Wicklow Way Ultra
Forum Messages
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| danny murphy | Jan 18 2009, 8:05pm | Is this just a race or is a compass and map needed? |
| Nigel Plowman | Feb 16 2009, 1:55pm | How do you enter this race, I assume you need to pre-regiester for this event ? Are there any prerequisites for the WW Ultra or WW Trail races ? |
| Marc Barrett | Mar 4 2009, 11:31am | I'm planning on running the WW Ultra and I want to familiarise myself with the route. I understand the OSI map 56 covers the area (which I have) and that Harvey's walking maps may be of use (which I don't). The map of the course on this site seems to just mark the start point (?). Is there a more difinitive route available ? Basically, I don't want to turn up on the day, run a couple of miles and then get totally lost. |
| Brendan Lawlor | Mar 4 2009, 11:53am | Marc Scroll down on the Maps page and you'll see the route..watch this forum thread for any route variations |
| Marc Barrett | Mar 4 2009, 2:02pm | Ahh, now I see. I'm guessing that's the OSI map grabbed there ? So how easy is this to follow 'on the ground'. If I turn up at the start this weekend to say try a half is there a clearly defined path along it's route or will I essentially be doing a bit of orientiering to get along ? Also, do runners generally carry anything along with them for this event, (beyond what one might carry in a road marathon) such as a map, compass, camelbak, mobile ? Thanks |
| Chris O'Neill | Mar 4 2009, 5:28pm | How do we enter this race |
| Turlough Conway | Mar 4 2009, 11:02pm | Entry fot this race is at registration on the day. There is no pre-entry. |
| Chris Oneill | Mar 5 2009, 9:31am | Cheers see you all there. I am a novice trail/Mountain runners. I assume we carry camel pack with water etc and as i am not familiar with area i will have to follow leaders Lol |
| Brendan Lawlor | Mar 5 2009, 11:06am | Chris The WW Ultra is not a race for novice mountain runners and certainly, following other runners is not an option. You might want to start with something less ambitious or else do a proper recce over the route (out and back maybe a few times) While most of the route is on the waymarked Wicklow Way, there are still a number of places you could get lost and getting lost doesn't help the race organisers |
| Dermot Murphy | Mar 5 2009, 11:33am | We are looking for volunteers for the Wicklow Way Ultra and Trail races. We mainly need non running volunteers to help out with the food stations at Curtlestown and Crone and for the finish. Please note that there is a requirement that you should bring sufficient food with you for the run - the food stations will only be there if we have the volunteers! If you want to run and also volunteer, we would also need help with registration for the day and also car parking at Lough Tay. For people running the trail race, please meet at Johnny Foxes first and car pool to the start at Lough Tay. Single occupant cars will be sent away at Lough Tay. If you want to Volunteer, please use the myImra volunteer facility. If you do not have access to myImra, please send me a mail at dermot.murphy at imra.ie - I will need your mobile number to register you on to myImra. Dermot. |
| Marc Barrett | Mar 5 2009, 11:34am | Chris, have a look at the forum for the half marathon (Wiklow Way Trail) on this site. It's got more detail on familiarising yourself with the route. I plan on running both halves prior to the race to recce the route. |
| Chris O'neill | Mar 5 2009, 12:07pm | Appreciate concerns. I am basically using this race as preparation for an Ultra marathon i am training for in May. It is local hilly and in ireland and is the only race that suits my programme and distance needs in early April. I will be running part of route with a friend who knows areas in the weeks beforehand. I do have previous Long distance experience over tough courses. |
| Mick Hanney | Mar 5 2009, 3:49pm | Are there pre-requisites for the WW trail and ultra races? If so they could be added to the Events tab and it might save a bit on the Q&A? For instance, should a runner be mandatorily required to have recce'd the route or run it before and/or run other imra events? |
| Chris O'Neill | Mar 11 2009, 2:52pm | Can anyone shed any light on the above post by Mick Hanney regading pre requisites for the Ultra race. Also i note from forum on this race in 2006 that 'on the day entries' were NOT accepted.????? |
| Peter O'Farrell | Mar 11 2009, 4:32pm | This year there are ONLY on the day entries which will probably only be taken at Johnny Foxes, the closing time for entries will be posted once decided upon. In previous years there have been requirements to either; Recce the route Have completed an IMRA race previously Have completed the WW25/50km previously Be one of the first 60 entered Instructions on this year's rules will be posted on this topic and as a news item once decided upon. cheers, Peter |
| Justin Rea | Mar 11 2009, 4:44pm | Further to Peter's mail . . . The only pre-requisites for IMRA races have normally been for safety considerations. i.e. carrying of water, food and rain jacket. However these are only usually checked if the weather is likely to be bad on the day. Mick's reference to familiarity with the route is due to entrants turning up on day with no idea where they are going, and subsequently getting lost. This is a major headache for organisers who have to arrange search parties, etc. It sounds like you are already planning to cover the route, which will help you considerably on the day. Pre-entry was used by previous organisers who were not covered by IMRA member insurance. As this now an IMRA race, and you must joint IMRA to register, there is no pre-entry required. Note that you can join IMRA on the day. |
| Chris O'neill | Mar 12 2009, 8:46am | Cheers lads. I will recce route and Join IMRA on the day |
| robbie williams | Mar 25 2009, 4:20pm | hi....just a quick question ye said in an earlier post that following other runners is not an issue? I would really like to take part in the ultra trail and have done other long distance mountain events, i do not know these mountains but two friends of mine (who are locals in the area and train in the trail area) are wishing to run it so could we all run together? I dont think our speed standard would contest with the top guys so it wouldnt be a case of upsetting the score board!!! hope you can help... robbie Cork |
| robbie williams | Mar 25 2009, 4:20pm | hi....just a quick question ye said in an earlier post that following other runners is not an issue? I would really like to take part in the ultra trail and have done other long distance mountain events, i do not know these mountains but two friends of mine (who are locals in the area and train in the trail area) are wishing to run it so could we all run together? I dont think our speed standard would contest with the top guys so it wouldnt be a case of upsetting the score board!!! hope you can help... robbie Cork |
| Dermot Murphy | Mar 25 2009, 4:40pm | Hi Robbie I would not have an issue with that, as long as the three of you can stick together. If you are doing the Ultra, make sure to bring some food and water with you, as well as a mobile phone. |
| William Griffin | Mar 25 2009, 7:10pm | Is there any room left on the bus?? |
| Mick Hanney | Mar 26 2009, 9:10am | According to the carpool the bus is full. Justin can confirm I'm sure. |
| Chris O'neill | Apr 2 2009, 2:57pm | Query. Does the Ultra start at Johnny Foxes and runners go out to Lough Tay and back to Fox's |
| Jason Kehoe | Apr 2 2009, 3:01pm | Yes Chris it does. |
| robbie williams | Apr 2 2009, 6:18pm | hi...just a quickie... am thinking of travalling up sat week to do ultra. have two friends from the area who were going to do it but now they are not. i have plenty of experience in long distance mountain/trail distance but do not know the wicklow mountains too well, except for doing the art o neill run in jan. so im wondering is it ok to use a gps and map ?? i just read that its an out and back course so i guess that eliminates any transport problems for the ultra runners? lastly. im not a member of imra so i can just join on the day and pay for the event on the day? sorry for the questions --just havnt done an imra event before... thank you robbie |
| robbie williams | Apr 2 2009, 6:23pm | hi...just a quickie... am thinking of travalling up sat week to do ultra. have two friends from the area who were going to do it but now they are not. i have plenty of experience in long distance mountain/trail distance but do not know the wicklow mountains too well, except for doing the art o neill run in jan. so im wondering is it ok to use a gps and map ?? i just read that its an out and back course so i guess that eliminates any transport problems for the ultra runners? lastly. im not a member of imra so i can just join on the day and pay for the event on the day? sorry for the questions --just havnt done an imra event before... thank you robbie |
| Chris O'Neill | Apr 3 2009, 9:06am | Cheers Jason, I am doing a recce run of route in morning to familiarise myself prior to race. Fingers crossed the weather remains as it is today. Rgs, |
| Dermot Murphy | Apr 3 2009, 9:20am | Hi Robbie - how are your map reading skills? If you are a competent navigator it should not be a problem. The race for the Ultra does not actually starts on the WW - there is a couple of kilometers on road first. It then follows the WW on a mixture of fire road and track. The WW is marked - on roads by brown signs and off tarmac roads by stakes with a yellow hiking sign indicating the direction to go. There are a few spots were you can go wrong if you are not careful. You do not seem to be too worried about the distance so you should be OK there, but you will have an element of navigation if you do not know the route and you will need to be comfortable with that. |
| Niamh O Ceallaigh | Apr 3 2009, 9:42am | Hi Robbie, You will be fine. Using a map and GPS will not be a problem at all. The route is waymarked, but you really need to keep your eyes peeled for the little yellow men. As you are doing the ultra, you will probably not have people to follow for the whole thing. Not too many people do the ultra and they tend to get strung out over the 44km. A brief summary of the route is below with possible areas where you could potentially go wrong. Start - along the road a couple of km. Left turn. It is well signed for Wicklow Way. Follow road till becomes a track and continue up long drag, looking out for WW signs at any junctions. Track becomes a stony path. After going along the stony path for 5 mins or so, you need to look out for the left turn downhill. Straightforward from here down to the road as long as you follow WW signs at the junctions. At road, once again follow WW signs down road, left down another road, left onto forest track. Towards end of track it is a right down a steep track that leads you to the road NB THis is where you do not follow the WW signs!! When you reach the road, turn LEFT. Run up the road a few hundred meters. You will pass a large modern hostel on the left. Just past the hostel, there is a gate on the right into a field. Climb the gate and follow the fence on your right around a 90 degree bend, then on straight. You then need to start to veer left. There is a grassy path that will bring you through a line of small trees that goes accross the field. Once you go through the line of trees, you will see the grassy path splits. You take the one on the left. This will bring you downhill, then down some wooden steps. If you find yourself clambouring downhill through a forrest, you have gone too far left. At the bottom of the steps, keep left. You will see a bridge over the river. Cross the river. You are now back on the Wicklow Way and can follow the waymarks. From here on you will follow track up to road. Up road, into Crone Wood. It is all well signed. Up forrest tracks, out onto hillside. Down to Dargle River, up other side. You will go over a stile over a stone wall. Shortly (100m uphill approx.) after this style, you will need to look out for the next style on your right over a wall again. It is signed, but you don't want to miss it! Continue to follow WW signs up grassy track, around side of Djouce mountain onto board walk, over White's Hill. As you are decending down the boardwalk off White's Hill, the Wicklow Way boardwalk takes a left over a walkway. You don't follow it, but head straight down the track to where it passes through a small bit of forrestry immediately before the road. This is the half way point! Depending on what time you are likely to do, you will either see all the people doing the shorter Trail waiting to start, or they will have past you running the opposite way before you arrive at the halfway point. Either way, you should have company on the run back. Good Luck Oh and if I have made it sound really complicated - it's not. Just keeps your eyes open for the WW waymarks, and an eye on your map. |
| Bruce Shenker | Apr 3 2009, 11:32am | >>Follow road till becomes a track and continue up long drag, looking out for WW signs at any junctions. The first part of the Wicklow way has one tricky junction after the initial climb from the bridge there is a right turn which is not that well marked and it is easy to continue straight on and get very lost. This may be old news but I remember some people(I think it was Toney and Aisling) missing this in 2005 and being lost for ages |
| Marc Barrett | Apr 3 2009, 1:06pm | For the first part of the Ultra, do you follow the road around until it becomes track or jump over a wall/fence earlier on and cross a field coming onto the track by a gate marked 'No trespassing'? I thought this crossing point for the trail runners would be easier to spot on the north bound leg (they hop over that 'No trespassing fence') but not so for the Ultras travelling south ? |
| Diarmuid O'Clmi | Apr 3 2009, 8:14pm | Hi Marc, I think your queston is fully addressed in Namhs desription. The No Trespassn sign is actualy on a gate on the right hand side of the road just past the Youth Hostel at Knockree. The sign is visible to runners coming South (i.e Ultra runners) Comng north, my assumption is that when coming up the field and approaching this area we should run around the fenced off segment of field (i.e not take the shortcut through this segment by crossing the fence). This brings us directly to the field side of the gate described above. There may or may not be a No Trespass sign on the fence in the field - I suspect not. |
| Marc Barrett | Apr 3 2009, 9:31pm | Diarmuid, I think we are talking about different stages in the course. When you are travelling north, leaving Crone Woods, the Wicklow Way crosses a wooden bridge and goes left, while the 'course' continues straight and comes out at the youth hostel. The 'No Trespassing' sign I'm talking about is up near Glencullen, as you come down into the valley, there's another 'No trespassing' sign there. Pass it and you run down to some houses and sheds before turning right back towards Glencullen, jump over the fence at that point and you cut that turn off. It's possible I'm mixing the two 'short cuts' up and the 2nd (more northerly) 'No Trespassing' sign is to be ignored ? (i.e. don't take that short cut). |
| Diarmuid O'Colmain | Apr 6 2009, 11:05am | Hi, not sure where you are talking about. Once you start coming downhill on the vehicle width trail on your way to Boranaraltry Bridge, there are no decisions to be taken. Just follow the trail downhill passing through a couple of gates until you get to Boranaraltry Bridge. Then follow the tarmac road up to the Glencullen road and turn right. But I guess I must be missing something that you have seen. |
| Marc Barrett | Apr 6 2009, 2:31pm | Your right Diarmuid. Ran it again on Saturday, I now know the 'youth hostel' short cut. There's no short cut at Boranaralty Bridge, you just follow the road around and back to Johnny Foxes. |
| Dermot Murphy | Apr 7 2009, 9:29am | Some additional instructions for saturday - most of these already discussed above. Registration for the WW Ultra will commence at 9:10 at Johnny Foxes and close at 9:50am. The race will start promptly at 10am. Registration for the WW Trail will start at 10:15am, also at Johnny Foxes, and close at 11:15am. Please do not try to register before this, as we will be dealing with the Ultra runners at that stage. You will just be asked to come back at 10:15 in any case. The Trail race will start at Lough Tay - please note there will be no registrations taken at Lough Tay. Please car pool as much as possible - the bus that Justin has organised is full but it may be worth asking him if anyone has had to pull out and their place is free. Food/drink - I would encourage all runners to bring some emergency food/drink with them, especially the Ultra runners. There will be opportunities to get some food/drink at the stations at Crone wood and also Curtlestown, as well as the turning point/start point at Lough Tay. Clothing - be sensible about this. Keep a close key on the forecast the day or two before and make sure you have appropriate clothing. At this stage, it looks like there may be some showers on saturday so I would expect everyone to at least have ran proof top. Carrying a mobile would also be a good idea. I would expect everyone to be familiar with the route, or at least be a competent navigator. You can also run alongside someone else who knows the route, as long as you both understand this from the start. If there are doubts about anyones ability to find their way around the course, they may be turned away at registration. This would be for their own safety. |
| Dermot Murphy | Apr 8 2009, 12:07pm | Quick note regarding car parking. Johnnie Foxes have asked me to make sure that our runners use the overflow car park - this is the car park on the opposite side of the road to the pub. Please do not use the car park adjoining the pub itself. |
| Peter O'Farrell | Apr 8 2009, 3:29pm | Hi, I received no emails or contact details from the people who are carpooling with me. Please email peter.ofarrell@imra.ie to confirm your lift. cheers, Peter |
| Jason Kehoe | Apr 9 2009, 8:46am | Peter, I had the same problem for carpool to Black Mountain. I didn't have my mail address in my IMRA profile. You may also have to choose the option to 'Show my email address to' "Members" too. Cheers, Jason |
| Dermot Murphy | Apr 12 2009, 2:47pm | Provisional results from yesterday - apologies for any mis-spelled results - these should be corrected when the manual results are uploaded on the system: Position Number Name Time M/F 1 247 Eoin Keith 217:30 M 2 405 Dave Mathers 242:27 M 3 408 Chris O'Neill 244:40 M 4 65 Martin Francis 248:35 M 5 410 Colm Rothery 249:40 M 6 406 Moire O'Sullivan272:04 F 7 224 Conor O'Meara 280:53 M 8 126 Richard Nunan 284:04 M 9 244 Mary Jennings 297:42 F 10 409 Robbie Williams 320:12 M 11 415 Jeff Fitzsimon 320:12 M 12 87 David Brady 327:46 M 13 226 Noel Plowman 329:10 M 14 407 Peter Ferris 332:20 M 15 412 Eric Fahey 334:53 M 16 413 Pearse Fahey 334:53 M 17 411 Fred Hanny 343:02 M 18 414 Gary Kirwan 374:16 M 19 404 Ian Taylor 387:56 M 20 1218 Don MacKinnon 462:50 M 21 118 Declan Donnelly 478:35 M |
| Moire O'Sullivan | Apr 12 2009, 4:06pm | Just to reiterate all the good things said on the Trail forum topic, thanks again to Dermot and all the gang on a really well organised race and all the water / food / moral support on route. Thanks also for making the sun shine and for all the spectaculor mountain views - nice job! |
| Chris O'Neill | Apr 14 2009, 11:02am | Once again well done to organisers and all volunteers last saturday. Great event. |
| Denise / Dale Mathers | Apr 16 2009, 9:18am | Just to say what a great event both the Ultra and Trail runs. Came down from Co Armagh to support my husband Dale on the Ultra. It was great to meet up with some really nice people at the different food stations especially Mary at Crone Wood who was doing a really tough job on her own. It was also nice to meet up with Sam who was supporting her boyfriend Chris and well done to everyone who competed in the both events. I'm definitly doing the trail run next year and hopefully the weather will be as good as this year. Well done to Dermot on his organisation too. |
| Fred Hamond | Apr 17 2009, 10:32am | Thanks to everyone for a great event last Saturday - well worth the trip down from Belfast. Surprised at how good the weather was as well. Keep up the good work! |
