Unknown

28 November, 2009

Below is extracts from two reports received intertwined . In places it is difficult to believe that they are describing the same place.


Liffey Valley report.(Brian Bell) (Bruce Shenker)

The start of the last of the 50K series race was quite interesting. There was lots of discussion before the start as to the best way up Seefingan. There were lots of mind games being played. There were two maps available, Harvey's and Pat Healy's. It was clear from both that the shortest way up was through the forest but neither map showed a clear route other than a path up first to Seefin and then to Seefingan which looked about 1.5K longer.

Sixteen runners started off on the same route but at the first junction split about three ways. One large group found a good ride up through the forest. Another smaller group just ploughed through the forest(myself included). One person went off to the right around the edge of the forest. All in all, I don't think any route choice made a huge difference as we all got to the top of Seefingan in a predictable order.BB

On the day (as with all 3 races) navigation was not an issue, but route choice (aside from fitness and the ability to run through any kind of shite) was the main differentiator. There were numerous tracks and firebreaks through the forest above Kippure Bridge but somehow a large group of us ended up crawling through a thick forest, until bursting into sunlight on the open slopes below the ridge between Seefingan and Kippure.BS

The run to Kippure was as expected. The bog wasn't too bad. I don't know of anyone who ran down the road from Kippure. Most ran to the bend in the road. One took a bearing on a point further over towards Sally Gap but I think this was much slower.BB

The ridge from Seefin to KIppure was really the only straightforward part of the course, which was easily negotiated despite endless bog hags which featured deep sticky mud (only knee deep due to the recent dry spell.)

The next significant route choice was top of Kippure to Sally Gap and those that fared the best got to the road as quickly as possible, the gullies and hole filled heather patches on the south side of Kippure are challenging to say the least. From Sally Gap you cannot see the track up Carrigvore so you have to make a best guess and after fighting through some more heather you eventually gain the summit.BS

Up to Carrigvore was fine. There were lots of route choices off Carrigvore. It appears that the high route on the right had good running as did running down the left side of the Carrigvore river. However many runners run along the earth bank which is marked on the maps but the running here was quite difficult in places with high grass hiding rough ground. BB

From Carrigvore to the rounded hill of Ballinscory (may have gotten the name wrong) offers infinite choice, some sections are pleasantly runnable, but much of it features hidden hummocks constantly throwing you off balance. At least 30 deer jumped out of hidden hollows as I came through stumbling through the high grass. I hear from Doug Corrie there was nice runnable ground on the south side of Carrigvore creek but I ran a little further north, had a big adventure crossing a creek in the plantation where I had to fight my way through 4 foot thick ferns up the steep bank and then after about 1/4 mile of good running found myself in more hummocky high grass. BS

Ballynabrocky also had some high grass but it wasn't too bad. People came into the finish from a number of different routes. No one had any difficulty. The route along the new track was easy but quite a bit longer than the direct route up along the brook.BB

From the top of the last mountain I saw the Kippure holiday homes and headed for them, and once again was in ferns that constantly grapped by legs, after crossing the river and negotiating a very serious triple strand barb wire fence I ended up in a field of super nettles (I still feel them 18 hours later) before finding the road back to the start.BS

My thoughts on the full 50K series.

This series stretched my physical ability to the limit. For the last race, I was walking on anything that even looked uphill for the last hour.
Apart from the first race the visibility has been very good so navigation was not an issue. However if the weather had been bad I think many people would have been lost. Even the small amount of fog on the first race caused a number of people to go wrong.
It appears that there is little desire lo learn map reading or how to use a compass. I think the physical challenge is what most people want.
There is quite a little trepidation at the start especially for people who are not orienteers. As against this here were suggestions that we go further into the mountains, Glenamure or Glen of Imall for example. Perhaps we should learn from the LL. If we start with shorter simpler races we may encourage more people to come along.
Should we have a short starter race such as the circuit of Glensoulan and include compass bearings as well as grid references? It will be difficult to find a balance between the demand from the more experienced people wanting harder races and finding races suitable for new people.

Hopefully you will get more feedback from other people that will enable you to see what to include for next year.

BB

I did 2 of the 3 races and feel they definitely should be continued. For me yesterday was more of an adventure hike then a run, since I kept turning my ankle on the hummocks I mostly walked, but it takes you to places that you would not ordinarily get to and makes you figure out how to get through amazingly rough ground.

BS