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28 November, 2009

Last Night's race up and down Three Rock has always proven to be a popular one. Maybe because most of Dublin can see it, it turned out to be the largest in IMRA history so far - 209 runners to be exact. Despite the numbers, the entire field got off to a punctual start at about 7.33PM, having been registered/signed-up/processedstarted by a well-organised group
(Jane/Graham, Mike L, Bruce Shenker, Joe/Nora amongst others). The going underfoot was dry, which seemed to add to the fast pace the race
started off with, while the weather was kinder to us this week - thick mist combined with mild temperatures, and a very light breeze.
The route was a variation on a previous theme (ably marked by Nina & Colleen), heading up from Ticknock car park, through the forest, out onto the main forest road up to the junction at the masts at Three Rock. From
there, we headed right, climbing up the rough track towards the summit of Fairy Castle, but taking a left early on, to take us in a large loop to eventually reach the summit of Fairy Castle. Then from the top, it was straight down as fast possible!

At the sharp end of the field, the winner was Eoin Keith (in the absence of John Brooks - a man likely to be mentioned whether he's there or not), holding off Killian Mullett and the youthful Rory McDonnell in second and
third places. Less than two minutes after Eoin passed the summit, Beth McCluskey passed
the same point, and kept up the pace to come in first in the Ladies
(putting almost three minutes between herself and Laura McGinley (2nd) and Una May (3rd).
Peter O'Farrell was part of his own drama at the top, following two runners the wrong way off Fairy Castle, despite the presence of the course markers - he realised his mistake early on, and had the decency to call back the
others, coming in with a respectable 4th place.

At my own end of the field, I was struck that this is the time of year when we all see who's been training over the winter, who's slowed down, who's suddenly become much faster... this time last year, I was occasionally
holding off Graham Porter, but always seeing Bruce Shenker's trademark pink shirt in the distance ahead of me. Last night, I found myself ahead of the same two, but by the time we had taken the left turn off, they were both
pulling away ahead of me. I thought they had both left me way behind, but as we turned off the top, I picked Bruce off, along with three or four others who slowed down a bit on the rough ground. Most of those caught me
on the forest road where they suddenly found their running legs, but not Bruce.... I can feel the summer's rivalry building up!

How the finish/results team (Joe & Nora L, Denise & vivian, Paul Nolan, JK, Jane/Graham) managed to keep it under control is a mystery to me with the volume of runners involved, but all 209 runners were timed back through the
finish, and results available by prizegiving! On the parking side, a small number of cars blocked in a logging truck, whose driver waited patiently for nearly an hour until all the runners had returned to move those cars.
As a group we will have to be careful of our parking arrangements - this time no major upset was caused, but we could put ourselves in a position where we are no longer welcome at certain venues if we fail to manage our
car parking.

We retired to the Step Inn for prizegiving - which now has to be delivered by megaphone - and note-comparison, tall story swapping, training discussions etc etc.

Many thanks to the organisers for the trojan work in putting an enjoyable evening - I'll certainly be back for more of the same next week.