THE GREAT ESCAPE

11 August, 2019 - Brian Kitson

There was a delightful symmetry to this year’s Leinster League. Thirteen races book-ended by warm summer sunshine in May at Bray Head and again on Wednesday at final race at Great Sugarloaf. The humid weather in between was sunny enough to ensure that my once pale-to-bluish skin at Bray Head had transformed into a slightly less paler shade of pale.

For the first time ever, I’ve made it to every Leinster League race. Either racing or volunteering, sometimes both. Needed to. It’s been a tough old year, a lot of ‘Life’ coming at me. No major dramas compared to other folk, but we each must eat what’s on our plate and there’s been a lot on mine lately. Each Wednesday was an escape I craved like a smoker craves nicotine, and I drew down deeply on every single one. A new, fast route and the promise of a post-race party at Great Sugarloaf only added to my anticipation.

There was fizzing feeling of giddiness at the start line of our final race. Our Race Director Graham Bushe’s breezy route description belied the incredible work he’d put into imagining, carving and slash-hooking a trail through the dense overgrown gorse, ferns and heather around the mountain. But something was amiss at the start line tonight. Although the course was relatively short, the fast opening climb and undulating motorbike bumps were making the speedy lads jittery. Nobody wanted the responsibility of leading the charge. The vested springy brigade, usually so confident and ebullient were nervously jostling to avoid the front. Even Iosac Coleman, always a man to give the leaders something to think about, waded back a couple of rows when he finally arrived at the line from his warm up. However, once Graham let rip with his bugle to start the race all bashfulness evaporated into the sweet night air as we tore off into a flurry of elbows, shoulders and mumbled ‘sorry-ies’.

I gave it a right good rattle over the opening kilometre in an effort to hold my own. Predictably, it wasn't long before I was engulfed by hordes of better climbers coming from behind. I began to make a bit of progress by the time I got to the giant bumps. I was going well enough, picking off one or two people, but then I caught Paul Mahon. Passing Paul is like trying to juggle cocked revolvers...while racing up a mountain. Not good for the head. I’ve heard stories of runners found in a blubbering heap at the side of a trail as a result of a failed overtaking manoeuvre. As they’d make their move, Paul would whisper something like, ‘Good man, you’ve got this’. Hours later they’d be found tucked in a ball, rocking backward and forth mumbling “Does he really think ‘I’ve got this’ or is he just messing with me?”. So, I avoided all eye-contact and tip-toed past in a wide arc trying to keep a low profile up the remaining starting climb.

I caught up with Cillin Corbett and another runner along the lovely flat section. The springy single track through the flowering heather was a joy to run along as the mighty sun began to lower in the west. Soon after, as I neared the summit cone of Great Sugarloaf, I caught up with Barry Murray and Gavin Byrne. Under normal circumstances, if I’d even accidentally entertained the merest notion of passing either of them in my dreams at night I’d have to call them immediately to apologise, but tonight I smelt blood.
Barry had just arrived after an arduous seven-hour journey from Kerry no doubt hauling a van load of artisan coffee, craft beer and good vibes and Gavin had just booked his place to Argentina by slaughtering all around him at the 42km World Championship Trials over the weekend. Surely both of them would be in a heap tonight I thought. So, still obviously high on the ether of passing Paul earlier, I figured I might take the two bucks on the near vertical climb up the shale to the summit. I’d breezed up this climb during a recce the previous evening but tonight, just five steps into my ‘attack’, it felt like one of the lads had turned and doinked me on the head with a shovel. The climb was brutal. Gavin and Barry began to stretch off ahead and a couple of others passed from behind. I must have looked like a man on a Stairmaster as each footstep I took simply pushed the loose shale downward rather than me upward. Everyone seemed to be picking much better lines up, and I hopped from side to side trying to find better purchase. ‘Typical me’, I thought, ‘always picking the wrong queue’.

When I eventually arrived, the summit was epic. The golden evening light provided vivid, unimaginably beautiful views. None of these views, however, featured either Barry or Gavin. With my plan to overtake them on the climb in tatters, I gave chase along the steep rocky descent from the summit cone. I started reeling them in once we got off the technical stuff and hoped I might find an opportunity to make a move. Our three man single-track flying convoy finally came to an over-taking spot when the narrow trail split in two for a couple of metres, Gavin went one way, Barry went the other which meant both lanes were blocked and I was stymied. I kept the pressure on from behind. Barry slipped a couple of times and I prepared to...

A: leap over him (90%)
B: stop to offer help (10%)

..but he..,

A: unfortunately, (90%),
B: thankfully (10%),

...recovered each time and held his place. I managed a 17th place finish and think I’ll need a winter of high-altitude training in Ethiopia if I’m ever to succeed in my quest for a top 10 Leinster League finish. But of course, while this was a fun goal to chase, I took far more from IMRA and the Leinster League this year than I ever could have hoped.

I’m not sure why hundreds of people battle their way out of the city every Wednesday night only to suffer their way up a god-forsaken hill in the middle of nowhere. A few hours of release from the weekly grind, like a bit of a mid-weekender? Maybe the collective energy we bring provides us with a form of crowd-sourced joy. There’s something about these races that allow us to become closer to the best version of ourselves for a while. We're stronger, happier, kinder and more confident versions of ourselves at these races.
I’ve loved racing a little further up the field this year, but what I’ve loved most of all, what I’ve needed and treasured more than anything, was the experience of throwing myself right into it and getting so much back. A big part of that were the people I got to know at the various races along the way, not just in Wicklow but also Carrauntoohil and Mweelrea.

Sugarloaf gave us the fond farewell befitting of the warm welcome we got at Bray Head. Much has improved for me outside of racing in that short arc of time. I tried to keep moving forward with a relentless forward progression knowing that if I did, things nearly always get better. These weekly festivals of hill running made the journey easier so thanks to each and every one of you who brought your best. Until next year.

Life is so rich.

Sugar is the Enemy

09 August, 2019 - Barry Murray

I’ve been telling people sugar is bad for them for the last 10yrs or so. I’m not that mad about bread either. So a race called the Sugar Loaf was not going to suit to me !

Joking aside, and I have mentioned this many times before, I still like learning and IMRA races help help you learn. You can get a good result at a certain race and the following week, for no other reason other than the way the route goes and the terrain/gradient, feel crap and finish way behind compared to your previous race.

Anyways, I happened to only have one opportunity to come up for a LL race and the Sugar Loaf is was. The banter (which for outsiders I can understand seems silly) has been going all year between myself, the Bells, and old Mikey flies. Young Peter used to be great craic and a party animal but has decided this year to drink tumeric and beetroot smoothies and do set paced interval training on his treadmill. Mikey has slowed downed a bit with age and sugar maybe while John keeps to himself and probably trains harder than the rest of us. The gauntlet was set earlier in the year with who could beat who, our first race being Annagh Hill, where Peter got lost, and I finished second. Next up was Tom Crean Trail, where Peter nudged ahead of me and then there was the big one, Carrauntoohill Classic, where I managed to beat Peter, fairly handily ;-). So the Sugar Load was set as the next big battle, but unfortunately without John who was on vacation.

I packed the camper and made the long trip up to the garden county to arrive with plenty of time to spare. Long drive doesn’t do much for the legs so I was looking forward to doing a nice recce of the course. With all the new route markings and updates from RD GK Bushe, I was looking forward to seeing what he had set up. So arrived at Kilmac around 4pm and set off to recce the route in reverse. Noticed fairly quickly that it was going suit the technical descenders as I hiked up through the ferns along the narrow rocky trail. Got out onto the “sugar” part and made my way up to the steep rocky section close to the summit. Saw enough, and then descided to run down. Got to the narrow fern section and on one of the really step parts, put my leg over a big rock and I just seemed to drop and crash over into the ferns. A few grazes and a sore arse. But given I was only going half pace, I knew that this section was not going to suit me !

Back to Plucks and things started to get going from about 6ish. Still plenty of banter from the lads, with Mikey taking the time to put up some of his own race markers for me ! Peter left work early to go home and have a bath and a siesta. It was a lovely evening , dry and balmy, perfect for the end of season event. GK Bushe was getting things set up , Lillian had more nice gear to dish out than a shop and the timing chips were being scanned.

I headed off with Warren (who I had been egging on too) to get a descent warm up in. He also likes to warm up now, ironically, as does Brian Kitson who joined us, and we gathered Gav Byrne with us too. The 4 of us trotted up the check out the first couple of km and already I was feeling the climb. With the humidity of the night, I knew the start was going to be even tougher. Back to the start and the crowd gathered. With me getting used to the MMRA races that have much smaller numbers, I forgot what it was like to race with a big crowd. Lining up at the start I also forgot what it was like to have so many front runners with old crew such as Bernard and Eoin to new younger fast legs that I had never raced with before.

A few more slags and digs with the lads and Graham set us off. My plan was not to go off fast as I knew it would be easy to burn out fast. It was a big group at the front with what felt like about 20 of us all going off in a bunch. Took about 500m or so to line out. Mikey was in front of me and Peter behind me, some sort of tactics they had worked out, and as I tried to pass Mikey with my head down, I ran into his swinging elbow ! Off up through the gates, and I was already starting to puff a bit. Warren was 5 or 6 places ahead of me already and Mikey and Peter were on my shoulder. Up and over the BMX track and my puff got heavier. Just wasn’t feeling it. Who knows, you sometimes feel good and sometimes feel bad. Thats something to just accept with running I think. And this time, even with the gauntlet been thrown down, I was feeling crap ! Both Mikey and Peter passed me and I was just thinking I hold onto to them. But couldn’t. Eoin Keith then passed me with a wave and I couldn’t keep with him either. Literally , after literally 10mins of the race, and I felt it was over ! Boo hoo... but sure I was only there for the bbq and craic after all ;) Stil though, its interesting how these races can go, as I mentioned at the start, the course can be made for you or vice versa.

As we climbed up onto the ridge part, I tried to get going again. I could still see the lads not far ahead so I thought maybe I could make up the gap on this sort of running section. I managed to catch up with Gav Bryne, but with him having raced a hard 40k race just a few days ago, it didn’t give me much of a boost ! As we approached the turn for the second climb , I could see Mikey and again thought I could catch back up. But just had nothing in the legs and just had a sort of max pace that was only 80% of what I could normally run at, althought I was at max effort. A proper rock climb up to the summit and a few more bodies appeared around me, Gav was one and Brian Kitson the other. Up over the summit and I knew I wasn’t going to make any ground up on the descent. Manged to get down the rocks okay and pass a couple of runners. Myself, Gav and Brian then hit the final descent in a line with me leading. Gav managed to jump ahead around a bush and then it was just the 3 of us back to back going down the single track. Not much racing can really be done at this stage. We’re all going fairly fast, no overtaking room, and just watching your feet is all you can do. I thought the very last bit towards the finish had about 50m of wide path so I said I’d wait until then to make one last sprint to pick up some places. But the 50m was only about 10m and the finish appeared sooner than I thought....... sure it just wasn’t going to be my night anyway !

Crossed the line with plenty of slags from all the lads which I truely deserved ! But it was all light hearted and IMRA races are great craic anyway, this made it even better. I would do it all again with exactly the same thrash talk as it really was a great laugh. I do love racing and doing well, but I’ve always prioritized enjoying IMRA races, and this sort of banter for me actually makes it more enjoyable !

Back for the main event then, and the lovely evening was a great setting for the bbq after. Apparently I scapered off with my tail between my legs, apparently, but I parked up the camper to allow for the pints. Great catch up with everyone, more good slags, banter, pints and a burger. A perfect end of season bash. Hats off to GK Bushe and all the volunteers. It was clear how much effort went into it all and honestly its an RD of the year contender !

The gauntlet and thrash talk still continues, with the next battle venue already decided !

Well Barry well barry

08 August, 2019 - Mikey Fry

No booms just yet it’s being a long month of laughs reading on our what’s app group Barry (where were you last night Murray)John Bell Peter Bell and myself of who was going to win ...quote peter”Ha ha it will take alot more than work for me to fail tonight” quote Barry “The nerves must be hitting ye.. what will I eat, what shoes will I wear, can I stay with Barry on the climb, will Barry pass me at the end, is Mikey going to beat me, should I have done that speed session on Monday .... ” and so on it went just a taster if you would like to see more join me on my Peteversus Barryloggerheads .com...so I’m on holidays for two weeks looking after my amazing boys these summer hols can be tricky if you no one to look after them so we had r usual dogs we walk /run in bray so I told the lads we’d go to the sugar loaf to see where I was running as we passed the loaf in the car it was lashing rain but when we started walk sun came out ..I had made some posters up for fun to send Barry the wrong direction but obviously didn’t need them:-)we headed left up the finish direction boys having great fun following the tape getting them trained up early to follow tape not the runner we made it up most of the last steep section off coarse they wanted to go up all the way so we turned around and Zak went off down the tricky technical section trying to get a crown off Peter Bell :)so we all ran down Eli taking the bum option on the bigger drops dogs in tow we hit the left turn in race and sat on the big rocks and sun bathed ...heading home a quick stop for some supplies lads getting donuts me being good didn’t home some paddling pool action and mums home and I’m off too meet two bells to car pool John unfortunately had to leave the country Barry’s trash talking he couldn’t hack it so had chickened out on a holiday instead leaving me pete and Barry to the race busy(mind you he’d come second in the league without having to do last race well done sir)so met the lads at the grove pub jumped in and myself and Pete discussed were we would be pushing Barry into the ferns:)arriving at race mr Bushe looked rather stressed I tried giving him a shoulder massage he didn’t even notice fully focused on the job at hand...picked up the really nice prizes this year water booby jacket thingy and black top pjs top thanks Imra well done again not having to do very much to get such brilliant gear..myself and Pete head off for warm up but bump into eoin for chats instead then we took the option of going the way I went with the kids so pete could see what he was up against at the end of race back down to start of race lots more chats big turn out most the talk of bbq smells bringing in the crowds...Graham I broke my slasher bushe gives the route etc and takes out 321 massive trumpet bassoon flute type of thing (I think he heard John last week had failed to keep up his duck whilst tradition which he told me before race he couldn’t find next year)and were heading off up the grassy path Barry tries to pass I block him by accident with an elbow to the head whoops:) and were on the roller coaster bit he passes eventually with Pete so we’re 123 following each other through the two barriers left over the fire pit down grassy bit then it’s right up the first climb Barry’s legs so no I over take him and Pete hit the plateau at the top bit of relief till next roller hits think bernad passes me and Peter again Damien early and we’re off up the sugar loaf way long slog up eoin ioscac Niall Lynch go by I keep up with them onto small path little ferns stones etc tricky under foot across main path up to sugar loaf up a wee bit upy then down nice hill only meaning more up hills sharp left onto old route valdas passes me eventually we’re on to main path again but instead of going up usually way Graham wants more suffering I look up everyone practically crawling up so I go into all fours wolf mode ioscac floats up passing bernad pete etc I pass out valdas for some reason I just didn’t want him passing me(sorry meant to say still no word for Barry trash talk Murray)it felt like a life time to reach top levelled out passed camera sun in eyes not sure who it’s was legs a bit jelly like but this is the ultimate mountain running finish all down hill pretty much and technical so down puff puff air in air out passing two guys with Jason kehoe on videoing duties due to injury he would fly this section if fit..I slip nearly snot myself snowboarding over the years probably helped here r just shear luck right turn I’m trying to find some other targets ahead ahhh there’s Luke I’m not going to go over on my angle usually he’d be lashing it down very rocky bit I call out hey Luke he jumps out of the way thanks dude and I’m off passing good few early starters around here only bit of flat section nobody ahead right turn there ioscac I’m off like a wolf in hunt another right turn onto ((I did ask Graham to put this back on the route he even called it after me fry wall:-)thanks dude..winding through watching footing very tricky ioscac right in front of me boom I take him we’re I took bernad all the years ago nearly slipped it gets really steep here (still no Barry)so as fast as can I lash down my favourite bit of the race Graham did a great job on trimming hit the bottom and there’s still more fast runs rocks ferns pass left turn at sunbathing rock and I put the gas on for finish line Vivian steps out of the way thanks viv beautiful part of the mountain and I’m over the line flat on my back Luke league winner well done dude took a photo and kindly sent to me showing that I’d put a wee bit into that ..over to pete to congrats on us beating Barry still no sign must have stopped off for autographs on the way down r else he fell on his bum like he did earlier on recce of route :)) Barry comes in a few minutes later and this saga is over.....man what a route what a finish to the Leinster league glad the sugar loaf is back and so good hopefully will stay downshill gooday too you hopefully we can keep that route in there...thanks to Graham and crew for making it happen..

Well done to Niall Colm and Peter old man Farrell ...
And all the other winners aoife your a flyer:)

So it’s back to bbq Barry flys past in camper van to park up in caravan park brendan thought he was legging it but he had pints too buy so was going no where mind you I never so brendan lowlor did anyone see him????
Lovely food great chats and amazing spot prizes flipping inov8 mud claws in green Stuart I’m very jealous well done on a pair and many more ...not enough chocolate though I had Peter Farrell on the look out for more:)
Thanks again Imra great finish well done to all on committee...

Home to cold bath left overs from lads no chocolate no tea into wrecked couldn’t sleep should have stayed up to do report sorry for anyone who’s wasted there day reading this...

Gooday mikey


Ps Barry safe trip home and don’t think about losing too much...:)