Pat Foley

11 March, 2015

After arriving at the Crone Wood car park on Saturday morning it was great to see everyone enjoying the mild weather. There was a real spring feel to the day and I had to remind myself that this was the last leg of the “Winter league”. As we gathered around for the pre-race talk there was no sign of a breeze blowing along the tree tops. Brian, the race director kept the talk short and to the point. There was a wonderful piece of advice “this is mountain running, people will go wrong, don’t let it be you!”. There was a light hearted moment when Brian used the opportunity to promote an upcoming IMRA social event and the steep climbs that lay ahead of us all were forgotten about briefly.
Before we knew it we were off up the short fire road, around the corner and climbing up the first path through the wood. There was a short respite along the road before taking on the second path through the wood. After emerging from the second wood, there was an opportunity to get some breath back while taking in the magnificent views of the Glencree valley to the right hand side. This beautiful sight was swiftly replaced with a view of grass, heather and the soles of other runners shoes as we made our way up the infamous grassy hill. At this stage of the race Eoin was leading with Mikey not far behind. Bernard and Damien were also up there.
At the top of the grassy hill I tried to convince myself that the most difficult part of the race was over. We turned right, stepped over the gate and made our way through the open mountain to the top of Maulin. There was a strong wind blowing and I would have been blown over if it was not for the shelter provided my Mikey right in front of me. Past the summit and on towards the steep descent it was Eoin who was leading with Bernard and Mikey following. The gap between Mikey and myself widened as I was employing the brakes quite regularly on the downhill.
Later on, there appeared to be a bit of confusion at a junction just before the zig-zag downhill section. When I arrived at the scene, the correct route had been decided on and I could see Bernard racing into the lead with Mikey following in second place. I slotted in at third but this was short lived as Eoin soon passed me as he made up some ground. He soon passed Mikey and was closing the gap on Bernard too. Later on I passed Mikey which was the reverse of what happened a week earlier towards the end of the race in Annacurra. As I approached the last hill, Ronan the marshall kindly pointed left. Over my shoulder I could hear Mikey shout to Ronan “I’m wrecked “ or something to that effect with more colourful language. Ascending that final hill, Eoin seemed to find another gear and overtook Bernard and didn’t lose the lead again. As I reached the top and made my way to the final downhill stretch, I was expecting Mikey or Damien or someone else to overtake me. I found out later that Damien had hurt his ankle just after the summit. I kept the head down and was glad to turn the final corner and see the cones at the finish line. It was my highest placed finish in an IMRA race. Looking forward to the summer league now.