The Paps

29 May, 2023 - Barry Murray

First proper mountain race of the season for me. Never been up these parts before either. The Clydagh valley is in between Killarney and the South West Cork border. Race instructions were that registration was near a church and the race start was 1km up the road. It was straightforward directions for me this time so I arrived in time and signed in . Weather was warm but cloudy so no intense heat thankfully. I'm always happy to get a decent warm up before a race so I jogged off to the start. After 1.5k, still no sign of the start so I carried on, 2k in, no sign, eventually after nearly 3k, I reached the start area ! RD Michael just invented a new "country mile" , think he named it himself as the "MMRA mile" ! Anyway, a good crowd for this race turned out, over 80 registered so it was good to see a big number for the munster races. A few of the familiar mountain goats were in attendance so I knew it was going to be a battle at the front for places.

With the low cloud cover, I knew visibility would be tricky but thankfully Michael pointed out that the course was well marked . Another good point Michael made was that we shouldn't expect markers to find us, we need to find them so keep an eye out ! Makes perfect sense and its something many of us fail to do as we plough along during a race with our heads down somehow expecting to stay on course.

The first 1km was on steep gravel fire road and I trotted off at the front with Brian Mullins and Martin Dineen. Once we got on the mountain, Sean Quirke moved ahead with Brendan Joyce close by. Myself, Brian, Martin and JP were bunched up behind. These mountain up/down races usually follow a similar format... slog up, hands on knees stuff, reach the summit and then fly back down.

This race had two summits, so an extra bit of up and down. The visibility was poor but thankfully the marking was excellent so fair play to Henry and also fair play to the marshals at the important points. Sean and Brendan had pulled away out of sight, I had Martin and Brian not far ahead of me and JP alongside me, Terrain was nice and soft in most places, a bit slippy in certain spots and steep sections so it required technical running legs and mine were a bit rusty. I hit the second summit with Brian and JP, but knew I wouldn't see them again until the finish as they are better descenders than me.

With these types of races, after a few years, you get know how your going to fair on a long technical steep descent. Guys you can normally run side by side with on the ups and flats can take off and leave you for dust on these descents ! Has happened to me plenty of times and I know the guys well who can do this. So as Brian and JP disappeared , I just tried to get pick my line and not lose any more places. I had Conor McElroy right behind me and he seemed to moving well so couldn't keep up with him. Last section was steep and rocky and then it was back onto the gravelly fire road for a fast finish. Just got in under the 60mins so a good proper mountain run, would tick all boxes for a championship race.
Well done RD Michael and crew. Great proper mountain race to have on the calendar again after a few years of absence. At least we know now what an "MMRA mile" is. ;)