Glorious Devils Glen

04 August, 2016 - Mick Hanney

Devils Glen is one of Wicklow’s little gem of a place for running. A regular feature on the trail league and one I like to try and pencil in. Mikey Fry was RD for this one and the race was in good hands. Not ideal prep for race with the website difficulties in the last week but Mikey was the picture of calm pre-race and registration was going like clockwork.

Did an easy warm up before the race. Was feeling recent training runs in the legs so wasn’t sure how I’d get through a hard fast race.
Showery spells had given way to bright evening sunshine by the time the race was due to start. After a slight delay due to the start section being blocked by a car we were counted down and on our way.

Obvious cheating from Brian McGuckin and Torben Dahl :-) had them positioned before the start line as we set up. Only joking. After an initial sprint we turn into the steep and narrow climb up towards the Seamus Heaney waymarked trail, dodging head-height brambles as we go. Always a difficult climb its hard to judge the correct pace to do this one. My legs set off at a pace of tired which isn’t a good pace to rely on in a race. Saw Greg Byrne sprint by in the early stages but I managed to stay close to Gerard Moloney which was a decent sign.

After the climb it levels out and we are into wider fire road. Ger sped ahead with ease. Way ahead I expect was Barry Minnock, never saw him in the race, until the finish line! Saw Brian O’Murchu running well ahead and Torben after his initial head start;-) Good to see Turbo back on the trails.

My legs reminded me every so often they were tired but I held on in their for grim life as on we went and then turned left for the flying descent back towards the car park. I was in a group of runners which changed order a no. of times in this section. John Ahern had a good descent, as did a runner from my brother’s Kilcoole AC club. It was all pretty hell for leather with no chance to relax.

Onto the road and along through the car park to encouragement from the race crew, Mike, JuJu Jay etc.

The steep zigzags to the river beckoned. I was 3rd or 4th in a single line file at this point. Said hi to Barry Murray at the river turn.

John led the way onto the river path and I made a place or two to join him. We ran in parallel for much of the river path. It was an effort to keep the pace but keep the pace I did. The decision to wear road runners was a happy one as terrain underfoot was okay.

After about the halfway point on the river trail I moved ahead of John. In my minds eye I pictured a close line of runners behind as I knew we hadn’t shaken them off.

Ran solid to the turning point to greet Pat Foley and turned up from the river. At this point route knowledge was valuable in terms of knowing how much hill one had left. I could hear a girls voice behind me enquiring about the length of the hill. I tried to put the foot down and run steady on the climb. No one ahead of me except a distant runner in a red t-shirt so catching anyone wasn’t really a possibility here, this was just about sustaining position if I could. Not easy as I could feel the pressure building.

As the trail levelled out I knew there was less than 2k to go. Tried to pace it hard without red-lining it. You feel like you are flying through this gorgeous landscape. No chance to pause and take in the scenery though. That will have to come another day.

Reached the last turn with the brief uphill followed by the fast downhill to the finish. Pushed hard here and crossed the line not long ahead of Sonya McConnon who had a fine run, ahead of John and others from the previous group I had managed to stretch away from, but not by much. It was all very well contested.

Well done to the brother Andrew for getting some of his Kilcoole AC colleagues out to another IMRA event.

Was chuffed to finish in just over 37 mins which is damn near as fast as I’ve ever ran here. No idea where that places me results-wise. The effort was pretty hard throughout with my HR well high for me. Probably a good sign that I could sustain it.

Race honours went to Barry Minnock with Greg Byrne (congrats on the IMRA 100 club attainment) a creditable second. Brian O’Murchu must have had a storming run to finish 3rd. The weight saving of dropped race number magnets obviously helped Brian’s cause. Graham Bushe was first M40 with Ger Moloney 1st M50, all way ahead of me at the finish so well done all.

Smiley faces all around at the end. Fair to say that people enjoy running here even if no one is particularly comfortable running at this relative speed compared to your normal hill race slog.

Thanks Mikey and volunteers for putting on a great race for us!!