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28 November, 2009

King of the Mountains points.

10 John Lenihan
9 Eoin McKenna
8 Peter O'Farrell
7 Ross Alexander
6 Bernard Fortune
5 Turlough Conway
4 Tom Blackburn
3 Anthony Cornforth
2 Keith Ryan
1 John Heffernan


Bilboa won the Mens Team Race


For breakfast I passed up on the Full Irish, I ate a very light serving of cereal some orange juice, a small cup of delightfully aromatic brewed coffee and a slice of toast with Marmalade. It?s was going to be a tough day and the last thing I needed was a bloated feeling leading to a stitch. I went outside the Bed and Breakfast and walked along the river bank performing my warm-up stretches. There was about two hours to go and I could just see the monolith shrugging off its cloud cover in the distance, rising from the earth in all its glory.

We drove the ten minute drive through the windy back roads of Kerry and came upon the meeting point. I strapped my heart rate monitor to my chest and pinned my worn number to my top, number ?276?.

I recently took up the sport of mountain running. I have always enjoyed running up the Three Rock Mountain when I wasn?t too busy during the hockey season. We are very lucky in Dublin that there are great mountains only a short drive away. I love putting on my training gear doing some stretches, feeling nimble and setting off on a run up into the mountains. For me it is a multi rewarding sport.

#1 Your outdoors
#2 You have the opportunity of pushing yourself to your physical limits
#3 Once you reach the summit you can take in the fantastic scenery and race to the bottom again!

The sun was really heating up now and hydration could prove to be a problem. There was 50 or so of us all anxiously awaiting the starters call, last minute stretching was being done and nervous laughter and smiles were exchanged among some. There was movement from the starter; he climbed onto one of the many boulders surrounding us and after asking for quiet he began to speak... ?Welcome to Carrauntoohil, points today will go towards the Irish King of the Mountains title..."

I listened intently as he went over the route with us, visualising each landmark and turn. I looked at my heart monitor, it was racing, I didn?t need it too tell me this though as I could feel it in my chest, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud... the adrenaline was really flowing now.

Get set...GO!

A multitude of electronic beeps sounded as everyone started their own stop watches. I bustled towards the front of the pack and began the steep ascent. I passed one, two, three people, then a dozen more as we wound up the starting track and people were trying to catch their second wind.

I am always learning new things at each race and trying new race strategies and preparation methods. One of the handiest tips I came across was:

?You need to find a nice bum in front of you and stick to it!!?

How true this was, for the next 15 minutes of the race I stuck to one until it ran out of steam and then I pressed on by myself. I came across boggy ground, Munsters Bloody finest in my opinion, and tried my best to avoid the large muddy pools but to no avail, I came out the far side like a wet rat and the race was only a quarter of the way through.

I approached the first mountain that stood in the way of Carranntoohill...Caher! An insanely steep 450m climb over roughly 2KMs... This is what it was all about! All the training comes down to this type of climb! I start off steady trying to navigate a safe path while keeping my pace. But after just two minutes every breath is a labour, my heart rate monitor tells me I?m at my maximum threshold and is beeping like mad to warn me, my lungs scream, my back aches as I now have to use my hands to scramble over shale and rock, my legs say stop no more, why are you doing this to me!

Sure I could stop, I could easily quit, I could be back at the B&B right then just waking up and eating my full Irish Breakfast...but It all comes down to mental strength. It?s one thing doing the training but when it comes to the crunch and you?re in a bad way it?s your mental attitude that will get you through. You need to set yourself goals throughout the race, like catch the person ahead before the next hill, keep a certain pace until the next marker or just take it one bloody step at a time!

So...I compromise with my body, I slow to a fast walk. Using long strides I push myself up the mountain. I walk ten steps and then I run ten steps, walk run, walk, and run. Finally I progress into the cloud and reach the first summit...it?s cloudy at the top I can see no more than a few meters ahead, I?m effectively blind and I thread across rock carefully, which way now?? Local knowledge would have been good right about now. I hesitate for a few moments, conscious that I'm loosing time, then the cloud suddenly disperses. I see the amused faces of hikers only yards away, they are cheering me on pointing the direction to go. I take off again to climb the final summit. The race leader passes me on his return journey, the famous local legend John Lenihan, I could see this was a Sunday stroll for him but I offer a few words of encouragement anyway as I stand aside for him.

Another ten minutes of burn on my legs, surprisingly it feels fantastic, I have never felt so alive... then not too far away I see the mountains zenith, a tall cross. Spurned on by more hikers? applause I drag myself the last few yards and slap the black iron cross on the back like a long lost friend...

The cloud cover is completely gone and Kerry is now visible in all its beautiful glory. Alas, although I could have spent an eternity drinking in the beautiful scenery, there was still the little mater of the race and I could see a slow train of fellow competitors winding up the mountain behind me. I still had the fun part to go...the downhill.

There is a very large and active mountain running community out there. The Irish Mountain Running Association. Very much like Toastmasters International, the majority of everyday people don?t know it exists. Each of their weekly race meetings can gather 150-200 people per race. The oldest members are in their seventies and the youngest in their early teens! I happened to stumble across them on the internet one day and I think I found a new sport for life...

I set back down the mountain at break-neck speed, nearly falling a dozen or more times, I feel like an Olympic slalom skier zig zagging down the mountain scree to try and curb my speed. Cumbersome Hikers look on in what can only be described as awe as they clear a path for me. I make ground on a few more cautious runners ahead of me. I'm going so fast that my eyes are watering and being filled with hot and stinging salty sweat that I try to wipe away. The sun is really hot now, I'm really contemplating stoping and asking a hiker for some water but I press on.

The final section is a long gentle slope and again I'm trying to focus on a goal. I extend my stride and concentrate on my breathing and posture. I'm nearly there and just one more steep slope. I can hear someone ahead shouting my number to the laptop operator. The finish line has a small crowd of cheering runners and spectators, I cross the finish line and my legs are like jelly, far and distant. I walk in a daze for some moments trying to catch my breath. 14KM, a 1125m climb in 1hr 45mins and 16 seconds to come in at 14th place...I did it!

I take off my shoes and socks and cool my feet in the clear mountain stream, having a good chat about the race with the others who are now no longer competitors, but friends united in our victory over the Irish Monolith High up there...Carrauntoohil.

END.