Jason Kehoe

29 August, 2011

After the Lugnacoille race last July I was talking to Diane Wilson from Lagan Valley who had just secured the title of Irish Mountain running Champion 2011. She asked if I was going to travel to Newcastle, Co. Down to race the Donard and Comedagh route. I hadn't given it much thought but I had heard great things about it so I said I would definitely pencil it into the diary. If all went well I would have hopefully still been fighting it out with Brian Furey to be in with a chance in the competition. But with Brian getting the third win on Galtymore it wasn't to be. So with the pressure of the Irish Champs over the last race of the season was to be the World Trial and I was long due a weeks running break after that. It’s been back to base training for the cross country season but I also had the opportunity of the Warriors Run on the same day in Sligo which is great fun, but having never done the DC route I went along on Saturday instead and boy was it worth it! The new motorway is great and it just takes a little over 2 hours to get to Newcastle. The coastline location reminded me a bit of Croagh Patrick and I was admiring the gnarly looking summits of the Mournes on the way through the aptly named Hilltown.

I was greeted by the friendly organisers and registered along with about 10 other IMRA souls who made the trip up. I was most worried about the finish as I knew I would be able to follow the lads for the start so off to do a recce of the forest and on the way I met the NIMRA man on form Des Woods coming down through the woods no less! He said the woods were partially marked and he gave some brief directions, so off I bounded and within 2 minutes I was lost already, not a good omen, so I just headed back downhill to the start.

One thing I loved was the compulsory kit check, everyone has to carry gear with them so runners don't have an advantage or disadvantage weight wise. It took all of three minutes and all the runners had to pass through a funnel and open their bum-bag. Compass? (check), map? (check), whistle? (check), balaclava? (check), rain jacket? (check), food? (check), Orbana drink? (check), rain bottoms (oh ah em..sorry I don’t have any). Lucky it was such a nice day that I was let off, I did bring a pair of running tights though for such an occasion.

We took off at a good clip through the forest and a few lads took some shortcuts here and there but we all ended up pretty much together out onto the main forest path. On Wednesdays in Marley Park we have been practising fast race starts for the beginning of our Progress Calibration Runs and soon I settled in nicely behind the yellow vest of Neil Carthy from North Belfast Harriers, my new best friend for the race! After the initial rise the paths were quite flat and a bit of a downhill in some stretches as we contoured around the mountain. Des Woods, Andrew Annett and another were about 80m ahead of us and I decided to settle with Neil who was going at a nice steady pace as I wanted to see how the first climb went.

We started on to open mountain and it was soon hands to knees stuff up the side of mighty Slieve Donard. As with any great mountain it has a false summit, I chuckled to myself thinking about how I fell for that old trick again. We had caught up with the three lads ahead, about 20m now. I stuck to the large rocks wherever I could as the ground was soft and wet for the most part. I remembered to take in the view and the Irish sea and coastline looked beautiful, a quick glance behind showed the field was not too far behind either. We eventually reached the summit and the cloud was down. Passing the summit and its accompanying marshals I found myself being asked for my time, but because I was following a route on my watch I couldn't get it so I shrugged and said sorry and pressed on after Neil.

Next of all this wall came out of nowhere on the left, I though I was seeing things for a minute, a great wall of China in the Mournes...well nearly, a fantastic sight anyway and a great guide. We descended down Donard out of the cloud and it was incredibly calm with no wind at all. I overtook Neil after a bit and then started struggling with my footing on the gravel, two slips on my arse told me to stay away from gravel and keep on grass. There was a path on the left which looked good but on closer inspection the steps were too small so I went off to the right but then changed my mind and went back to the path before finally deciding to stay to the right again. There were plenty of hikers out who all gave great support along the way. I found myself winded at the base of Comedagh and decided to take in the views again and get my breath back. Neil was back on my shoulder and I think he knew I wasn't familiar with the route so he showed me the line and said he'd be taking a runnable middle route up the mountain so I fell in line. We reached the Comedagh summit and I decided to press on and try chase down the leaders who were heading over the horizon and still just about in view.

I was making good time but then I lost sight of the lads and my watch was being of no help so I slowed down and was wrongly looking for a stile off to the right when in fact is was actually over the horizon to the left. So I stopped and waited for Neil who was probably sick of seeing me at this stage. Again he guided me off to the left and it was apparent that if I wanted to finish the race and stay on course I would have to stick to his shoulder. We went through the forest and thinking I knew where I was going I yet again was taking wrong turns and had to backtrack after Neil. We popped out of the forest before the main exit and Neil was upping the speed to try hold me off. I pipped him at the finish for 4th place and started my humble apologies for harassing him out on the course. On the other hand Neil done great work on the climbs and kept us in touch with the lads ahead and then I put pressure on Neil to keep up with me on the descents, so I think we both came out OK on the day. Now besides the great course the next surprise was when doing a warm-down in the forest a gap in the bushes led to a waterfall in the Glen river which had lots of deep pools where some of the lads were already dipping in. Ten minutes cooling the body up to my waist here and I was a new man. A totally magic spot and every race should have one of these. In fact I haven’t come across a better post race spot ever, it’s worth coming back for this alone!

The après race venue was just across the car park and a great spread of sausage, chip and sandwiches was laid out for us. The first lady won a Cup, Des Woods won the Plaque and Medals were given out for placing. The murmurs of astonishment when IMRA man Mick Kellett won the M70 category also deserve a mention, good man Mick!

A leisurely drive home and I was back in Dublin in no time at all. Great course and great folk. I hope I get to rub shoulders with them next year again.