Redemption in the least expected places

20 April, 2025 - Brian Mullins

The question is not where you are from. The question is where do you belong to? Kilkenny! Absolutely not as a Corkman! I hadn’t been to the top of Brandon Hill in over 20 years and I managed to see the cross three times on this outing, though to be fair only twice during the race. Getting to Graiguenamanagh from mid Cork is a long outing in itself, and looking for a long warm up as I was early, has it’s benefits so i just kept going until there was no more uphill! It was either this or the Valentia Half in Kerry and given the level of ascent and general off-road nature of the course I expected this outing on Brandon Hill would be a good test of the current fitness for upcoming races abroad so it won the day.

When I signed up for this earlier in the week the weather looked reasonable and I had high hopes of the vast sweeping vistas of Leinster before me but in reality the weather was grim. A big shout out to all the volunteers as these were not pleasant conditions to be out in so thank you for all the positivity and enthusiasm, it makes a massive difference believe me!

As most know I’m not on Strava or Facebook or anything really so these meanderings are as close to “social media” as it gets for me. That’s not to say I didn’t have a cheeky look at the elevation profile for this race and when I saw 900m I was impressed, but also wondering where was the mountain. I expected the mid way horror show of 30% to be hard but the real test I thought would be the long demoralising climb back over Brandon after about 10miles already in tired legs to really put the tin hat on it. I wasn’t wrong in this regard but the kegs just seemed to be on autopilot and kept running uphill!

It was good to catch up with Lonan at the start to discuss tactics for later this year in Courmayeur when he would be sipping Prosecco and eating Gelato after finishing days ahead while the rest of us were dying on our feet wandering around the Aosta Valley. I speak from experience here after seeing him smiling at me as I coughed up a lung at UTS last year!

Anyhow back to Brandon! Looking around at the start line there was an impressive array of lean fast merchants encroaching from all angles until the words burger and curry were mentioned and suddenly all thoughts of a race were secondary. What does one have to do to avail of such riches? The answer was the same as always, SUFFER!

We were let off on the button at 11 and a steady pace led by David had us motoring up to the first steep firebreak of the day. The legs felt good and I seemed to be the only overly enthusiastic victim wiling to keep running any gradient when hands on knees marching was a better strategy. It paid off though as by the time we hit the top of Brandon on the first ascent I had a few seconds over David and a few others. I’ve never ran this area before so the descent was far from flat out from my perspective but still quick enough to know that one false step would end up with a busy first aider!

Hitting the fireroad after a super enjoyable descent, where I was expecting to be passed at any moment, was a really low moment. I hate fire road, I hate the flat, I hate anything resembling something that isn’t either straight up or straight down open mountain. Oh well what was presented would have to do. I settled into the mode of the hunted fox. I knew well there was a pack of hounds behind me and many of them could make a mistake but one could still catch me. All I had to do was slow down, make a mistake, fall down, or just wilt and the whole pack would devour me! Great!

I couldn’t believe it when the watch beeped at around 4miles just before the horror show 30% firebreak ascent as my head told me I was at least half way! I looked at the volunteers who encouraged it was only 600m but a real bastard and settled in for a proper grind. I determined I was going to run every last metre of it! And that I did but not without the encouragement and support or every early starter on the same climb, each of whom was undergoing their own personal torture so thanks for those words of encouragement all of you!

The next few miles rolled away innocuously enough but interspersed with vocal abuse from volunteers and it was good to see Carol off her recent outing in Wicklow chuckling at the misery we were all enthusiastically subjecting ourselves with knowing well she had endured much much worse on her beyond belief Wainwrights effort!

I was beginning to worry about when I would ever see the final climb back over Brandon until I eventually met the head wind, oh yeah I forgot to mention that driving wind which was not fun for at least 4miles of the course, and it beat into me for the last mile before I turned left and headed up and over for home. By that stage I thought I was in a time warp as I had expected to be passed on numerous occasions on the fireroad and flatter parts of the course by much faster runners than me.

However when I began the final ascent I vowed that not even Jesus himself, carrying a cross or not, would be allowed victory. Luckily the cross on top of Brandon was still there so I was safe, Jesus was clearly having an off day. Martin, who was volunteering on top, clearly wasn’t and was still cheering anything that moved and deserves many shout outs for being in such an inhospitable location for a few hours!

The final descent was brilliant and a true showcase of the terrain as the first km was absolute concentration in the flowing water over rocks until I heard Deirdre shouting enthusiastically that I was flying, or was that dying, who knows!

A very worried 2km descent on fireroad ensued as when you don’t know the course, the fog is down and your legs are like lead your head can manufacture all sort of scenarios, such as where Nick jumps out of a random tree in front of you and jogs to the finish, or Evan just walks past you as you are visibly running what you think is your fastest mile of the day!!

It was a true relief to be across the line, to know that I had made the right choice between Kerry and Kilkenny for this one, and to know that it lined up next weekends race as good as possible just adds to the experience. It has to be said that having raced many IMRA courses this one stands out as a proper test, the double ascent of Brandon along with the steep firebreak are classic and you underestimate them at your peril! Lonan and Rory know what they are doing, and the marking was so perfect they made sure that you got every single last metre of ascent and distance!!!!

Burgers and curry by Dara and crew at the end pretty much sealed the deal for all concerned but I reckon the thing that stuck with me all the way down to Sneem this evening was the discussion about Jerpoint Glass. I had never heard of it until 1pm today but most of the Iveragh know about it now!!!

What else would you be doing?

19 April, 2025 - David Power

Not since Rory McIlroy's jet touched down in Belfast, was the aura of greatness felt. This time it was in my little car, in an Aldi car park outside Graiguenamanagh. Our car had a combined 132 IMRA race wins, so on average 66 between the two of us. The divide wasn't equal, I was ferrying Becky Quinn up to the start. My measly 4 wins overshadowed by Becky's 128.
I was the Harry Diamond in this journey, the chauffeur for the favourite.
Anyway, by the time we returned, our combined wins total was up to 133.GO TEAM! Becky had done the business. While I had started well, leading the 113 runners up the hill til near the summit. Then another heavyweight, Brian Mullins, crested the summit ahead of me. The marshal appeared out of the misty conditions and said "just follow Brian". I laughed, that was the last I saw of him.
The rest of the race was me battling for top 3, then by the second half, realising top 5 would be a good result. Kind of like Bryson on Sunday. Out of the action by halfway. Things got worse as a flying athlete sped by me. Where did he get that burst from? Nick Hogan apparently started 5 minutes behind us, due to a car mechanical. No bother he burst through to take 3rd.
The course was murky, so I can't report anything about the glorious views of the Barrow beneath. The cross at the summit was my only landmark. Well done to all the marshals and race director Lonan, bringing us to a new part of the country for mountain running for many.
I'm happy to have ticked of the highest peak in Kilkenny (over 500m). The bugers and coke at the end, hiding in the tent as athletes arrived in, literally steaming like horses in the winners enclosure.
Anyway, like Shane Lowry my day may come next time. Today was perfect training for the WW Relay leg 7, which I will reaquaint myself with. You never know Becky could show up and add to her trophy collection, or maybe Nick will get a new car, then we're all snookered.