The Rebel County

19 March, 2018 - Barry Murray

I was looking forward to this 1/2 marathon trail series and had never run this Sli Mhuscrai before. A couple of years ago I would have been happy to set off on the long haul at 8am but not I'm just happy to go a bit faster over the 1-2hr mark !

The re-scheduled date meant that the numbers were lower but there seemed to be a good turnout loading on to the buses. A more logistically challenging race to organize with having to transfer us to the star and then shuttle bus transfer everyone to the back country fields where we started !

I could see it was hassle for RD Matthew but he seemed to have everything planned out so well that nothing could really go wrong. After finally getting everyone shipped to the start, we all then were led across a muddy sheeps field to the bottom of a hill. Lots of people shivering before the start as Matthew gave us a detailed layout of the route. I actually listened more than usual as I knew that there could be important turns and directions to take !

So off we went up a grassy hill. With 21km or so ahead, I didn't want to shoot off and just wanted to see what the lie of the land was. We had Becky Quinn who led us up the hill out front with a spring in her step. Once we got up on to the trail then , things settled down and it was myself , Henry, Peter and 1-2 others more or less running in a pack. I was happy to just cruise and keep with the gang.

After a couple of km, we were onto fire road and the "running" commenced. This is something I am noticing more and more about IMRA races. Some are not much running, more hiking and trudging. Others are more full on running but very mixed in terms of fast downhill stuff and slow uphill stuff. then others are full on running and steady with more slopes and hills. This route was the latter and its this sort of running that seems to suit me more. I went out front and just got into a steady pace. I could hear less feet and breathing behind me.

After 5-6km, it was just Henry who was close to me. 30 or so minutes into a race like this is when you have to just settle into your own race pace. Myself and Henry were more or less going at the same speed so I was happy to keep the company. I don't get out in the lead often and you forget how lonely it can be ! Usually I have people ahead of me to scope out, plenty close behind me and even a few shoulder to shoulder. But leading a race means you have nothing to focus on in front of you.. and if you are too far ahead of the next guys, then you have no company at all ! tough for these race leaders I tell you... anyway, after 40mins or so, We were approach the big wind turbines and I was able to chat with Henry. He had recced the course 2 weeks before so he knew the route.
Luckily he called me back as I missed one of the right hand turns so I have to thank him for that. Easy to just put your head down and miss an arrow.

It was strange running so close to the wind turbines, sort of eery. Heavy underfoot too and every foot step sinking into the ground starts to tire you out. Still myself and Henry were tipping along, no walking. We couldn't see anyone behind us at this stage so I knew it was just a race between myself and himself. I also noticed that any of the boggy uphills he was able to move ahead of me and I was just hanging on. But on any of the fire trails or downhills, then I was passing him out.

As we got towards Claragh mountain, we kept the pace going and took turns in the lead. There was a steady long drag up around the mountain we were both pushing it. I knew we maybe had only 5k to go and I was still feeling like I had plenty left in the tank. Some more downhill and we were both picking up the pace.

I knew if there was any flat bits or road section that I might be able to pull away. And that's what happened in the last kilometer. We hit the road, and I opened up the legs a bit more to come in just 100m or so ahead of Henry.

Eric Wolfe came in a few minutes after us in 3rd and Becky Quinn had a great race to finish first lady and in 6th overall.

Cold air for the day and the showers were even colder ! But the hot cuppa and proper ham sambo's warmed everyone up I think. I was hoping to see the Ultra folk coming in but they were slightly longer than expected and it wasn't a day for hanging around. A pint of Murphy's in the local pub warmed things up again. But 8-9hrs for those lads is a long day out so fair play. As I said at the beginning, lots of organization went in to this one so hats off to both RD's, Matthew and Rob.

Nice to run through the rebel county.