Peter O'Farrell

27 April, 2025

Thanks to Eoin, Daniela, Lillian, Caroline and Niall for doing the non running so we could do the running. It's much appreciated, especially on such a long day. It was at least a clear and sunny day. I could see forever and the lakes were easy to find.

This day out has firmly cemented itself into the calendar in our house. Normally there's a bit of give and take over which jewels in the IMRA season of races go to Orla and which ones are for me but for this one it's a win win, win win. We both love it and we both get to run it. Twice. Mighty. Mike and Maike picked up Orla and I chilled out at home. Coffee and dot watching for a while and then an easy drive down to Glenmalure Hostel - with the tiniest bit of tension driving over the fuller than usual river crossing but thankfully Connie showed the way here.
Orla ran her 2 legs good and I set off into my happy place - chasing tired runners up a steep climb with fresh legs. It's still great fun and I still like it.
As it was clear that the misnamed "just delighted to take part" crew were going to win by about 20 minutes I was tempted into trying a slightly different route on leg 4. However, I got it wrong and lost some time needlessly heather bashing and contouring my way under Cullentragh mountain instead of just cutting a corner. Adrian Hennessy did run the perfect line here looking at the Primal Tracking afterwards. A kilometre of leg shredding heather followed before fireroads to the finish. Next year (assuming it's on again) I might be tempted into Billy Reeds line, staying on the ridge all along to Derrybawn and emerging with unscathed shins, and he got the win in the solo. The aforementioned Mike and Maike went with the slightly unusual 1:3 split for the relay, actually a brilliant idea if toying with the idea of doing the full thing in the future.
So well done us, "Just delighted to be here" and everyone else that had fun on the hills today. The time bonuses and chasing starts are a class idea and make for great racing.