Unknown

28 November, 2009

As we distracted ourselves with the beeping of stopwatches Tom Galvin made a
bold strike for the lead. As the sun beat down the dampening of feet in
marsh water cooled heads and the pace settled. With the mass of Nephin
ahead of us, marshy grass gave way to marshy reeds which made the going hard
and slow.

With feet already soaked the leaders opted to ease the toil my descending
briefly into a tight river valley were vegetation presented a lesser
obstacle to progress. The respite was short, the valley opened out and west
flank of the Nephin Coum loomed ahead.

With the ongoing gain in height the panorama increased and the views
expanded. The spirit was lifted but the body still relied on weary legs.
Croagh Patrick appeared on the right it's fearsome climb and descent a raw
sharp memory for the bulk of the field.

Bernard 'Moose' Fortune was first to pass the trig-point and begin the
descent along the broad arete of the east arm of the coum. Broken stone
intermingled with forgiving bog marked the start of this most magnificent
descent. Having climbed steadily to hit the top in 3rd Richard O'Donnell
showed he was the man for this terrain by sweeping past those ahead of him,
before plunging down the steep heather slope towards our river bed highway.

All safely followed to smile for the camera as they tackled the last watery
ditch before the finish line.

To my mind Nephin is an epic route. It's purity is it's beauty. Not one step
on a made path. No contrived loops, a horse shoe route that follows the
shape and fall of the land. Simply a wonderful place to practice a
wonderful sport.