Lisvernane / Aherlow

29 July, 2024 - Martin Cooney

Lisvernane / Aherlow
By Martin Cooney

I arrived into Lisvernane just 11am and was welcomed by a blast of heat as I got out of the car. Normally the race HQ is in the community hall but this year, the GAA club behind the hall was HQ. I had thought that the race was 11am as normal but upon closer reading over breakfast realized that the start was actually an hour later. I wandered in through the community hall grounds and into the GAA grounds. I first met Tom Blackburn and asked if he went to Lugnaquilla. He had ran there and also gave me the good news that Sean Quirke had won the race, whom I was delighted for. Sean is such a consistent performer and rarely outside the overall podium finishers… I checked in and met Kevin Lenihan who had enjoyed my Carrauntoohil report especially with regards to poor Jason Collins expletives while his legs went into cramp; with Jason being in our company at this point. “I know exactly what he would’ve been saying too”, was Kevin’s comment.

Back to the car to sort my gear out, some hydration and then back to race HQ where I bumped into Sean Quirke. I congratulated him on his race win and a chat ensued about races, trail-running shoes and if Yetis could reside in East Tipperary (see race report from Craig Woods)! I went for a short jog and could see people warming up for about 15 minutes. I know it is something that we are all supposed to do but I find I am exhausted by the time the race starts if I do a decent warm-up.

Five minutes before the start, and after a chat with Kevin Broughton; we all cross the road to what is by now one of the most familiar start lines in the IMRA Munster calendar. A wall with a trimmed hedge to our right, a small walled back garden with double metal gates to our left; there isn’t a year that passes in the IMRA Munster calendar that a race does not start from here. Marie O’Shea (RD) gives us the description for the race which involves a lot of ups followed by a couple of downs. There was also the mention of Kevin Lenihan, a saw and a first-aid kit if you get impaled to a tree on the last short technical descent. I’d never ran this route before so noted this in my brain.

3, 2, 1, Go- and off we go. A group take off with Nick Hogan leading it as if they knew there was the most delicious coffee cake waiting for us at the finish. I leave the start line in about 20th position, I don’t go out too hard due to a lack of a warm-up (aaah, so that what it is for!) but also because I know the uphill road start will sap my legs if I push too early. I plod away nicely as I pass a few people as the peloton stretches out. The road gets a little steeper as it meanders left past the bungalow and then right before a last right which takes us into the woods. Single file all the way up through the narrow, dark wooded area until we cross over the narrow bridge, where we are greeted by Jane Griffin taking loads of photos of smiling face. Let’s see if we are smiling on the way back! We take a left as the gradient plateaus for a couple of hundred metres before turning right and back into a climb. It wasn’t steep but it seemed to go on and on (actually 2km, checked on plot-a-route). Jason Collins (of Carrauntoohil cramping fame) is ahead of me as is Gavin Roche and an unfamiliar runner. It is rocky underfoot so you could easily roll an ankle if you weren’t concentrating. The rocky road turns right and almost immediately a sharp left onto a mud path.

We are then signaled left again after only 100 metres up into a formerly wooded area, the trees having been felled recently. As I step onto the area, I am hit with a wall of heat. It is overbearing but thankfully last only a hundred metres or so before we get back into the woods. Jason is still in front of me and we both comment how nice the cool air is in the sheltered wood. I pass him on the spongy ground and then pass another runner before we pop out onto a fire-road, which begins taking us westward. I am moving along okay but I can hear runners behind me. I am then passed by Liam O’Donnell & Jason. Not long after that, we go into an uphill single track which will bring us towards the highest point of the day. We pass Stephen O’Keeffe who greets us with a cheery hello. Liam has taken over leading us, I am behind him, followed by Jason and Gavin Roche still in my rearview mirror. We turn right onto a wider path on the final uphill section, which undulates for a couple of hundred metres before we go into a slight descent, where Tom Blackburn turns us right. Back into a single track downhill which is a little steeper, I am now right behind Liam. He lets me pass him on a straight section, which was a little muddy. It has lots of wavering turns and flattens for a while. We pop out onto a road and almost immediately turned down right into a wooded area by a volunteer.

Into a really sharp descent, this must be the technical section that Marie was talking about. There are white markings on the trees (no doubt each of which probably marks where runners and cyclists have impaled themselves over the years!). Sweet Mother of God, this is technical even for me. I am trying to follow the path while also scoping ahead for red and white tape which marks the section. I manage to keep my footing as I pass another volunteer, Ger Griffin in the trees. I thought for a moment it was a runner impaled to a tree but no, Ger just gives me a casual “left here Martin”. I do as I am told and can now see someone in front of me. The route gets even steeper as I pass the runner- It is Gerard Hanley. I tell him I can’t stop as I am physically not able. I pass him and another runner before I start hearing a bell. “Did I hop my head off a tree?”- why am I hearing a ringing sound? As I weave in and out avoiding trees, the answer soon appears in the form of one of Kevin Lenihan’s daughters I think! She has to be one of the best bell-ringers in the Lisvernane area, if not the only one! Down one last gully and Kevin greets me and turns me right.

I have no clue where in the course I am right now as I run along a flat straight. Out onto a fire-road I check my watch, I am around 9.5km into the course so only 2km left. The fire-road becomes single track again just as I start to get a stitch in my side. “Aaah crap, try to keep going”, I tell myself. I am struggling to breathe now so I ease my strides in the hope that it will ease. It doesn’t so I just try to move along as best I can within losing too much time. This stretch of the route seems to take forever but was probably only a couple of minutes. It was like time stood still. I pass a volunteer who lets me know I have about 20 seconds on the runner behind me. Finally; the path turns right and left over the tiniest stream so I know I am nearly back at the bridge.

I can’t tell you how happy I was to see Jane Griffin again but I doubt any photo she might have taken of me could have been good. The stitch is bad now so I must have a grimace on my face. She clicks her camera, I try to smile, take a left turn and start my final descent down over the bridge and through the trees. I am going reasonably well even if I am in discomfort. I sound like a wheezing, asthmatic, hunch-backed baboon as I come out of the wooded area onto the road. Damian Holian is taking photos and must think that he is now in a David Attenborough nature documentary as the wheezing Neanderthal passes him or have I become the ‘Yeti of East Tipperary’.

I stride out as best I can but each stride aches my side. The road goes left, then right followed by a straight all the way down to the bottom, with the slightest uphill finish. I glance back and can see a Mooreabbey Miler top but it is far enough away that I can ease off just as I get to the finish. I cross over the line, try to get some air into my lungs and turns myself from wheezing Neanderthal back to human again (a bit like the Hulk, maybe it happens to all hill-runners eventually). Jason Collins crosses the line next as we exchange handshakes. I am thrilled to find out that I am 6th overall and even won my category (Neanderthal or Old Man, not sure yet).

What a great route this was. Hot shower had, followed by some sambos and delicious coffee cake.
Congratulations to Nick and Kealey or their respective wins. Special mention to Patrick Brown who is on holidays from East London on his first IMRA race- 2nd place overall and a M35 category win. Not bad for a guy whose only ascent training is 52 flights of stairs every day in work (now I could be spoofing here but I’m sticking with it).

Huge thanks to all the volunteers, photographers, bell ringers and vets who gave up their time and opportunity to run to let us go a little ‘Yeti’ in the woods!