Carlsberg don't make Trail Races...

03 March, 2025 - Barry Murray

But if they did, Annacura Trail Race would probably be the best trail race in the world !

That's as big a compliment I can give the race Mick ;) You will now get over 200 signing up for it next year and not have enough car parking spaces ;)

I'm trying now to make my usual annual pilgrimage up to the a Leinster race a bi-annual one so its great to be able to tie a race in with a family visit . I had two of the three kids with me and they now love any excuse to be hopping an a plane from Kerry. After weeks of pretty dismal weather it was nice to see a settled period come in and conditions for the race were perfect. It is such a lovely quaint part of Wicklow and the nice conditions made the venue look like a picture postcard. As I mentioned on the forum, Mick has one of the most perfect set-ups for any IMRA race with the community hall for registration, big carpark, pub, a playground and even a church for those that need a prayer all in the same spot in a quiet small country village.

My usual arch rivals had conveniently made their excuses with John Bell trying to figure out how to work the laptop, Peter Bell claiming that he couldn't get a babysitter and Mikey minding his 15 cats. Even the likes of Warren Swords couldn't be seen as he claimed he had to get a new knee replacement. However, that lot didn't reduce my competition when I saw the likes of Des Kennedy and Barry Minnock warming up.

With the kids settled in the playground with my Dad, Mick gave us a nice short race briefing and set us off. We were in the woods within a couple of hundred meters and the pace was fast with the likes of Matthew and Joe Warne flying off ahead early. The underfoot conditions were perfect too with the recent spell of dryness so it was lovely running conditions. We hit the first incline and the likes of Des and Minnock had drifted off behind Matthew and Joe, with then myself and 3-4 other guys close together. I got out of the on the right side of the bed which doesn't happen too often these days and was feeling good in the first few km's. Its the sort of course that suits those that like to run and turn over the legs, there is no real hiking and there are no technical parts where you have to watch your step. After the first climb, I was able to open up the legs and get into the higher gears easily so I knew that I was suited to the course. The only new addition i noticed was these little badges that were pinned onto the trees as race markers. Nice attention to detail there but you had to keep focused on them as you navigated through the woods sections. I was racing close with two other guys, James and Con, so we had each other to keep us all in check. The big climb started about 4-5k in and it felt long... runnable , but one of the longest constant gradient climbs I've done in a race, a really good test . At this stage I had went ahead of the two other lads and I knew we would have more free downhill running in the latter half of the race. The last uphill section was a little bit of a surprise but added a bit of spice. It was more open mountain, no real trail, just follow the markers over some rough uneven terrain. Managed to keep going strong but James went a bit ahead of me . We turned at the top and it was then fast running. I had plenty left in the tank so upped the pace and passed James. The most fun part was then the downhill section through the woods... so fast and twisty, with a few mountain bike ramps that you could fly off. Even though I'm in the m45 category, I felt like I was in the MJ cat running and jumping through the tree's.

Back onto one last fire road (and there wasn't many of these the likes of Mikey would be glad to know) and James led into the last bit of downhill fun. This was a wider trail and James moved a few secs ahead of me. I knew there were 2 x fallen tree's to jump over near the finish so I tried to catch back up with him but it was too late. Onto the final straight and still was able to keep the speed up and hold on for a top 10 position.

Back then across the road to the Saltee pub. It was such a lovely day there was even a touch of summer to it with people sitting outside and the sun shining. A real pleasure to do a race like that in such lovely conditions. Well done again to Mick and crew, I'll be booking my flights up again for next year as soon as the calendar is out !