IMRA Trail League - race 2/3 - Glen of Downs : a race for new activists

08 August, 2014 - Jerome Dupuy

The second race of the TL calendar, nicely positioned after the LL and proposing a bit of a change of terrains compared to the classic open mountain races. Some old-school IMRAers would qualify them as 'easier races'... meaning breaking a leg, cutting yourself badly, or getting completely lost will be slightly harder to achieve than on the regular mountain race.

Arriving at the start nice and early, courtesy of Kevin O'Riordan premium carpooling services, I had plenty of time enjoying the nice views of the Sugar Loaf.

As I was warming up the first steep hill and into the beautiful woodland I felt reflective of the controversial upgrading of the N11 where a campaign of protest delayed the construction of this section of road. But no time to discuss Ireland environmental activism in the 90's as the race start was soon approaching... and a new kind of activists were to reclaim the Glen : the IMRA fell and trail runners all united.

At the start I could see the usual suspects Tommy 'Tumble' Galvin, the IMRA mascot, incapable of missing a race this year, Bernard Fortune who decided to stretch his legs on this fast course prior to tackling the Galtys this weekend for the Irish Championship, Mikey Fry was there with his old bandanna (note he already lost his new IMRA buff, someone do something please !) Mikey was feeling dubious about the lack of elevation of the course and I wondered whether he warmed up on the very first hill if at all, Brian O'Murchu on photography duty once again giving a run for his money to John Shiels of Action Photography . The girls where out as well with Laura and Emma ready to test their speed on the course. I was pleased to see Jimmy Sinnott too that I haven't really seen since my very first IMRA race. Just like me he's been working on his tan lately... an healthy competition all-round.

Finally Barry 'King of the Mountain' Minnock was there too... this easy race hasn't started yet and I knew it would be a hard one.

Time to start : John Bell, who clearly enjoyed his role of race director, gave us the pre-race instructions and route description ... in brief : UP (turn right) + Forest Trails + down + flat + UP + Forest Trails + DOWN ... 3.2.1.'Go'

Mikey authoritatively took the lead straight away and led us onto the steep climb to the forest. After just 300m Barry pushed in front and created a gap I felt I had to close. So much for my initial strategy of an easy start. Already time for Plan B i.e. trying to stay with Barry...

We entered the forest and we exchanged a light joke about jumping the hurdle... that was the only 'light' moment of the race...

Barry was dictating a strong pace and we had already made a significant gap between ourselves and the chasing pack. Not only he clearly was up for it but he also was nicely encouraged by his local fan-base on the trail as we were slaloming swiftly the narrow bushy path of nettles and brambles.

After the first 3k following his pace and getting into his rhythm I decided it was my turn to lead. I took over after the flat car park section.

After a mile in front, where I was trying to gain control, Barry reclaimed the lead and dictated an upgraded version of the already fast pace, nicely turning the screw as we were entering the last third of the race. The uphill sections did not feel much slower than the flat ones really and I felt that he was seriously trying to shake me. I was managing to hang on but for all long ?

Time to think : on a normal basis finishing behind Barry is a victory in itself but in the present circumstances that meant that we would have to battle it out for the Trail League title during the last TL race. Such prospect was seriously worrying me and I knew I would have to make a bold move to avoid another direct and tough confrontation the following week.

We were now in the steepest section of the last climb and the pace was ... yet again ... getting harder, this was the time where I decided to 'attack' in a kamikaze fashion. After pushing upfront in a burst of energy I shortened my strides, increased the cadence and managed to create a 5-meter gap from Barry. It was my turn to try to shake things up.

As we re-entered the familiar path of the woodland, I pushed harder reaching the flat section of the forest keen to benefit from the cover provided by the narrow and bushy trail.

At that point I could feel the lactic acid accumulating in my legs and even in my arms. My running technique was all over the place as I passed by Chief Marking Officer : Peter O'Farrell with his distinctive cycling cap who was encouraging us. That was the 'flamme rouge' of the stage : the last km marker of some sort; Speed not Style was of the essence at that point ! Not a pretty sight !

Reaching the final hurdle -that I ironically could not jump- I looked back and knew I managed to create a sufficient gap. I undertook the last downhill relatively conservatively at last and crossed the 'line' in the winning position being congratulated by John.

A few seconds after, Barry came in and we thanked each other for a great race and battle all along the course.

Then came in Michael McCarthy, a relatively new comer to the IMRA scene, whose showing great results and that had managed to held off a core of IMRA traditional activists composed of Torben Dahl, Bernard Fortune and Alan Lawlor.

The Ladies had a great fight too with Laura Shaughnessy taking the first place as Emma Hand, Joy Johnson and Aisling Ruane followed in good order.

A very successful event. Thanks to John & co for organising it. Thanks to Rachel for the prize-giving ceremony ;)

Let's agree on one thing : that was not by any mean a stroll in the park and these trails while not difficult technically provide different challenges that we all enjoyed I am sure.

A great place worth fighting for and reclaiming once a year on the IMRA calendar.

I am sure we'll be all hitting the open mountains pretty soon with no marking and with the very reassuring compulsory kit composed of map, compass, foil blanket and other survival equipment for a fix. Looking forward to it all the same.
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Finally, I am moving to Sydney soon, this gives me an opportunity to say goodbye to my friends of the IMRA community. I'll miss the banter and the craic running with ye in these beautiful mountains and I am actually sorry I haven't done more of it. I will certainly be looking forward to coming back to Ireland and to the Wicklow mountains specifically for some IMRA races and social mountain runs alike in the future. I'll make sure to keep an eye on the IMRA website anyhow.
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For now, I'll probably see you next week. So you have not seen the back of me just yet ;)

Cheers,

Jerome

Mikey Fry

07 August, 2014

Still nothing good on tv on wednesday nights.....so i decided to head to my first trail run ever with imra....with finishing the sugar loaf a couple of weeks ago had been dunking to many biscuits in my tea thinking thats all the racing for the year that id do so i decided to head to glen of the downs a beautiful part of the country which i pass everyday in the old car.......got there early and had time for the chats which is always nice at the races but by 7.25 myself and jer were ready to get at it as john was chit chatting the route and stuff... as always i thought i knew where i was going....john says on 5....54321 and where off have to say loving the first hill tough and felt like the harder mountain races so i went nice and hard at it barry and jerome soon passed me out and disappear off into the forest entering into the forest was a little bit flattttter(booo to that)so i held third place for another little bit then michael passed me out....was going strong i thought as i passed peter o'farrell standing at the ruins which if you had time theres a nice window that looks over the valley no now keep going....just after there it started to go down hill alan passed me somewhere on the way down so i keep on him as much i could then it got a little flatter and torben and bernard passed me it was pretty fast at this stage and i was wondering if i could keep up this tempo but we just kept going..... so after fork in the road left turn and accross for a bit the bunch of us all kept together nicely to where we had to head back on the lower trail by the hum of the n11 which nice and loud....now i new id start slowing down me flats don't go to well so i kept up the pace watching the lads disappear into the forest also knowing that ronan and caoimhin would be breathing down my neck i could just feel them got passed the horrible flat car park and i'm thinking we go along the road and up the steep bit and around and back to ruins as always i'm very wrong earlier turn right where ronan and coimhin passed me i said good stuff lads head down and up up up to where we'd come before past the golf course etc so now i new i'd gone a bit to fast but hey i now i know not to do trail races again:) so it was me and me alone but i was sure there was some one sneaking up behind me so i was thinking mikey just get to the down hill and they won't catch you and i kept pushing on ....getting to the ruins again i was like yes mostly down hill a couple of little flats at this stage i don't think i could see any runners in front of me maybe the odd flash of a shirt..... (there was a guy ahead of me in blue but had no number most have missed reg bad for him but an extra place ahead for me) so at this stage heading from the ruins i pushed as hard as i could which didn't seem to fast i could hear that there was someone behind me i was right it was dallas flying down after me turned out of the forest and said yes its a great down hill so let your legs go my legs felt like they where going slower then ever i could feel dallas tickling my toes so i just put all the tea dunking in to good use and pushed on thankfully came round the last bend and finish line was there whoop whoop said well done's to the lads and found a spot by torben to reflect on the grouling events.......as always well run event thanks to john and crew for a super race:)) this report is for the slick race marker mr o'farrell enjoy