Charles Barrington Memorial Race
- Description:
- Sugar Loaf ascent and descent from Kilmacanogue
- County:
- Wicklow
- Date:
- Wednesday 27th December, 2006
- Time:
- 12:00
- Climb (m):
- 429
- Distance (km):
- 6.00
- Leagues:
- Route Description:
- Starts on the road up to Kilmacanogue GAA Club and goes to the summit of the Great Sugarloaf and back again. The finish is at the GAA club. There will be a shorter route for under 12s.
- Organisers Instructions:
Please read all the instructions. Entry form can be downloaded at the bottom.
The first man to climb the infamous Eiger ? a fearsome mountain in Switzerland and killer of many people over the years ? was Irish. In 1858, the young Charles Barrington climbed the mountain for a bet with two hired local guides.
Just before the summit of the ?Ogre?, the guides tried to push ahead of him to bag the summit first, but Barrington whipped a revolver out of his knapsack telling them he'd blow their brains out if he wasn't the first up. They conceded!
Barrington had strong Wicklow connections and a great interest in anything sporting ? once buying and training a horse himself to win the Irish Grand National - for a bet, of course! When visiting the English Lake District, he saw a mountain race, so decided to have one in Ireland.
In 1870, he organized a race up and down the Sugarloaf and let it be known that the winner would get a gold watch from him. The news spread, and on the day of the race, a strong field of many tough runners from around Ireland had gathered at the foot of the mountain in anticipation of the expensive watch.
When Barrington's gun went, they were reduced to the role of spectators as the aptly named Tom Hill ? an even tougher Wicklow man - showed everybody a clean pair of heels and pocketed the golden watch.
Moving on in time, we come to the present, and with the Wicklow 400 in full swing, the Irish Mountain Running Association with the help of Bray Town Council, the Wicklow 400 Committee, and Charles Barrington's great great grand nephew Ron are commemorating Charles Barrington with a Memorial Race up and down the Sugarloaf.
The first prize is ? you guessed it! - a gold watch! There will be other watches for the first Wicklow runner and the first woman, and other prizes throughout the field.
The 3.5 mile race starts at 12 noon on Wednesday 27th December close to the Glencormac Inn in Kilmacanogue and the first 200 entries will get a commemorative t-shirt. Entries can be done on line through this site by clicking and downloading the Entry Form, and then emailing the entry details to imra@iol.ie Your race number will be emailed back to you and you should bring the completed form and entry fee of ?10 when collecting your number up to 30 mins before the start. (Existing 2006 IMRA members should also fill in their race number if they know it).
However, entries will also be taken manually up to one hour before the start at the Glencormac Inn, but t-shirts may be an issue so get your entries in online!!!
Download Charles Barrington Memorial Entry Form
- Prizegiving Location:
- Glencormac Inn, Kilmacanogue
Volunteers (Non-Running)
You need to have done 2 non-running volunteer roles in a calendar year to qualify for end of year prize
Volunteers (Running)
Check with race director if they have a need for people volunteering and running. Race directors need a minimum number of people available throughout the race to make the race work so non-running volunteers are preferable. While it can be helpful, volunteering in a volunteer and race capacity does not count towards qualifying for end of year prize
