Devils Glen

13 August, 2015 - Mick Hanney

An event tinged by sadness with the sudden passing of Seamus Kilcullen. Poignant words and solemn silence before the race start to remember one of our own.

A fine sunny evening greeted runners arriving for the Devils Glen trail race. Devil's Glen is one of Wicklow's little jewels. A wonderful mix of trails and views. Some short tough climbs and fun fast downhills. Lots of other trails to explore beyond the scope of the current race too.

The turn-out was excellent for an end of season trail race, including welcome returns from the likes of Des Kennedy, Turlough Conway and Rafael Salazar. Good to see one of our international runners Ian Conroy there too, though most of us just saw him for a split second at the start before he was gone! A welcome return from injury for Dermot Murphy too.

Damien Coyle stood in as a first time race-director for this race and his organisation was flawless. His enthusiasm for the role infectious. Be careful Damien. If you are excellent at this you might find yourself asked to do it a lot!

After a countdown of 5 we were off. Ian Conroy vanished up the initial climb. The rest of us clambering behind. A short but steep initial section. Its important to go at a sustainable pace. Go out too hard and the legs mightn't forgive you with 8+K of a race to come.

The route is a figure of 8. After the initial climb the loop steers left and left again before a lovely downhill back to the carpark. I started steady enough but it felt like a crowd of runners overtook me in the 2nd half of that initial climb. Recent days long runs in the Wicklow hills were catching up with me and my quads were giving out. In those early stages I saw Alan Ayling and Dermot Murphy move easily past, looking good, while I could only think bad thoughts.

The downhill back to the car park allowed a bit of recovery and I found myself gaining back on Dermot, overtaking just before the road. Running through the carpark cheered on the by onlookers and marshalls directing us to the river section.

I love the zigzag section to the river. Jumping over the downed tree trunk I was in close proximity to another runner I didn't recognise as we ripped down the single track and turned acutely back onto the river section. I know this course well from previous races and manys a training run here over the years. The river section can seem to go on and on, but its all very runnable. Myself and other runner were making good progress on this section, at times running side by side. I guess about half way along this section we reeled in Alan Ayling. I managed to inch by, fully expecting Alan to re-overtake later as he usually does.

Onwards along the river, the sounds of running water loud in the background. What a beautiful setting. The trail here was muddy in parts but a lot drier than previous times and I continued to make progress and close in on 2 more runners ahead, one looked like one of our impressive juniors.

Before I knew it we were veering back left and up to the homebound trail. I managed to edge past said junior, a strong running David O'Connor, and ran in close proximity with Brian Leonard. The climb on this section is short enough before you are into good runnable track again. Myself and Brian made good running here but there was no give or gaining a gap. There was glimpses of fantastic vistas along this section. The sunlight breaking through to light up the glen.

Nearly home now we reached the last short climb with Brian managed to eke a couple of metres gap. A lovely downhill brought us back to the car park and over the line. I finished a couple of seconds behind Brian in 17th place. The field was more stacked this year I think as last year with practically the same finishing time I think I was 10th.

Race was won by a good margin by Ian Conroy in a time that surpassed Emmet Dunleavy's great time set here a few years ago. A great performance. First lady home was Rachel Wisdom.

My younger brother Andrew was also running and finished well. Only new to running he is getting better with each race.

Back to Ashford for a drink and a chat with Seamus being to the fore of our thoughts. The evening was rounded off by the new race director surpremo Damien giving one of the most enthusiastic prize-givings in a long time. Setting a new standard in his first race. Bravo that man.

RIP Seamus.