Millstreet Mayhem

11 February, 2019 - Barry Murray

3 races in one day, a half, an ultra and a winter league race all finishing at the same place. Must be some sort of first for IMRA/MMRA and it all worked out very well.

Having done the Sli Muscrai 1/2 last yr, I opted out this year in favour doing Mt Claragh. A nice proper up/down typical mountain type race with some steep climbing and fast descending. I added in another little challenge with stopping off in Killarney on the way to do the parkrun in Muckross. Nice way to break the journey up from Annascaul and loosen out the legs. With the 1pm start for Claragh, I had plently of time to recoup.

With the 1/2 and the Ultra, I was wondering how many others there would be for Claragh but a good number seemed to be around the start line as the weather cleared up. Some good faster legs too with Neilus who I hadn't raced with since my Leinster days and other more familiar munster speedy guys like Paul Minogue and Barry Harnett.

Another record, was the race briefing, shortest ever, 3-4 words I think, fair play RD !

Even though we had a nice mountain to run, the route starts on the road with maybe a mile of road running. Paul as per norm flew off like a 400m race. Neilus followed with myself and a couple of others trying to keep it steady. Up onto the first climb through the woods and I had Paul/Neilus ahead and Barry and Rob on my shoulder. The mountain section was rocky and wet but it was nice to be ploughing up a proper climb. Barry pulled away and Rob also passed by me . Maybe my parkrun took some pep from my step but I wan't too worried.

Neilus put a good gap into us all as he got to the summit and descended by me with a minute plus lead. Paul was next who is now able to mountain climb a lot better too. I wasn't far then behind Barry and Rob when I got to the summit. With not a huge amount of training done recently on the steep trail, I wasn't flying down the descent. I knew Brian Mullins , who wasn't far behind me on the climb , would catch up with me. He was right behind me as you got to the end of the descent but I was able to pull away then as the trail flattened out.

Thankfully had more in me then Corrin Hill for the last couple of km and started to catch back up with Rob abd Barry. Onto the road section and I got onto Robs shoulder and knew I could put a sprint in towards the finish. Could see Barry and Paul not too far ahead as well. Managed to pass Rob and come in 4th. Neilus had a great race to finish first well ahead of us.

The first finishers of the Sli 1/2 came in not to long after. Plenty of tea and sambo's for everyone in the community hall.

Claragh is a nice opener for the season to remind the legs of what a mountain race needs. A good day out and another good MMRA event. Cheers to all involved.