Torc Water Falls

25 March, 2024 - Barry Murray

With the arrival of child no.3 , training has been minimal and racing non existent . So I was happy to just be able to get out and do a race. I had already raced Torc in its two years of existence so I knew what to expect although conditions were a lot worse than previous years. Good to see bigger numbers than previous years signed up too. Probably the trickiest part for the RD and crew is car-parking but plenty of notice and options were given in advance.

I chose to park at the Torc Waterfall car park which then involved a nice steep trot up past the waterfall itself to the race start. It was good to see familiar faces again and have brief catch ups. At the start line, the familiar faces of previous years were present again, Conor, JP and Nick. Tom Blackburn was running it for his first time and still looks as fit as ever. I wasn't sure if I was as fit as previous years so was sort of curious to see if I could keep up with the leaders.

RD Joe gave us a shorter briefing this year (as there are a lot of lefts and rights on this course!) and came out with some classics like "Its the same course as last year but a bit different" and then set us off . The course starts with a good climb and it was myself, Conor and Nick at the front. It wasn't too long before Nick drifted off, with another lad who I didn't know, then it was myself , Conor and JP in the chase group. The course was very wet and slushy which made it all the more fun.

After a few km, the route takes us into the woods on a single track with lots of meandering turns. The course was really well marked with lots of tape and arrows which are needed as it would be easy to go wrong. Half way through the race and I was keeping the pace up but Conor and JP had drifted ahead. I did start to catch back up with the guy who went out the front with Nick so had a target at least. After some good runnable sections, we were back on a steep single track with lots of tree roots. I knew this section but this year it was fairly water logged so it was a case of just ploughing through the muddy pools. The last section had a new very technical descent which was a surprise, wet rocky steep part, with 2 guys breathing down my neck, made for an exciting finish. I managed to stay ahead and knew that once back on the path I could open up the legs again. Happy to come in 4th and see that I was more or less in the same shape as the last 2 years.

A really fun course and its the perfect type of trail race with everything thrown in. The rain was actually an extra bonus. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it. Well done RD Joe and crew.