Des Kennedy

16 February, 2013

Annacurra was a grand little stop off on the IMRA Winter League road show of 2013. It had perfect facilities for hosting an IMRA run, with the Community Centre Hall used this time round for the race base, registrations, after race presentations and refreshments. The start line was only about 100 metres away beside the church at the entrance to the woodlands. Spent a bit of time getting changed and catching up with some of the good IMRA folk then it was off to do a warm up on the lower reaches of the course. There are some fantastically laid out trails through nice woodlands right on the village doorstep. The local community deserve a lot of credit for the way these trails have been developed and maintained. The weather was behaving nicely too as we were provided with a drier, milder day than we had been used to lately.

After a nice little warm up, it was time to take off the outer layers and get ready for the race. I did a few short stride-outs on the finishing straight while the hordes were getting assembled on the start line. I then took my place in the bunch and listened on intently as Mick gave us the pre-race lowdown on what to expect.

Then we were off. A group comprising some familiar faces and some relative newcomers formed at the head of affairs. We were travelling at a fairly leisurely pace for the first few hundred metres. As we started in to the climb I decided to take it out and increase the pace. Nice gradual climbing on well tended gravel paths for a few hundred metres followed. We then came to a road crossing. With a quick check right and left we crossed the road and leaped up into the woods on the other side. There were nice soft conditions under foot in this short, twisty wooded section and I’d be glad of the X-Talon grip through here on the way back down. We were out on to a fire road shortly and the climb became more gradual for a bit.

I kept the pace up on this stretch. At this stage the only other runner that I was aware of was Paddy O’Leary of the Bree AC club in County Wexford, who was at my right shoulder. We rounded a bend and started into the first steep climb. I was feeling strong and was able to keep a good rhythm going. I could hear Paddy in second place breathing more heavily now and as we got further up the steep climb I could sense a gap developing. I had a bit of a lead at the first summit and tried to keep it as best I could while picking my way through a boggy, branch strewn section. I ended up shin deep in water on a couple of occasions on this stretch. I now had to concentrate on following the markings as I was out alone in front. Fair play to the course markers, they had done a great job, with neat little lines of stripy taped rods leading the way at each junction, like trails of breadcrumbs.

The first descent was a welcome sight and I launched myself wholeheartedly into it. I had to apply the brakes heavily then for the 90 degree right turn. I kept a good pace up here on the short flat section, then it was up again, a steep climb similar to the first. The effort here was harder than that on the first steep climb but I managed to keep a good tempo going. Short quick steps! I was breathing heavier now and the legs and lungs were edging into the red but I kept the effort going and eventually the gradient started to even out. I didn’t know it yet but the worst of the climbing was over at this stage. There was a small bit of uphill left, but it was all gradual and on fire road. I glanced back at one of the junctions here and spotted David Power and Turlough about 30 seconds back. I was to hear after the race that they took a wrong turn shortly after, losing about a minute.

At this point I rounded a right hand turn in to a downhill stretch and could see the massive puddle/small lake ahead totally blocking the fire road. A decision needed to be made fast on how to navigate this obstacle. I didn’t even consider ploughing on through it as I’m a bit out of practice at swimming of late! I was either going to traverse the steep bank to the left or the steep bank to the right. The right won out so up the bank I went with a mixture of climbing and stumbling. Half way across I found that the water cut through the bank so in up to the knees I went. I waded for a couple of steps and then clambered back up on to the bank and stumbled over the remaining section, before jumping the few feet back down on to the fire road. There was a nice easy little downhill section here to aid the drying out of soggy socks and trail shoes, followed by one more longish gradual uphill section on fire road. I passed John Shiels for the second time here, who reassuringly said something about me being out for a leisurely run by myself as I passed. It didn’t feel leisurely as I was still pushing on to maintain the lead. At the end of that section it was downhill for about 3k all the way to the finish. I kept the legs turning over all the way down just in case anyone behind was putting in a master class of descending.

I slowed a bit while passing back through the soft twisty section through the woods. The X-Talons were gripping nicely here but I was still slipping and sliding a bit as I took the twists and turns. I crossed back over the road carefully again and rounded the gate back on to the forest trail. I was nearly home now and could sense victory. I maintained a good clip down the last section of the descent and didn’t let up as I rounded the last bend on to the flat finishing straight. Those two neat rows of miniature orange cones were as always a welcome sight at the end! Two races down and two wins, I didn’t expect that, but you need to make the most of a good spell of form while you have it!

Paddy O’Leary was next in just holding off Brian Furey in a tight finish, then Turlough who had made up good ground following his earlier detour. After some race post mortems and a warm down jog it was back to race headquarters in the Community Centre for soup, sandwiches, a slice of cake and the presentations. The perfect tonic to aid post race recovery! Fair play to Mick Hanney and all the volunteers for putting on this superb event! Well done to first lady home Becky Quinn! Thanks to the good folks of Annacurra for their hospitality and the use of their Community Hall! I look forward to running this one again in future! Might bring the swimming togs the next time!