A win, sort of, at last

27 July, 2017 - Barry Murray

It was almost like an apocalypse movie. You’re sitting in hot sun and blue skies but then with the blink of an eye, the sky changes colour, the sun goes, the temperature plummets and the rain (and some reported hailstones) lashes down.

Just another Wednesday IMRA run. Having just dried off from Kippure last week, we were hit again with unexpected wetness. Fortunately it didn’t last long and by the time the race started it had passed.

This Djouce trail is a completely different race to the Djouce Ayling Abyss. It requires a good constant pace and high tempo. Suits the cross country or even fast road legs. I don’t have fast road legs but the Leinster League races have given me some speed so I knew I could do well on this course.
The start line always reveals who’s up for the race and who has their race face on. There was a guy I didn’t immediately recognise who looked keen. It was a lighter Turlough, who looked a lot rounder at the earlier league races ! I had old croney Mikey yet again and then a young guy who had those bouncy springy legs that only real fast guys have.

So RD Jason sends us off just as another shower kicks in. Like with Bray race, I put my “start easy and build” approach to the side and just went off full gas. Mikey did the same as usual and within the first 200m there is a pack of 4-5 of us sprinting off down the firetrail .

As we approached the river crossing before the forest zig zags, the young springy legs trotted off ahead of us in the lead. Myself, Mikey, Turlough and Neilus just watched him go off. It was the lighter Turlough then that led the charge and set the pace of our group. The zig zags were soggy and splashy and I just sat in behind. Mikey likes big hills and steep descents so he didn’t like the pace of this tempo running. I was on Turloughs shoulder and Neilus was on mine as we left the zig zags and headed up towards the turnaround point.

Like I said, this sort of course favours the fast steady pace but an on the limit pace. The winner is either the guy who can maintain this pace to the end while others fade, or the guy who can increase his pace even closer to his limit. I felt Turlough might just fade a bit in the last couple of k’s as he is still coming back in to form. As we ran down the other side of the lake I knew there was one short little climb that brought us back up on to the forest trail. I sprinted ahead here and only Neilus came with me. Up on to the nicest section of the route where it’s a nice wooded trail, a narrow single track part where if you have time, you get a great view of Powerscourt waterfall, then a nice slightly downhill fast trail towards the finish.

So I’m out in front in what I thought was 2nd, with Neilus right behind me. I picked up the pace a little on the fast little slanted downhill section and the sounds of feet and breathing behind me got quieter. No one in sight ahead of me so I just pushed it on the last bit of firetrail back up to the finish. Happy with my first 2nd place in a “short” IMRA race. Someone then shouts to me “well’ done Barry, 1st” . I was looking around for the young guy but no sign. As happens with any trail race, he veered off course and lost a few mins. Neilus came a few seconds behind me and Turlough just a bit further back. I also think I finished about 201m ahead of Graham Bushe in 4th ;-)
So my first IMRA “short” course win even though there was a faster runner on the night. I guess I’ll still take it though. Not an easy task winning one of these races no matter what the case.

Had another workout after the race as someone went home with my bag and keys in their boot ! I was more worried about not being able to have a beer and collect my prize ! Thankfully old Croney Mikey dropped me up to the culprits house and the culprit himself then dropped me back to the pub (Cheers Peter ;-)

Got the order in for a pale ale and chatted with Jean O Neill who told me how much she enjoyed the race too. She’s 71. Brilliant.