Warren Swords

17 February, 2014

My first IMRA race of the year and with it, the familar post race DOMS, the cravings for chocolate and beer.

Last minute decison to run the race but Trooperstown is a challenging route and the descent is great craic. Lovely weather with blue skies and snowy summits made for a nice start.

Looking at this year's results, it appears there's been a lot of training done by some folk, some great runs at Ticknock. The race start wasn't too hectic with a group of 10 or so taking the lead. I don't think there was any previous IMRA race winners in the race so it was set for an interesting race up front.

By the time we got to the off road after 2km, there was a small group of 7 or so at the front now with a couple of us a few seconds back. I was feeling reasonably ok and was relieved to be off the road, running the climbs well. Fortune soon caught up with me, so decided to give chase and upped the pace.

Conditions were pretty decent, not as sloppy with firm ground in places. The climb over Boots was tough with the unwelcoming sound of feet behind me. There was no let up on the following 1km descent, struggling to keep with Fortune and keep ahead of the chasers. We did seem to be catching some of the group ahead though.

Pushing hard now and the legs were feeling it. Finally over the top of Trooperstown and put the foot down for the last section. Or so I thought. Turns out we weren't at the top, it was just a brief downhill before the final climb. Struggling now and got caught by one runner, possibly two. Gave a last push going over the top to keep the two lads in sight for the descent.

V fast and technical descent with plenty of lines to choose from. Recovered one place and was pushing hard. Didn't see the huge drop and was on it before I realised. Fluked getting over this and picked up another place before reaching the road. Picked up another place before reaching the last forest section with two runners ahead. One of them missed the last turn, we gave him a shout, and picked up another spot by luck.

Good win by Eoghan Carton for his IMRA win? Took it by 30 seconds. The course markers did a great job, tape in all the right places. Cheers to Alan and all the volunteers. And to Mtn rescue for use of the building.