Mighty Mangerton

18 June, 2018 - Barry Murray

This one goes out to the Loopers, the Glenageenty ones ! as well as the rest of us that raced this course !

As I usually end with thanking the volunteers but I'm going to start with it this time. The Glenageety Loopers are a trail running club based just outside Tralee and the area is home to the living legend John Lenihan. Given Mangerton is not too far from them, they helped put this race together. Even though these championship races are technically unmarked, they had marshalls high up the mountain at the main turning points. With the mist and poor visibility they even had the section to the summit marked out. Then they had enough post race grub to feed an army. And even though it was a 1pm start, some of them were there setting up since 8.30am. So fair play lads, well done !

As for the rest of us loopers, Mangerton ain't no walk in the park. I had never done it before but I did remember John Lenihan actually mentioning to me that it was very "runnable". So oblivious to what he considers "runnable" I was thinking this might suit me.

I arrived early given it is one of the closest MMRA championship races to me, bar Mt Brandon. I left the Dingle peninsula is wet misty conditions, but arrived at Mangerton to warm dry air and clouds clearing.

Managed to get a couple of km's of the first part of the route in as a warm up and could immediately see that it wasn't that runnable on the downhill... big rocky twisty and turny single track.

A decent enough crowd gathered with a good munster contingent that I knew would be going well... with former multiple winner Tom Blackburn and the likes Sean Quirke, Henry Browne and a couple of young fast lads... then there was other good MMRA runners like Ed Casey , Paul Deane and JP o Donnell. My body double, James McIntyre, after our joint win, was lining out too and we joked about how maybe we wouldn't be sprinting to the line in this one.

If you've read my reports before, you will have heard me say many times, how IMRA races keep teaching you and challenging you. Mangerton is one of those. If you are good at the mid week league races, you may not that good at these championship type races. The skillset required is very different... wooded trails, gradual climbs, smooth descents..... are very different from rocky steep climbs, hiking, picking your line, technical not very runnable decents.

Some guys have strengths in some of these area's and weaknesses in others. I myself have strengths maybe in the trail, steep climbing, runnable descents.... but non runnable trails and steep technical decending, I am not as good. But this is good as it puts manners on you !

Others are strong in all area's... that's rare and probably takes a long time to develop. Tom and Sean would be two in this race that have most of those skills... either could win a flattish 10k or a Mangerton type race.

So anyways, we're off up the first rocky track and young lads Naoise and Conor sprint off... it was a faster start than I expected. I was with Henry and Sean .. and Tom and others close behind. The other difference with this type of route is that there is not just one single track... there are a few tracks, all leading in the same direction, but when you are racing, it's hard to always pick the best one. As the climb steepened... Sean followed after the young lads, I was back a few yards with Henry just ahead of me. As we approached the mist , I was just trying to keep with Henry who I know is a good climber.. I had Tom right beside me . He manages to keep trotting up the climb whereas I do a combination of trotting and fast hiking. We had another runner just pass us... didn't know him, but he had road shoes on so I was thinking we might see him on the descent anyway !

Up on to the summit section and it got very misty. As I said, there was a marshall there wrapped up and then we had a sort of out and back to the summit cairn. Myself and Tom weren't too far behind Naoise, Henry and Sean... with young Conor still out ahead. The summit section was like a sponge... so it was hard to run without sinking a few inches every foot step. As we turned around the summit cross, I went just ahead of Tom and was looking forward to a "runnable" descent.

Another thing about these championship races is that you need to have your bearings or be familiar with the route, especially if its low cloud and poor visbility. So Tom passed me as we cut around the top of the bowl but I was happy to follow his line. As soon as we started to descend steep, I was just trying to stay with Tom, we both then passed the "road shoe" guy who called us "mountain goats" ! Tom then pulled away from me and played to his strengths. He seemed to be able to pick direct lines and fly over the rocks and keep his pace. I could see Noaise and I think Conor ahead.... and Tom was catching up with them. The descent got steeper and rockier.. big boulders... jumps off small crevices... twisty and turny..... runnable only for the select few I think !

Its pretty dangerous and you need to keep your focus. I get a bit annoyed as I am not really out of breath.. but I'm not going as fast as I should or could. Also I guess I am more the cautious type..... . just as I was thinking these things, I slipped on wet rock and went down on my side.... nothing cracked, so I just got straight back up and let the adrenaline do its job. Just a few grazes and cuts so no major drama.

The descent was particularly long.... felt like it went on for an age... and also there were different little tracks to take and some were better than others. On the very last bit... There was a V in the track.... I stupidly took the track through big bushes of heather.. had to wack my way through.. as I got out the other side... .JP o Donnell, who took the grassy track around the bushes, flew by ahead... with just about 100m to go ! I tried to sprint to catch back up but we were too close to the finish. Had to settle for 7th.

Great win by Sean and Henry having a good season taking 2nd. Tom who I was with most of the way, showed how strong his descending skills are by taking 3rd.

A proper mountain race. It was like a field hospital at the end though with all the casualties... I only had a few scratches... James McIntyre came in with his knee cap showing... so we patched him up and sent him off for stitches ! A few other fallers had head wounds..... so there was plenty of blood to mop up thanks to first aider Micheal !

Definitely a mighty one.

1981 REVISITED

18 June, 2018 - Mícheál O'Mullain

In our family Mangerton was always “The” mountain. It is the one of sepia tinged drives to Killarney for the day and the one my father decided to haul my 7 year old self up on a July day in 1981.....a trip that started this whole mountain disease that has continued to this day.

I had been at the in laws in Clonmel so had a bit of a haul to the start. Best not to repeat my thoughts as I was stuck behind a A.J. O’Brien Ballydoyle Stables liveried truck at 35mph for 20 mins between Mallow and Mitchelstown....the stress!

As it happens I arrived at 1235 to see a good crowd of the usual suspects getting ready..but not my brother Brian....which at least meant one less ahead of me.. Signed in and just had time for quick warm up with Conor Murphy before we were set on our way.

There is no point charging off on Mangerton as the narrow path soon opens up and anyone who has the legs can make hay....but of course we all charged off anyway. The path is rough enough until once reaches “the gate” and shortly thereafter for people at my level of the game the thoughts turn to “when will I start walking?”.

Everyone has their own method....on the steeper parts I find I power hike up using less energy than trying to run at a slightly faster pace....this cost me a few places on the steeper part but I was reasonably confident I would get them back on the way down. As we hit the level....ish path the trundle through the mist began.....hard to get the legs churning after all that hiking so maybe there is something to be said for trying to keep running after all.

And so to the stream and the turn left on to what is usually a fairly soul destroying boggy section but it was drier than usual today so a pace was possible....managed to pass one man near top of that but he got me again by the Punch Bowl.....and I followed him around the lake to the “arete” between the Punch Bowl and the Horses Glen. In the eyes of the 7 year old this, as it was, grassy path with what seemed like vertiginous drops on both sides was the equivalent of K2.......nowadays it is well eroded and like going up a stairs...albeit a steep one!

A route change this year had us heading out and back to the summit over the boggy energy sapping heather.....fair play to the marking.....it is many the man who has ended up in Kilgarvan when trying to come off Mangerton in the mist. On my way to the summit I saw Eddie Casey and Conor Murphy coming back against me on their descent in mid battle. Just by the summit the third placed lady passed me but rather than kill myself trying to stay ahead I had a little breather following the cliff top path to the Northern end of the lake. When the ground fell away I put a bit of effort in and soon repassed her and another man at the mouth of the lake at which stage I could make out 4 others in the gloom ahead..... I started picking it up a bit on that path which is just rough enough to have you thinking but smooth enough to allow the fast guys gain.....I gained little on it but once we cut left I started picking off a good number on the way down descending being where I always tend to gain a bit (but only if it is steep).

As we reached the gate I saw the first placed lady about 50m ahead but I knew she was nearly at the flat section so there was no point killing myself having escaped any tumbles so far and a quick look behind had me a minute or so cushion so it was the jog to the line and happy enough to end up 22nd or so.

There was blood aplenty at the end with a few having had a few spills but thankfully nothing serious and well dealt with by the organisors who put on a post race spread of epic proportions....others have a hard act to follow.

As for 1981......well buoyed by the experience 3 weeks later my father decided that there was no point in messing about so we headed for Carrauntoohil and the storied Devil’s Ladder......but that is for another day..............Mangerton was always “our” mountain....as it sowed the seed.