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28 November, 2009

In contrast to Saturday the 16 stalwarts who shook off Saturday's run on Croagh Patrick and a large slice of Westport nightlife were treated to a wonderful window of clear skies which made the race a delight. The Nephin race is usually the most low-key event of the year, starting and finishing in a wet sheep pasture without an inch of track the whole way, even the sheep were too lazy to make any intermittent tracks.

The amazing thing about this race is you can see almost the whole course from most of it, that is if you can keep your head up on the shattering 800 meter climb. There were a few who actually just showed up on the day(and had missed Saturday's preliminaries) led by blast from the past Declan Doyle who showed up for his first mountain race in years to take the honors. Richard O'Donnell , skipped Saturday as well but a case of the exploding walshes prevented him from mounting a serious challenge. Here is a complete report from Martin Cortvriend over from Wales for a weekend of redemption in Mayo:

On a fine July day at the back end of the last century (1999 to be exact) a small party of experienced Irish mountain runners decided to go the long way round at the Nephin race taking a group of overseas visitors (myself included) on an extended tour of the Mayo countryside. As chronicled somewhere deep in the IMRA archives I arrived back at the finish line over two hours behind that year?s winner John Lenihan. In hindsight and at the time it all went so horribly wrong, a nightmare relived over and over in my dreams. At the start of the race it all looked so simple - you can see the entire route of a beautiful anticlockwise horseshoe up the right hand shoulder (or is it the left?) of Nephin, along the top and down the left (right?) hand shoulder back to the start line. Furthermore it seemed clear that wherever you are on the mountain you can see the rest of the runners ahead of you. Easy - no problem! As the race started there was no sign of the thick rogue cloud of claggy mist which subsequently appeared from nowhere leaving several of us stranded on top of Nephin unable to see more than a few yards with no map, no compass and no hope. But then there was hope in the shape of a small perfectly formed Irish mountain runner who yelled those reassuring but fateful words ?Don?t worry, follow me!? The rest is history, a history of a mountain race which turned into an orienteering race which turned into a disorienteering race finished off with a long road race back through Lahardane to the end. To be fair to everyone else they all waited at the pub for us obviously champing at the bit to hear the gory details, one or two of the more realistic among them thinking ?There but for the grace of God, etc,.?

2005, another century, renewed optimism. I returned from Wales and successfully negotiated the perils of Croagh Patrick the day before. Marko van der Voort returned from Holland to exorcise his demons and ?to gain my revenge!!? The weather was bright and reasonably clear, there were some suspicious clouds hanging around however none came close enough to interfere with our pleasure, my map and compass remained snug in my bumbag. That?s not to say the race wasn?t without incident. My wife Vicky was strategically stationed halfway up the mountain and she reported some interesting route choices both up and down. The upward route looks straightforward from the road but there are one or two subtle options before the long steep bit and despite Bruce?s comments about the sheep I?m convinced that there must be one or two helpful sheep tracks but no one seemed to find them. And the long steep bit? At Croagh Patrick there?s a sort of half way stage where the saddle of the mountain gives you a breather - at Nephin there?s no respite - it just goes on and on, upward and upward. But like all good things it eventually comes to an end and at the summit we were greeted by the smiling face of our Spanish marshall.

Meanwhile at the head of the field Richard O?Donnell and Declan Doyle were seemingly rather tentative on the final descent making sure that they took the right line. The runner in third place at that point ,Turlough Conway , showed no such fear and rapidly plunged into the valley way too far to the left thus losing his place to Eoin Keith. Richard?s attempts at repairing his exploding Walsh at Nephin?s summit possibly cost him the race leaving Declan a clear victor. Roisin McDonnell showed no fatigue from the previous day?s climbing to win the ladies race and the Connacht Championship, while Eoin?s third place finish (and first amoung the Croagh Patrick survivors) gave him his first Connacht championship. In conclusion there were smiles all round at the finish, ghosts had been exorcised and Marko had got his revenge. On a cautionary note the lesson I learned 6 years ago was a good one and I rarely go on the mountains even in good weather without the bag around my waist, AKA my bumbag containing compass, whistle, waterproof top and, on longer jaunts, things like map, hat, gloves, overtrousers and food.

Finally after a 3 year gap it was great to race in Ireland again and we?re very impressed with the continued enthusiasm and excellent organisation of IMRA obviously your new president, Jane Porter, is inspiring everybody and I hear that up to 250 runners are turning out to some of the midweek races which is quite amazing. I?m looking forward to seeing Barry and Turlough when they?re over in Wales for the Snowdon race later this month. I know there is usually an Irish presence at Snowdon most years but it isn?t a typical Welsh Mountain race, we?ve plenty more and some are much more fun (not to mention cheaper!) - you?ll find details <a href= "http://www.wfra.org.uk"> <b>here</b></a> and if you want more info you can contact me via that website so don?t be afraid to come over for a break and a run!.