute. She was bouncing and her reponse of being watered out was one I hadn’t heard before. She was full of beans and she stopped after the turnaround to point me out the place I so needed to get to. As I pulled in I was greeted by Duggie. Always a welcoming face on that man. Duggie took great pleasure in telling me I was 6^th. I didn’t believe him been honest, I told him it was impossible – but another lady confirmed his comment. I reloaded and I have to say it but a real bounce back in my step. I was a different runner on exit. I was bobbing along thinking to myself can I really be in 6^th . I didn’t expect it to last long, and anticipated that I would be overtaken several times in the last 25km but thought I could get top 10-15 which would be some achievement from a guy that thought he may come last in his 1^st 100km race. As I went back down the road I passed the competition. I cheered them on as I checked to see if they were feeling as bad as I was. Helena, Christian and then the two lads – Matty and Paul, still chatting !! Two boys who grew up in the same town what could they still be talking about at 75km J There was high 5’S and I was sure Matty a sub 32 minute 10k cross country runner was going to get us soon. It was downhill back into Giants causeway; I had to slow myself down so I would keep enough in the tank to finish the race. I had a good rhythm and now I was just thinking about the climb back up to the cliffs from the Giants Causeway – those steps were coming. I climbed and had already decided on a sit down at the top. When I got there I didn’t need it and walked away drink in mouth and applied the gel shots liberally. I had 4 left and was keeping them for the last 10km.

As I headed back to the 90km mark I met a few ultra runners, I shouted words of encouragement and pitied them and the Journey I knew they had a head of them. I got a big cheer from the volunteers at the 90km mark – thanked them all for volunteering on such a long day and headed off for the last 10km dreading the beach section. It came, I stumbled, it was easier than I thought it would be but hurt none the less. The beach section seemed to go much longer on the way back!! It was tough but I was knew we were only 3 to 4 km to the finish. I climbed again walking up the long road and them out along the cliff tops wondering where was the finish as I passed the edge of Ballintoy. I was listening for music but the chances of me hearing a speaker 2km away is impossible. Then I saw Taryn and Molly and the Dog from the famous 5ish. I was walking up the hill but then knowing I was nearly there, picked up the pace for the last 2km home !! It was awesome I hadn’t been overtaken and I was going to get home before Dark, I ran down into the valley of loud music to be greeted by Ivan and Ian and done it !!!! Completed my 1^st 100km race – and I had my 1^st 2 points for UTMB. The damage I have done I wont know for a few days. But feel I may now have a good chance to achieve my goal, 7 UTMB points in 2012. Well done to the organisers for an absolutely brilliant but tough course and Congratulations to  Geoff Smyth, Allan Bogle, Ivan Saddlier on coming 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd and to the Ladies – Jen Seger, Diane”worse than childbirth” Roy and Helena Dornan and lastly to Paul and Matty for some really good company during the warm-up 40km section and to Taryn for her support out there.

Racing on the other side of the World has presented many logistic issues for myself and Karen but Wendy and Ian have been of great help. Many of the large items on the kit list are being provided by the guys and the race organisers are supplying kayaks. The largest items we will take with us to New Zealand will be our KTM mountain bikes. We’ve had to purchase two bike boxes but these will be an investment for hopefully future races like the Adidas Terrex later this year. We’ve upgraded other items of gear and once again reviewed the food strategy for the race. The mandatory kit requirements are not too extensive but this will be the first Adventure Race where we will have carried a tent and sleeping bags at all times.

The schedule for the race is setting us up for an epic journey around New Zealands south island. Registration, gear check, team photos and other formalities are taken care of on the Saturday. Sunday teams will be transported to an overnight camp 7 hours away. Teams will be self sufficient for this period sleeping in their own tents, cooking their own meals the night before and breakfast that morning. Its sounds pretty remote! The race will then start at 6:30am on Monday morning. The top teams are expected to finish sometime on the Thursday and the course will close on Saturday at 3pm.

Training for the event has been a challenge. The winter months in Ireland arn’t exactly the best time to prepare for an Adventure Race… or maybe they are. We’ve focused alot on the bike and our overall fitness is good. We’ve also managed to do some good work on foot taking advantage of local Night-O events, some trail runs and long treks. Kayaking has been limited to once a week. We’re happy with where we are.

The team list is intimidating including teams like Seagate, Blackheart and Subway. Its one of these races where you can expect to find yourself 12 hours behind after only 24 hours of racing. Sounds crazy I know but these guys are so far ahead of the game. It will be great to see them in action if only for a brief fleeting period at the start of the race. They are phenominal athletes. There will be many races within the race itself. We will have our own race in here somewhere and we look forward to the banter amongst these teams.

One of the great things about the GodZone race is the Live Coverage that will be available during the race. Its so important these days and allows racers to share their experiences with friends and family. The organisers have assembled a strong media team and we expect the quality of the live coverage to be excellent. More details should be available on the race website closer to the race: http://www.godzoneadventure.com/live-coverage/

Check out the promo video:
Orion Health GODZone Adventure 2012 Promo

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 to wear, what food to eat and how much to carry started weeks in advance. The weather forecast in the days leading up to the weekend indicated that we would experience some showers and temperatures wouldn’t be too cold. The mandatory kit for the event was pretty small so we had no problem packing everything into my 22ltr Inov8 and Karens OMM rucksack. If I get the chance I will do a follow up post on exactly what we carried for the weekend. We travelled light and in “comfort”. Its hard to get the balance right but we were pretty happy. Our bags were packed the night before as we had an early wakeup call Saurday morning.

Day 1
We left Dublin at 6:50 and headed for Attical, this years event HQ. Breakfast was eatin en route in the jeep. No penalty points for driving and eating bacon butties at the same time bombing down the M1 We arrived early, registered and said “hello” to a few friendly faces. Our official start time was 9:33. A small trek to the start before we dibbed, collected route cards, marked up our map and were off! Day 1 was made up of 12 controls including 4 controls in a cluster.

CP 1 was straightforward a path track junction up along Pidgeon Rock river.
Cp 2 was located at a quarry. I took a bearing from the wall but we ended up high and left of the quarry. As we dropped down from above we met 4 or 5 teams struggling to locate the control. We had no such problems and were in and out pretty quick.
Cp 3 was a gully along the ridge heading up Slieve Muck. We crossed the road at the car park and I took a bearing right of the gully. Plan was to follow the ridge and pick up the control but we were too far left and missed it. Quick to realise our mistake we headed back along the ridge to pick up the control.
Cp 4 We continued along the ridge and contoured around Slieve Muck crossing the wall before dropping down to cp 4 which was located between 2 streams.
Cp 5 We climbed to the col before crossing the wall and contouring around Carn Mountain. We then headed straight for the stile below Slieve Loughshannagh where cp 5 ws located.
Cp 6 This was the start of the 4 controk cluster. We took a minute to examine our route choices and decided on an anti clockwise loop taking in what trails were available. We were moving fast at this stage and happy with the pace we kept pushing. The recent rain meant the trails were very wet and mucky as we went around Daon and headed for a crag on the south west side of Ben Crom. The climb to the control was steep but it was easy to spot the control.
Cp 7 Up over Ben Crom we headed for the north west corner of the Reservoir were cp 7 was located between two streams at the shore. We picked up water at the gully along the way. Karen almost lost her water bottle over the edge but I managed to catch it. The descent to the shore line was steep and slippy. We took it easy remembering my rollercoaster ride down Spelga last year. The control was easy to get.
Cp 8 As we exited cp7 and climbed toward cp8 I spotted a team fast approaching cp7 at the shore. A little worried I pointed it out to Karen but she reassured me it was an all male pair. Its always hard to tell when they’ve got 3/4 lenghts on It turned out to be Jonathan McCloy and Patrick Higgins who were on the Elite course. Patrick was powering up the hill but “McCloy” as his teammate so affectionatly called him was dieing. After a long tough climb we finally reached the control located at a path on the col between Cove and Slieveamagan.
Cp 9 we headed north contouring around Cove and Slieve Beg before a short climb to the Brandy Pad picking up cp 9 at the gully. The lady at the tent asked us for our team number and course. We were then informed “ye are doing well”. We didn’t inquire any further.
Cp 10 We now faced a long leg to cp 10 which was located in the same place as cp 5. It was all on paths and trails. We kept a good pace the whole way pushing hard back to the stile where cp 10 was located. The trails were extemely mucky and it was energy sapping stuff.
Cp 11 From the stile we blazed our way down passed Ott Mountain toward the road picking up cp 11 at the wall along the way.
Cp 12 Crossing the road we climbed a little before contouring around Slievenamuck. We were a little high but dropped down to pick up the control easily. From there it was a short spint downhill to the finish.

Midcamp @ Spelga Dam

We downloaded for day 1 and to our surprise we were 3rd overall on the B course! Our late start of 9:33 meant not many teams started after us. When all teams on the B course finished we found ourselves in 4th place overall and 2nd mixed behind Ciara Largey and Declan McGrelis who were lying 2nd overall behind Barry Tinnely and Peter who had a great first day. We knew we had a good day but didn’t expect to be so far up the field. Navigation wise it was a great day despite small errors on CP2 and CP3 the rest were clean.

As we expected Declan and Ciara were out of sight but we still had loads to fight for. We were 5mins 30secs up on the 5th place team and 29mins behind 3rd. Maintaining our 4th place standing overall was the priority. After some food and the customary banter we hit the sack for a well deserved nights sleep.

Day 2
It rained alot during the night and we were greated the following morning by a heavy mist on the hills… so we packed up our tent, got the bus back to race HQ and went home NO CHANCE!

We dibbed, collected route cards, marked up our map and were off again. This time however the mist was down, it was raining and we needed to warm up fast. Day 2 was made up of 13 controls with no cluster.

CP 1 was a long trek to the summit of Rocky Mountain. The cp was just west of the summit. I followed the tree line and continued along the fence before hitting the path. Following the path to the end I then took a bearing for Rocky Mountain. The mist was heavy so I was very careful and deliberate with the nav. If the conditions had been clear i’d have taken a more direct route. As we climbed Rocky Mountain we had to make a brief pitstop to remove our waterproof bottoms. We both decided on wearing shorts for day 2 to save some weight in the bag. After an easy enough climb we hit the control.
CP 2 We dropped down off the summit heading south in the direction of the forrest for cp 2. There were loads of teams around at this point, a mixture of the B class and C classes meant it was difficult to determine how we were doing. I did spot 2 Barry and Peter coming out of cp 2 with Ciara and Declan in hot persuit and I reckoned we were about 5 minutes down at this point. Cp 2 on the edge of the forrest was a no brainer with so many teams around.
CP 3 leaving the forrest edge we hit the path and maintaining a steady pace picked off some teams. Just before leaving the path on a bearing for cp 3 we caught Richard Campbell and Mark Hanna who little did we know had finished 3rd place ahead of us on Day 1. The lads taught we were doing the Elite class and got a bit of a hop when we told them we were B’s I reassured them by saying “don’t worry lads you’ve got nearly 30 minutes on us”. We went into cp 3 together in a heavy mist. CP’s 3,4,5 and 6 were all at streams and with hardly any other features to work off good navigation was required.
CP 4 Despite reassuring Richard and Mark they had 30 minutes on us Karen proceeded to hammer her way up between Shanlieve and Eagle Mountain in the direction of cp 4. This was fun! Crossing the wall at the col we took a bearing down to the stream were the control was located on the corner. I aimed off making sure to hit the stream and finding the control was easy.
CP 5 As we exited cp 4 Barry and Peter were just coming in behind us. They had some problems but we were happy to be in such good company I decided to drop down a little and come at cp 5 from below which was located between the source of 2 streams. Too high and we would have missed it. We hit the stream and climbed and the found the control easy.
CP 6 Contouring around and maintaining the height we headed in the direction of cp 6 on the corner of a stream north east of Finlieve. Aiming slightly off we hit the stream and found the control on the corner.
CP 7 We joined the path and contoured around Finlieve before dropping the other side to the path where cp 7 was located. We overshot the path and the alimeter indicated we were too low. We climbed back up to the path and proceeded to the end of it but we found no control. I knew it was the right path even though it extended further than suggested on the map. We met a number of Elite teams who had failed to find the control also. After about 20-30 minutes we decided to abandon the search and move on.
CP 8 We dropped off the path and took a direct line to cp 8 located on a small island between 2 streams. The mist was now gone and it was easy to spot the orienteering flag from distance.
CP 9 We climbed out of cp 8 and joined the Cross Water before reaching cp 9 which was now manned. Both CP 7 and CP 9 had been lifted during the night
Cp 10 contouring around before joining Red Moss River we had a short climb to cp 10.
Cp’s 11,12,13 We were now on the home stretch and it was all downhill. The controls were all straightforward and it was alot more about speed now. We descended Slievebug as fast as we could and joined the Sandy Brae for the sprint home. Dibbing at the finish we were shattered but delighted with our days work.

Result
Conditions were very different to what we experienced on day 1. Navigation took priority over speed. The mist didn’t clear until well into the day and there were hardly any paths. Most of the tricky controls were at stream junctions, stream sources and stream bends (cps 3-6). The tricky navigation leveled the playing field and we were able to keep up with some of the faster teams which was great. The legs were ok after Day 1 but the rough open mountain terrain took its toll on Day 2. We were the 2nd team to finish on day 2 but when the time for the missing CP7 was discounted we finished 5th on the day 19 mins behind Ciara and Declan who were winners of Day 2. We were happy considering we hadn’t seen either of them all day! That meant that we maintained our 4th place standing overall in the B class and we were 2nd mixed team. Ciara and Declan’s amazing day 2 performance meant that they were now the overall winners of the B class ahead of Barry and Peter. Mark and Richard were 3rd. We’d raced hard all day against these guys and the lads even commented at the end that Karen seemed hell bent breaking them on Shanlieve

With Ciara and Declan awarded with first place overall in the B class we were awarded the prize for the mixed category. Well done to Ciara and Declan, Barry and Peter, Mark and Richard. It was great fun out there. Looking forward to next year!

The Slovenia Adventure Race is just 2 weeks away now and the team are busy preparing. We’re pretty excited about the race and the challenge ahead of us. With no Terrex this year we had to look further abroad in search of another multi day adventure racing fix. The race itself, although maybe a little early in the season, looks like the perfect opportunity for the team to gain some more experience. The race is run over 3 days non stop covering roughly 350km and many disciplines: trekking, mountaing biking, caving, swimming, kayaking, canyoning, abseiling and rollerblading! We’ve been busy over the last few months getting to grips with rollerblading so hopefully it won’t slow us too much. The kit list for the race is coming together at the moment and we’re pestering everyone for the loan of gear. Thanks for the help guys!

At the moment 26 teams have registered and looking at the list there is a good mix of both novice and experienced teams. Its great to have so many taking part so it should be alot of fun. The race format is made up of multiple stages, each one consisting of multiple control points (cp) covering multiple disciplines. All cp’s are optional with the exception of those located at the transitions (ta) between stages. Each cp has a number of points associated with it and the winner is determined by the number of points accumulated during the course of the event. In the event of teams having the same points then time is used as the basis of determining final position.

The race this year will have live gps tracking so you’ll be able to follow us on our journey.

Check out the race webite for more details: http://ars.adventurerace.si/

You can also follow us on Twitter: @getnosleepar I’ll be tweeting in the run up to the race.

First time to do this race – a lack of any real pre race training meant it was gonna be tough.  Perfect prep for our next big Adventure race, the 3 day Slovenia AR. Getting support crew was  more of a challenge than anticipated, but thankfully through our social network that is Facebook  Cormac Power came to the rescue – and I am sure I will say it as I go on, did an outstanding  job!!! My packaing was done in a rush late Friday evening. I managed to pack all the race gear  minus socks n jocks…oh  and I forgot my cycle jersey but luckily Finbar had a spare Trailbadger.

We only managed one proper training session on the bikes for this race. That was a 48km cycle  out to Blessington the weekend before to check out our new boat for the race. Thanks to Eoin/  Brian we had the Elio. The rudder was banjaxed but we fixed her up and finally got the hang of  navigating it around Blessington lake. Another 48km cycle home after the paddle, our minds  now at ease after getting to grips with the Elio, we were ready for the C2C.

Friday night came quick and we set off in the direction of Sligo at 7:25 to make the Race Briefing  at 10:15pm. We arrived late to be greated by a large crowd at race briefing. Race numbers were  certainly up this year… should make for some good racing Rowan and Ian were in full swing  and with the briefing out of the way, some quick food, we were checking into Iasc Na Mara B&B  (thanks Ivan) for 5 hours sleep.

Up at 6:00am it was onto Enniscrone Beach for the 5km run. At 7:15am the horn sounded and we were off to a run straight into a strong head wind – the first battle with the elements of the day!!! The wind blew but it didn’t stop the race setting off at a pretty fast pace. It was nice to see Marty running with his normal race ethicate – sprint start It wasn’t long before the  crowds started to draft off Finbar and I, well maybe just Enda. Thoughts of how we were going to cycle 107km in this wind was all that was in our minds at this point. The 5km on the beach seemed to go quickly but the 6:00am Fry wasn’t happy where it was sitting. I was happy to get onto the bikes and it wasn’t long before Finbar was in Time Trial mode beating down the road in the direction of Easkey. There was no early morning surfers about as we cycled out the road and into the wind.

Halfway point seemed along way away as we headed to Dromore west. Although we had come off the beach run in good positon we know it wouldn’t be long before the Cyclists would pass by – I kind of hoped we wouldn’t have to many as I knew Finbar would be in pursuit and I wasn’t sure I was ready for the injection of pace. First to join us was Mickey but we settled and began pulling away from him. Next to join us was Enda and a lad from West Cork. They were moving well, using one another for wind cover, swapping wheels, it was a lesson for me as I tucked in behind Finbar. We chatted to one another checking pace and we were going well. Finbar had one eye on the clock and the other firmly planted on Enda (rather than the road) we had them in site for another 10km or so before we were over taken by a big lad on one of those Tri Bikes with a milkshake on the front. He had a big smile for us as we panted into the wind. 30KM in a group of bees assceded on us – well it was 4 cyclists – two to our front and two behind before  eventually taking off ahead of us. Finbar set off in pursuit as I busted a gut to remain in tow to do the same. We seemed to race up and down hills at a pretty fast pace – the race was on and we weren’t letting go!! We peddled hard with this group and before we knew it we were at the half way. Cycling in the group made it go from pain to being there in a flash.

A quick dib at the halfway cp and a bottle swap with Cormac we were off again. Enda left transition at much the same time so smiles alround. He was impressed to see us making up such ground on the bikes. The group got separated at the transition – some just stayed there to put on their windblockers as we raced off in pursuit of the nearest rider. Enda had headed off but we could see him trying to group with another rider. This wasn’t working for him so after about another 20km of riding in the wind and the rain we caught up to him. We rode the last 30km of the day together still moving at a hard pace – faster than our Adventure Raceing pace but I guess we were on roadbikes for a change. Team Get No Sleep were now in motion (without the girl) The rain and cold got worse as we approached the end of the cycle leg. Our hands and feet were getting really cold!!! We turned on to the Kingfisher Cycle trail and cycled over the speedbumps in the direction of the kayak transition.

At the transition we needed a quick change of gear as we were soaked and numb. We pumped the food in as we scrumaged for shoes and bouncy aids. Cormac already had the boat next to the water. My back was crippled and I needed to stretch it before getting into the life Jacket. We sardined ourselves into the boat and wobbled out into the middle of the water. The wind was minimal an we headed off for the first lock gate.

As we hit the  gte, we tucked in and had our first experience of carrying the boat out and over the  gates or “Portage”. Luckily for Enda he had his brother close by and we gave him a hand in the first one. I don’t know how Enda did the 26km in a single in that wind. Fair play lad!!! As we headed toward the gate there was another double kayak in front of us.It was Mark Young and Paul Cole. We’d meet up at each of the lock gates but the lads would pull away slightly in between. They reached the  lough Gardice before us and we followed them out into choppy waters in the middle of the lake. The wind howled across the lake as we continually re-asserted ourselves on the water. Our steering was good and we followed the others out across the lake passing two singles. At this point we noticed a buoy off to our left, we had been warned in the briefing that nav was tricky at this point. We had made a small error but quickly corrected ourselves. The only problem now was the waves were coming to the side of the boat so our momentum was much slower as we took great care not to topple – middle of the lake isn’t really the best place for this. Other racers weren’t as lucky. We heard stories of at least 5 people taking the plunge!!

We hit the halfway point on the paddle with the other pair who had broken their rudder and were struggling to keep control of their boat. Luckily for them the hardest lake was behind them with only 3 small lake to battle with. Cormac was at hand again, bananas, oranges, dibbed and we were off again. This was the last 13km and the longest 13km we have ever kayaked. The lads pulled away kayking out of sight as we started to fade a little – our lack of kayaking over the winter was starting to kick in. At this point I was bursting to use the toilet and being surrounded by water wasn’t helping my mental state!! Eventually after passing multiple ports we hit Ballyconnell to be greeted by some Cavan supporters!!!! Finbars parents!! We hadn’t much time for chit chat. “Mam we’re on the clock, chat to you at the finish” We jumped onto the bikes for a cold cold cycle across the border into Fermanagh reaching the finish of Day 1 at the Share Centre after almost 8 hours racing. We finished in 4^th place overall and we’re 10 minutes down on the second pair of Young and Cole. Pauls brother Peter was well out in front along with Peter Crommie. No one was touching these lads! A quick massage, a trip down the chipper (food of champions) and then off for a much needed shower. That evening we had a huge meal, good craic with fellow competitors and support crew. At the meal positions and start times were handed out. We were 4^th last to leave the following moring. After a lot of tactical conversations the heads were put down.

The following morning we were up at 6:45 with a lot of anxiety on how the body was going to perform. But everyone was in the same situation. After a fry we headed off for a 7:40 takeoff. Our exit strategy was to save ourselves on the bike and try and pull back whatever time Mark and Paul would put into us on the bikes.We were hoping to hold out until the half way point on the bike before anyone caught us, and when they did we were going to hang on to them, I think that plan went out the window after about 2 minutes. We put the boot down and sped off The wind was less but the course seemed to have a lot more hills compared with the previous days racing. Could have been tired legs also. As we passed through Aughnacloy and Caledon we could see the different support crews coming in and out of the laybys. As we approached the halfway point we were moving well, swapped bottles and told Cormac we would not be requiring a refill until we hit Kilbroney Park. It was a sign we were feeling well. Around the 70km mark we caught up with Sean McFarlane, He was in 2^nd position in the individual race. He asked could he jump on and we said no problem as we headed into Armagh. In Armagh came a long  climb – as we started the climb we heard the noise of Peter Crommie, Cole and Antoine upon us. Peter Crommie was in front with Antoine stuck to “his wheel” reminding me as we tried to duck in behind Peter Cole. These guys were moving at a fair pace and we tucked in at the back. I wasn’t able to hold on as we climbed further and further up the hill out of Armagh and so we eventually had to leave the leader group go. It wasn’t worth killing ourselves as we still had the Mountain Run to go.

Soon after, Antoine pulled to the side of the road with a punture. His support crew were on the scene immediatly switching wheels out and he was back up and running. We passed  surprised by what had happened…. support being received outside a an official support point? It wasn’t long before Antoine was passing us again… this time stuck to the wheel of the support van drafting?..or maybe it was just the traffic

At the 80km mark the Mark and Paul were still 3 minutes back, and at this stage they weren’t going to catch us. Ivan was encouraging us along and we knew it wouldn’t be long before the transition. It was a killer hill into Kilbroney, a quick change, food and runners on we set off up the hill stuffing our faces as we went. We didn’t rush the first 1km, settling ourselves for the long run ahead. The beginning of the run was mostly fireroad and it was nice on the odd downhill. 32km wasn’t really on our minds – more that we knew we had a 4.5hr run ahead of us and we were doing good. As we hit the first CP, we met Cormac and Ivan who were able to tell us that we were 10 minutes ahead of the lads. We were movong at a good pace on the hills. It wasn’t long before we were on Sandbank Road and heading up the hen track where we needed more food and a gel to get us on to Spelga Dam. Here we met Cormac for the last time in the route. Finbar had a shoe change – he knew what was ahead, although we had only 16km left 10km of it was pretty horrid to have at this stage of the race. We ran on down the road reminiscing of the Cooley Raid race which passed through the same area. As we got to the end of the road , Rowan pulledup informing us that we had put 25minutes into the lads in 3^rd. This gave us a good lift and we headed into the mouintains in high spirit. We moved at a good pace over the hills until Hares gap, this is an awful climb at this part of the race – but because we were prepared it really didn’t seem that bad. At the top of the Gap the wind was there to greet us and we ran along the brandy pad until we came to the Castles and then it was up over the col to the stile and the end of any climbing.

Downhill from here but what a descent, 4 billion steps as we Irished danced our way down the hill – its hard to concentrate when your tired. Again we had been here previously, but in the opposite direction for the Cooley Raid. This descent went on for a long time, but the legs didn’t mind too much. From there it was the final descent and on to the promendade!!! Reality!!! The run along the promenade is a little surreal after two days hard racing!! We were happy to see the large black arch in the distance. Finbar managed to lift us one more time with a sprint crossing the line to finish in 2^nd place?…. fingers crossed. We had an anxious 16 minutes to wait before we knew for sure. A few wind up merchants playing games but we were happy with our performance no matter what the result! 16 minutes later 2^nd place was confirmed.

All in all 2 great days racing and excellent preparation for our next adventure in Solvenia !!!

Big thanks to Cormac for being a super support crew . Ian and Rowan and Volunteers for a super organised race!! We had a great weekend among friends and look forward to doing it again. Finally well done to all that competed, and to Peter Crommie and Peter Cole on a fine WIN!!!