THE HIDDEN IRELAND

16 June, 2018 - Mícheál O'Mullain

Daniel Corkery wrote a book called “The Hidden Ireland”. My father had it on a shelf.....as a young fellow ....said shelf was one of those places that were “off limits”.

“The Hidden Ireland” is really about places like Banteer......and Mt Hilary. Not trendy, not easy to get to......and for runners.....not spoiled.

Wednesday night. The road up through Nad and on to Banteer. The rain. I am liking it already. Arrive at the Glen River Hall and parking is at a premium. Hadn’t expected to see younger brother Brian Mullins there given his imminent departure for the Trentino for the Laveredo but his presence ensured one certainty.......one less place for me. My sister Claire Mullins togged out too despite some alcohol excess after the Edinburgh Half.

Jog up the road.......forestry entrance......Barry sums up the glorious informality of the start.....”there might be a few loose stonesbnear the top lads”.

And we are off.....luckily Conor Murphy and Brian had both warned me not to blow a head gasket in first ten minutes as apparently after about 2 miles it is a straight up the mountain job. Did I listen? Welll....not as much as I would have liked......up the fire road the faster types were burning me and against my better judgment I tried to keep up... to no avail. I hate forestry road.......hate hate hate.... I kind of feel I might as well be on road.

As the route darted down through wood I gained two quick places in the rough stuff but once it leveled off on more forestry road was put to sword again by one of those lads.

Then the turn right and up we go.....I was able to keep the legs churning longer than a few others who were faster than me on flat and kept the hammer down (all things are relative) until summit was in sight. I passed two girls near top one with a Mooreabbey Milers singlet so ominous thoughts of training sessions with Tom Blackburn and the late Mike Cunningham loomed in my mind......sure enough after hurtling the last few root branches near top and charging off down the path my Mooreabbey friend was soon breathing down my neck......I hold to the unwritten convention of mountain running that if in a narrow path with someone bursting to get by it is imperative to let them by no matter how much the ego is damaged. The decision was justified as she finished a good 5 or more places ahead.

Back on the the fire road and Brian had warned me it was a loooooooonnng way down that road. About 15 seconds after hitting the road I heard the crack of feet behind. A quick glance disclosed the distressing sight of three or four about 20 yards back.

Oh the last mile was terrible......the distress of trying to stay ahead of people you know are faster than you on the flat..... the finish came just in time to save my bacon.....another 500m and my 27th would have been 32nd.

Heard Brian finished third after and sister well happy with result after Edinburgh.....and there was no catching the two up front.....the most distressing aspect of which is both are in the O40 bracket so my usual excuse of “well they were younger” doesn’t’ apply.

All in all a fantastic welcome to the new club and congratulations to some fantastic organization.

Mícheál Ó Mulláin

Ding Dong

14 June, 2018 - Barry Murray

If a picture paints a thousand words, just have a look at the finishing photo's for this race !

With my first Wednesday night summer league race done back on home turf at Prince Williams Seat, I was back in my new home of Munster for my first summer league race out west this week. Banteer is just about reachable on a Wednesday evening from Dingle, so I decided to get in the car and head to the rebel county.

After the weeks of scorching weather, we had our first drizzly grey day but fortunately it had cleared up around Banteer. Race was up Mt Hillary and marked the launch of a new athletics club based down there so lots of local interest.

There were a few "firsts" for this race and one was registration at a theatre, not an operating one, an acting one ! Hard to know who will show up for these races as you can have anyone from Cork, Limerick, Tipp or Kerry. I met Brian Mullins in the carpark, freshly shaven, who has been putting in some great runs recently. Didn't see Sean Quirke who has been winning most of these summer league races so I knew at least I had one place made up !

Love it how they do things in Munster. After a lengthy race briefing at the leinster league the week before, this RD gave us 2 sentences and then blew the whistle !

Off we went on a slight uphill on fire trail . I knew we had about 3km of this so I didn't want to fly off and blow a gasket. James McIntyre led out, with myself, Paul Minogue and Brian Collins just behind. After about 2k... it was just Paul leading, with myself and James behind. I knew Paul has good speed on the flats but on the big climbs or descent, he slows down, and as we hit the first single track downhill through the tree's, he stepped aside to let myself and James through... very polite !

That put myself and James out front. Think we only had about 3k gone. I knew there was one big climb. My plan was to wait for that and then shoot off. As we hit the climb, James stayed ahead of me and was trotting up. I was doing a mix of trotting and hiking. It was fairly steep, and windy and wet as we climbed up. About half way up, Brian Mullins trotted by me and told me to stick with him ! James had gotten about 10 yards ahead of me. I was feeling good at the start of the race but the climb was starting to knock me. Maybe went out a little too fast on the flats... as its hard not to.

Anyway, just up the top and there were a few tree's to jump over. Brian was just ahead, with James not about 20 yards ahead.

After the summit, I knew we had a race downhill all the way back to the finish. It wasn't a technical or steep descent... just a bit stoney and narrow single tracks. I got my second wind and opened up a bit more... started to catch back up with Brian... caught him and sped by him on a flatter section. Always reminds me of how IMRA runners can be slower/faster based simply on the terrain/gradient. Brian is a great climber and steep descender. Any flat or more fast runnable sections... and he's not as fast. Sort of the opposite for me. So I pass Brian and now have James about 15 yards ahead of me.

We join back on to the fire trail... not exciting for more mountain runners, but good for me as I can run faster here. I put the head down and gradually pulled James back in. Was pretty full gas at this stage so had to just run behind him for a few seconds to recover.

I had no idea exactly where the finish was. I looked up and saw some hi-vis vests.... so started to put a sprint on... just clawed ahead of James.. but as we got to the people, we had to keep going as they were just photograhers !

So we make another turn and hurtle down the fire trail... another person ahead of us at the next corner. So James puts the sprint in.. I try to follow... we get to the person... and keep going... so one last time I put in another sprint.. empty myself.... look back and I have about 10 meters on James... we are both struggling.... I keep looking back while trying to sprint... and it seemed he couldn't catch back up... we make one final turn.... and I see him in the corner of my eye with a full on sprint... he's 5 meters behind me all of a sudden... I do one last sprint.... the finish is just in front of us... just a few people and kids.. no cones to aim for... so I just stick my neck and arms out like Usain Bolt ! James comes up right beside me and we finish literally neck to neck !

Think I let a few expletives out so apologies to any of the younger audience !

We both practically fell over the line... after having to sprint to the line several times !

Anyways, it was a proper ding dong battle and what racing is all about I guess. You would think M40's would get a bit less competitive, but that doesn't seem to be the case !

We all went back to the theatre after for the traditional Munster spread.... well this one was one of the biggest yet... Mt Hillary will be a club that will be well fueled on sweet stuff ! Thanks to all organisers and crew. A great evening.