Mick Hanney

08 November, 2010

Powerscourt Ridge pretty much marks the end of the year from a hill running perspective. It’s one of the toughest races on the calendar but it has its charms too. For me it brings mixed feelings. I usually look forward to it, then curse it while I’m doing it and afterwards have a glow of satisfaction having done it.

According to my garmin the race measures some 15.3k. The route is pretty unrelenting. Starting at Crone c.160m above sea-level you will climb to the top of Maulin (570m) within 3k, over mixed trail road then open mountain. Coming off Maulin on a rough track you descend to the footbridge that crosses the Dargle, above Powerscourt Waterfall. The scenery – when you can take it in – is to die for. From the Dargle its another 3 or so k to the top of Djouce and you climb nearly 400m in that stretch. All the running to and from Djouce are on mixed ground – grass, rock and rough track all in there. Over the top of Djouce you go down to the Wicklow way turn, and turning left you follow the Wicklow way around Djouce, 3.5k back to the footbridge on the Dargle, up a nasty 60m climb before you are pretty much on fire road to the finish, 3.25k or so descending all the way to where you started. Phew.

Weather was glorious. The calm before the expected Sunday storm. A great crowd of runners gathered. Must have been at least a hundred and we set off a little late due to the rush at registration. Off we went and Brian McMahon, a recent 2:24 finisher in the Dublin marathon set off with great intent and left us in his wake. He’d go on to win handy enough but the record for the route set by Barry Minnock 2 years ago still remains. It shows the quality of that record.

I set off at an even pace at the back of a lead bunch of about 20 runners. By degrees a slow starting Peter O'Farrell, who had cycled to Crone, went past me easily. Made a few places up on the Maulin forest ride, including past a tired looking Martin Francis who in his defence was up early on Saturday working. The steep climb to Maulin reduced me to walking in parts but such was the case for most. Bernard Fortune, returning to racing from an injury break went past me easily on this climb and he followed Tom Blackburn to stretch out a lead on me and Greg Byrne who was in close attendance.

The run off Maulin is a blast, but you need to watch your step through the muddy rocky strewn path. I lost ground to a couple of flyers (Mourne Runners?) on this section, as well as our own IMRA Mali runner - the fast descending Amidou - but I gained it again just before the footbridge on the Dargle by taking a faster line, on the grassy right, near the bottom. A steady jog did the job up the steep climb on the other side. Took the stile options, and was joined again by Greg who took the parallel track. Maintained a slow but steady gait up most of Djouce and ran a lot of the way here with Greg, chatting away at times and unconsciously probably egging each other on. A couple of Northern runners slowly went by us near the top of Djouce (far play lads), the downhill from which was another blast. Regained a place before the Wicklow way boardwalk. Held my ground running around Djouce and down towards the Dargle but had difficulty from stinging sweat in the eyes. Not good having blurred vision when you are running fast on uneven ground. Greg appeared from nowhere on the final stretch to the Dargle footbridge and eked out a lead as he continued running up the short steep section on the far side as I was reduced to a walk again. The final 3ish k to the finish was all out. All out knackered, but tried to keep going. Closed the gap on Greg and we managed to overtake another runner (injured?) in the meantime. I was surprised to not be overtaken on this stretch as I was feeling it big time. I finished in 15th, only 2 secs behind Greg according to the results. It felt like more. My time was 86:35 which was nearly 4 mins faster than last year and a PB for me on this race. Thats the benefit of good weather. Winning time by Brian was a super 73:41! Total climb 846m of hurting. Knackered afterwards, but happy.

Good craic afterwards back in the Glencormac Inn and nice to get the soup and sambos. Thanks to Dermot and his crew of volunteers for making the day happen.