Benbulben (Luke's Bridge)
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Shane O'Reilly | Jul 2 2023, 12:39pm | Race four of the inaugural North West league takes place in a little under 2 weeks time on Saturday 15th July; an open-mountain race to the summit of the iconic Benbulben from Luke's Bridge trailhead (Binn Ghulbain, meaning 'Gulban’s peak' or 'jaw-shaped peak'). Luke's Bridge is a popular location for tourists and hikers but is a narrow road with little parking and is used by multiple farmers. For that reason, registration and prizegiving will take place in Grange Parochial Hall (F91 Y880) and a bus will shuttle runners to/from Luke's Bridge. See the race page for detailed instructions. Further updates and details will be provided closer to the time via the forum. ***We need more volunteers, including First Aid a first aid officer***. Thanks to those that have signed up to volunteer for this and previous races. Given the two locations and need for a bus, we will need extra volunteers compared to other races. Please sign up to volunteer on the IMRA race page (scroll to the bottom) and/or ask your friends/family to help out. Remember, you need to complete 3 races AND volunteer once to have completed the league. Rain or shine, it promises to be a great day out! |
| Julie MCMULLIN | Jul 2 2023, 5:54pm | Hi Shane I’m happy to volunteer for the race. If possible I would like to run it too |
| Shane O'Reilly | Jul 2 2023, 10:37pm | Hi Julie, that's great thank you. I have added you as a running volunteer. I will come back to you if I am badly stuck for non-running volunteers but I expect will be OK. Thanks again. |
| Anne-Marie Flaherty | Jul 4 2023, 11:45am | Hi Shane, Have signed up as running volunteer, but if you're stuck on the day I can help out as non-running. Can also do summit marshal if you need someone up there. |
| Shane O'Reilly | Jul 4 2023, 6:47pm | Thanks Anne-Marie. Will keep you posted :) |
| Shane O'Reilly | Jul 11 2023, 9:01am | Entries for Benbulben will not open this morning as planned. This is due to an ongoing search for a missing 22-year-old man since Saturday evening. Luke's Bridge and surrounding area are primary active areas for the search and include mountain rescue teams. Currently entries are pushed to tomorrow at 9:00, we will review the situation and send further updates as needed. Hopefully he is found safe and well today. https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligo/news/rescue-team-continues-search-for-missing-sligo-man-david-slanina/a2096375859.html https://www.oceanfm.ie/2023/07/11/search-operation-in-grange-to-resume-this-morning/ |
| Miriam Maher | Jul 11 2023, 5:28pm | Evening all Unfortunately there is still no news from the ongoing search for this young man, David Slanina. As this point, we feel it is not appropriate to go ahead with plans for the race this coming Saturday up Benbulben. We don't want to take any focus from the efforts to locate him, hopefully safe and sound. We will reschedule the race and announce the new date when it's decided upon. For now our thoughts are with David, his family, the many locals and members of the mountain rescue teams involved in the search efforts. Miriam |
| Shane O'Reilly | Jul 19 2023, 5:35pm | Hi everyone, One for your calendars; the Benbulben race has been rescheduled for Saturday 12th August. It will now be the final race of the North West League. For those that volunteered for the original date, can you check your availability for 12th August. If you cannot make it now, please take your name off to list or message here if unsure how. If you can still volunteer, great; I will be in touch closer to race day with details. |
| Shane O'Reilly | Aug 5 2023, 4:46pm | Hi all, the Benbulben race - the final race of the NW League - is 1 week away. I am putting a call-out for more volunteers in order to make this race run as smoothly as the other races so far. If you are available, please add yourself as a volunteer or message me and I can add you. Please spread the word among friends. We are planning to have an end of league get-together after the race, with food and drink; more details to come but make sure to be there either way! Entries open for runners at 9am Tuesday 8th August. |
| Shane O'Reilly | Aug 8 2023, 10:19am | Entries for Benbulben are OPEN and close 6pm Friday. We have placed a cap on entries at 70 for logistical reasons, so get in early this week if you want to be sure of having a spot at the starting line on Saturday! We will look at the cap and numbers etc. again for the future. |
| Turlough Conway | Aug 9 2023, 11:59am | Half sold out folks after just a day. 36 entries left. If you plan on running on the first ever Benbulben race get the entry in! |
| Shane O'Reilly | Aug 10 2023, 8:31pm | UPDATE: Prizegiving and food will now be in Moran's Bar, Grange (Eircode F91 HR9H. https://goo.gl/maps/kntgchreqBpGkQWc9). To celebrate the end of the league, IMRA will provide food and a voucher for a pint/drink for all runners and volunteers. Moran's is a short 200 m walk from the main car park and registration hall in Grange. The event page has been updated accordingly! 16 spots remaining at the time of posting... |
| Herve Rouxel | Aug 12 2023, 3:18pm | Thank you for such a great event. Congratulations to the winners. Thank you to the organisers and the marshals. I think I missed one or two on top of Benbulben… in the mist :) |
| Vivian O'Gorman | Aug 12 2023, 10:26pm | A big thank you to Shane and all his volunteers on a fantastic race today up Benbulben. It was all you could want - mud - rivers and mist!! And plenty of it.. The course marshalls were great and the marking as good as ever. Including the bus to the start and back. That is the last league race for the north west and well done to everybody who helped in putting it on. All the hard work was worth it... |
| Shane O'Reilly | Aug 13 2023, 4:42pm | Thanks Herve and Vivian for those positive words and thanks all for a great day yesterday. Results, many epic photos and a race report or two to come. Many photos can be found already on or shared to the IMRA Northwest Facebook page, so check the out in the meantime. |
| Rosy Temple | Aug 13 2023, 11:55pm | Hi all, thank you to Shane and all of the volunteer crew for such a great race in an iconic location with some wild weather for added fun. Thank you also for sorting out the extra logistics too of a bus and a bar with soup and pints to finish, happy days! |
| Mrs U W Gavin | Aug 14 2023, 9:56am | I reiterate all Vivien has said, well organised event from start to finish. Thank you to all the marshals, volunteers, everyone for their kindness and support on the day. Great atmosphere despite conditions at the start. We'll done Shane and all |
| Shane O'Reilly | Aug 14 2023, 3:01pm | The results have just been posted. Queries on results can go to results@imra.ie. I will contact those podium finishers that were not in Moran's to collect their prize. This means the Northwest League standings are also finalized - check them out! I have uploaded many photos on behalf of the following volunteers, so credit goes to them: Ann Hunter, Theresa Kilgannon, Piotr Postol, Bartosz Brzoska, Jason Webb and Barry Gallagher. For those new to IMRA, you can easily tag yourself and others in the photos if you are logged in. It is a great way to build a nice profile for yourself. Runners also have the option to write a report, covering their personal experience of the race - please do! |
| Miriam Maher | Aug 14 2023, 3:15pm | Great to see all the reports coming in from this race on such an iconic route, a fitting end to a very successful first year for the NW league. Huge credit to League Director, Turlough Conway, and the dedicated team of RDs and volunteers who all tirelessly worked to bring these races together. Well done and many thanks to all of you. Hope all that did their first trail/mountain race through one of these races enjoyed the experience and will be back for more next year! Separately to these races, Turlough championed the HER outdoors event taking place next week - check out the details on the calendar and spread the word to anyone who may be interested. Thanks Miriam |
