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28 November, 2009

It's been 4 days of "renewal" for IMRA, this weekend saw the birth of the Cushbawn race, and this Wednesday Justin Rea's "backyard training route" was converted into another, no doubt returning, fixture on the IMRA calendar: seven and a half kilometres to the top of Prince William's Seat and back again, crossing over Raven's Rock through the forest of Carrickaspinkeen.

As I was looking forward to this my 11th race of the season, I wasn't sure what to think of today's after my near collapse on the ascent to Cushbawn three days earlier, but felt somehow comforted by the 7k distance/340m ascent race description. Given that Justin had laid out the route, and that Alan Ayling, architect of so much grief and suffering at Trooperstown Hill this winter, was involved, I should of course have known better!

As the day progressed, my brain was starting to ask unwelcome questions, familiar to mountain runners, such as "am I running to many races", "do I need a rest," "Am I mad?" Then I remembered Billy Bland's words: "Rest and recovery? I've never heard such bloody rubbish in all my life." Thus, feeling every bit a lazy git for having even dared ponder such thoughts, I arrived with Barry Tennyson and three others, adding to what seemed to be great support for the increased need for more carpooling.

Parking facilities were excellent, though, and even 40 minutes before the race, I was (once again) impressed by the not only the bustling activity at the registration but the top-professional way that the race start was once again setup and handled.

The starting area provided a nice soft and sloped warm-up area, and from here the early start went off as planned, before the hundred-ninety-something strong field (a turn-out only bettered at this year's) stampeded towards the fire trail leading into the forest that engulfs Raven's Rock. I hope there were no junior runners on the day, as Alan warned of potential monsters lurking the woods (no encounters were reported, and no runners reported missing, however, and apart from the glimpse I got of Barry Minnock at the race start, I saw no further trace of monsters!).

After the early start had gotten away as planned, the main starting group set-off in archetypical IMRA-fashion, stampeding towards the entrance to the firetrail leading through the woods up to Raven's Rock.

Favourites such as Barry Minnock, Eoin Keith, and Peter O'Farrell had quickly disappeared while runners hustled and fought their way up through the massive field. So did Aisling Coppinger, who looked well on the way to claiming a third successive victory in the women's ranking after her great runs at Ticknock and Cushbawn.

The fast pace was undoubtedly caused by the innocuous look of the first few kilometres, then came the surprise: As I ran onto the thin path leading up through the forest, utter darkness engulfed me, and as I removed my sunglasses, I saw (to my un-ending despair) a forest track that could best be described as "vertical".

Patient runners half-queued/half-ran up between the trees, and as we finally saw the light of day, disaster struck, my legs turned into jelly and our trek continued by fire trail to the foot of Prince William's Seat itself, but markedly slower from the perspective of yours truly!

Of the next ascent, I remember little, except a few familiar faces, such as Hazel Thompson and last week's F40 winner, my fellow Scandinavian Sarah Linse, pulling past me as I staggered up towards the final, heather covered ascent to Prince William's Seat.

Here I a worthy joust with Diarmuid O'Colmain ensued as we fought it out for positions, tugging back and forth, as we passed the Cairn telling us, that at 555m (it felt like 666m), it was all downhill from here.

The ascent and descent on Prince William's Seat itself are trickier than they would seem from a first glance, the running path narrow and dotted with small perturbing holes and surrounding heather that meant overtaking would be tantamount to injecting lactic acid straight into your legs! (That is, best avoided!).

I was clipping away at Sarah's ankles the whole way down after Gerry Brady yelled: "Don't let that Swede get you," as we rushed past him midway down Prince William's Seat. Passing anyone going at a decent speed here was nigh-impossible, but as we climbed the final fence leading back to the fire-road, our Scandinavian luck broke and Sarah used her cross-country stride to gallop away from our group with me in hot pursuit.

The long fire-trail leading back down to the finish was perfect for any fast descender and even as I managed to get past Hazel, I feared every little upward slope in the hill would be the end of me. In the final corner I eyed Aoife Joyce, attempted a late sprint (HR peaking at 191 at this stage!), but came a few metres short as Aoife earned a well-deserved revanche for our tight duel on the Wicklow Way Trail.

Sarah Linse had finished seconds earlier and equalised to 1-1 in the Danish-Swedish duel, extra time and penalties await at Aughavannagh on Saturday.

Primal Quest team-mates Eoin Keith and Barry Minnock went head to head for third race in a row, and while Eoin could exchange Sunday's 3rd place with 2nd, Barry is emerging as a clear early favourite for the Leinster League with an astounding victory. Running through the injury Barry recorded his fourth straight IMRA victory in just 17 days!

On the women's side Rathfarnham runner Laura Flynn had narrowly edged out Aisling Coppinger and stopped her chance a true hat-trick, while also dethroning Sara Linse from the F40 crown with a superb run. Marcella Dunne and Jean O'Neill took care of the F50 and F60 respectively, while Gary Moralee won a very competitive M50 line-up, and Mick Kellett and Charlie O'Connel wrapping up the M60 and M70s categories.

A great race, a great day, and for those who had the mental presence (I didn't!) a great view from the top.

Looking forward to the next test, Aughavannagh beckons this weekend (a smaller field to be expected!), as we take a wee break from the Leinster League and turn attention back to the wilderness called the Leinster and Irish Championships...


<b>Female Club Results:</b>
1st Setanta 144 (41 Moire O'Sullivan, 42 Roisin McDonnell, 61 Hazel Thompson)
2nd Crusaders 256 (56 Aoife Joyce, 93 Martina O'Kearney, 107 Colleen Robinson)
3rd Clonliffe 260 (30 Aisling Coppinger, 86 Maura Ni Chearbhaill, 144 Jean O'Neill)
4th Sli Cualann 316 (89 Jean Bader, 100 Maria O'Rourke, 127 Grainne Cunningham)
5th GEN 411 (55 Sarah Linse, 176 Deirdre Bell, 180 Rachel Bell)

<b>Male Club Results:</b>
1st UCD 28 (6 Jonathan Hartnett, 8 Tim Grummell, 14 Eoin Syron)
2nd Rathfarnham WSAF 31 (1 Barry Minnock, 12 Mike Long, 18 John Farrelly)
3rd Sli Cualann 35 (9 Martin Francis, 15 Jimmy Synnott, 31 Cormac O'Ceallaigh)
4th Setanta 75 (5 Gerry Lalor, 17 Aaron Shorten, 53 Philip Brennan)
5th Crusaders 119 (19 Shane O'Rourke, 40 Paul Kelly, 60 Diarmuid O'Colmain)
6th GEN 155 (22 Alan Ayling, 54 Patrick Casey, 79 Brian Bell)