Thank you, Mandy, you are very wise to be making a recovery plan well ahead of time. There is no exact formula for recovery as factors like your fitness level, the difficulty of the course, and weather conditions affect your recovery time. Actually, the very first step in planning for recovery is following a good training program ! Adequate training leads to faster recovery because you are prepared for the demands of your event (think of the saying “the best defense is a good offense”). Check out the specific demands of your chosen race— road surfaces, weather conditions, time of day, look at the course profile for significant hills, etc.—and then simulate those conditions in your training as closely as possible.

HASE ONE: The first 24 hours The recovery phase begins the moment you cross the finish line. Replace fluids, electrolytes, and glucose immediately. Research indicates that refueling right after an event (within 30 minutes) is ideal because your body is designed to absorb the much-needed energy at a much faster rate than normal. Your muscles are like thirsty sponges soaking up these nutrients. Water and sports drinks should be readily available at the finish, so drink up. The best post-race recovery foods are easily digestible high-carbohydrates like bagels, bananas, and yogurt, and many longer races offer similar foods in the finish chute. Eat some of these foods before leaving the race site. It’s also a good idea to change into dry clothing as soon as you can to avoid getting chilled. Slow walking helps prevent muscle soreness and blood pooling in your lower legs so walking to your car or hotel is also a part of your recovery. When you get home or back to the hotel, take an ice bath immediately. Ice baths minimize soft tissue inflammation and therefore help speed recovery. Fill a bath tub with cool water and get in, use enough water to cover your legs and hips. Add one or two 10-pound bags of ice after you are seated in the tub. Wear a sweatshirt to keep your upper body warm, sip a hot cup of tea or soup to keep from getting chilled. Stay in the tub for 10 to 20 minutes. Avoid a hot bath or the hot tub for 48 hours after the race because heat can increase soft tissue inflammation. After 48 hours, you may use heat to help relieve muscle soreness.

PHASE TWO: Day 1 to day 3 The first 3 days following a long distance race are the most crucial to a good recovery. These are the days to take completely off; give yourself permission to sleep in. Don’t run, even if you feel fine. Endorphins mask aches, pains, and even fatigue for several days following a race so runners are often unaware of how they really feel and return to training too soon. Gentle stretching and activities of daily living are enough “exercise” during this short phase of your recovery plan.

PHASE THREE: Active recovery A general rule of thumb for recovery is allowing one day of “rest” for every mile of the race; so in your case, 15 days of rest is recommended. Don’t panic though, this doesn’t mean cutting out running, but rather not running hard, so no speedwork and no racing for two weeks. Return to running by implementing a “reverse taper” plan. Follow the taper you used for your race (last two weeks of training) in reverse to bring your mileage back up to your maintenance level. Mixing in walk breaks with your running is a good way to control the intensity and make sure you keep the pace easy during this phase. Heart rate monitoring can be a very useful and objective indicator of your recovery as well. Measure your resting heart rate (RHR) now, during your training, on a regular basis so you have a baseline. Take your resting heart rate the morning after the race and each morning during your recovery. A resting heart rate 10 beats per minute or more above your normal RHR is a warning sign. It indicates fatigue, stress, or possible illness and lets you know that you have not fully recovered. Keep your runs very easy until your resting heart rate returns to your normal pre-race readings. When your RHR returns to normal, you will know you are ready to resume training. Enjoy! Susan Paul, MS Susan Paul has coached more than 2,000 runners and is an exercise physiologist and program director for the Orlando Track Shack Foundation. For more information, visit www.trackshack.com . Have a question for our beginners experts? E-mail it to beginners@rodale.com . NOTE: Due to the volume of mail, we regret that we cannot answer every e-mail.

A Winters Tale

Jack Frost was waiting with Jack Tyrell (or was it his twin Billy?) when the Bus arrived at Club Headquarters. Just after 7am some rather reluctant but punctual runners emerged from the shadows. Our destination was Waterford for their pre Christmas Half Marathon.

We were off and Dublin traffic was silent. The first hour was hushed and the sun made a dramatic easterly entrance. Before long we were driving through the plains and watching the last of the November floods. Even though it was dry, everything looked damp.

It didn’t take long before Joe Byrne upped the stakes. Joe had a plan. The stakes were soon to become our very own Sweepstake. Fantasy merged with Fairy Tales as we guessed our arrival times. Egos were bruised and predictions were wild. There was a big prize to win, seconds would decide it. Like a great bookie, Joe waved his wedge to encourage full compliance. We made our guess and gave in our fiver. It was fun.

At race HQ we were joined by Jack’s brother Billy (or was it Jack?) and the sleepy athletes were waking in anticipation of 13.1 arctic miles. Amy joined us too. A pre planned cycle morphed into a late entry. As ever, club mates united and we jogged to the start. A 7 foot tall Garda in brown shoes and Half Marathon Bobble hat took total control. He was at the start, the finish and seemed single handedly to manage the entire operation. He was a Guard but a big running fan too.

Over 1,000 began the journey. Through twisty streets and twisting roundabouts we longed for straight country roads. Rhythm was needed on such a sharp morn.
We found our feet and found our pace. Cold air became refreshing.
A long straight road, a gentle climb and we were half way.
Sharp right and what went down must go up.
A long pull from 8 to 10 and we could begin to think about the finish.
Rural roads gave way to mainstream traffic. The Stadium in sight.
Up a gear, nearly home our race was complete on a bouncy tartan track.

Times were good and here is how we fared;

Martin Keenan 1:23.10
Jack Tyrell 1:25.53
Joe Byrne 1:27.58
Eoin O’Brien 1:31.38
Vincent Galvin 1:33.57
Stephen Willoughby 1:41.07
Killian McMorrow 1:41.19
Sean O’Byrne 1:50.52
Conor Kenny 1:51.44
Enda McMorrow 2:04.03
Amy Fitzgerald 2:04.41

But it’s fair to add that Enda (fresh from a 3:50 marathon) got injured at Mile 3 and hobbled to a fine finish. Amy, on the other hand had never ever competed in a Half Marathon and, in her native City, she ran an exceptionally fine time.

The Bus home was relaxed easy and fun. Ironically, Joe Byrne won the Sweepstake and Conor Kenny, who guessed Joe Byrne’s time to within 53 seconds got second. You guessed it, when Joe was making his presentation/acceptance speech to himself and Conor (unsolicited) he did add “Conor, you have finally won something at running”

We stopped to refuel in The Lord Bagenal and took photos by the tree. We relaxed, refueled and regaled. As always, it reinforced the fun and friendship only a Club can bring.

As the sun went down we headed home and Noel (our driver) lit up the fairy lights. Jacub slept most of the way home. Alas he was ill and could not run. As we disembarked the stereo was beating out that Christmas classic ….. A Fairytale Of New York. It was fitting end to a perfect day.

Report By
Conor Kenny

For those who don’t know each year members of the club travel to Lanzarote for a week to take part in the International running challenge which takes place at Club La Santa over four days from November 22^nd. As one of the club La Santa newbie’s I was elected to write the report.

Travelling on Friday the 20^th this year we had plenty of time to get acclimatised before the first run on Sunday. Club La Santa offers more than 30 sports facilities, which enable you to practice almost any kind of sports. The roads that surround the resort are excellent for runners and cyclists with almost zero traffic and lots of choice of terrain.

With the first race only a few hours away we spent Saturday lounging around the pool, doing a slow 10K loop around La Santa to get familiar with the terrain, the pre race weigh in and then the annual Sportsworld crazy golf competition, which Susan McDonnell won with ease.

Mr Iron man himself Ed McEntee arrived (as an aside as well as racing four times Ed did a mini-tri and duathlon on race days and performed excellently in both) on Saturday evening and over dinner Ed suggested we do 2K on the track each morning at 7am to warm up for the races. At 7 am on Sunday morning the ritual began. Five pale Irish men running laps and strides around the La Santa track before breakfast to get the system going. Ed’s words of advice clearly worked as a great weeks racing was in store.

As there is so much to cover it’s not possible to mention everything that happened in the races. I’ve included my perspective on each race which really comes from number one Club La Santa aka “The boys room”. Not to be confused with Jedward’s room which was on the other side of the complex The overall results are listed as well.

Race 1 – Lanzarote Classic-10K Road Race
Starting at the Stadium we ran on asphalt roads toward the villages of La Santa and then across to Caleta de Caballo (2 loops race course). The men’s team going by POC, PD, TS and MC were especially confident going into the race. The Danish runners always perform well in the International Running Challenge but nothing prepared us for the push Jeppe Farsøht made from the start line. Five metres ahead on the first bend of the track. Jeppe continued to stretch out an impressive lead. In 28 degree heat 10K on a reasonably challenging course it was always going to be tough but everyone ran well. As this is a separate event a medal is awarded after the race.

Race 2 – 13K Ridge Run
Starting at the Stadium the runners do a bit on the road and then veer off onto both dirt trails and asphalt roads around one of the big volcanoes near to Club La Santa. The race then finished back on the track. For me this was the most challenging of the races and my only disappointing race of the week. Making a rookie mistake I was passed by MC about half way around then by TS about five minutes later. MC ran an incredible race that left TS comparing him to a mountain goat at the finish line. Personally I think it’s all the ice cream he ateover the course of the week, but that’s just my two cents.

Race 3 – 5K Beach Race
This was the one I was dreading. I’m not at all light on my feet and only really get going on the flat. I hate cross country always struggling to keep good posture and not fall on my ass. The thoughts of struggling in the sand sent me to bed early on Monday night as PD and TS danced the night away with the green team girls in the night club.

For the 5K race buses take the participants on a half hour ride to the beach in Puerto del Carmen, where the races takes place on soft sand. Well that was the plan at least until POC leading the race on the first of two laps decides he doesn’t want to run on the soft sand and decides to run on the shoreline. Of course runners are like lemmings so everyone follows. The race marshal’s flag go up but it’s too late as nobody pays any attention until after the race that the runners were being called back.

To my surprise I faired allot better on the sand than expected and managed to stay the course. In hindsight sand is easier to run on than mud. I really enjoyed the beach race and felt I could have pushed on a bit more after the race.

Race 4 – 21K La vuelta de Tinajo
The last race starts a short bus ride from La Santa at Los Dolores Church in Mancha Blanca and will take the runners around the volcanic Montaña de Tinajo (1 loop) through Tinajo and back to Club La Santa on both asphalt and dirt tracks.

Credit has to be given to PD for his tough performance in this race. Earlier in the week I asked PD why he went out so quickly. The response could only have come from Paul, he said “I wanted to see what it’s like to be first”. As the rest of us are settling in for a long half marathon in thirty degree heat PD decides to see what it’s like to be first again. Flying off at the start PD has a time to make up on his age category rival and nobody was getting in his way.

The best moment was when we got to a hill that looked more like a loop in a rollercoaster than a road in Lanzarote. The steepest hill I’ve ever seen had myself and TS slow down to a crawl, look at each other and start laughing. I later learned that two minute ahead POC had cursed at PD, thrown his hat on the ground and decided to walk up the hill. After nine kilometres the race is a mostly flat ride back to La Santa.

The half marathon was my favourite race. I enjoyed everything about it. I ran most of it with TS up until around 17K when TS had too much and pushed ahead. The support all week was amazing, especially on the half marathon were we had about 10 supporters out on bikes ready with water, gels and encouragement.

The race week finishes with 300m of the track in the Stadium before receiving your International Running Challenge medal. I got to the finish after really struggling for a few kilometres to see PD sitting with a big grin on his race. PD ran an incredible 73 minutes, beating Sport

sworld’s current number one in the process. After all the lads had finished we did our daily cool down which was back out on the course to support the rest of the club home.

This year the competition was tough but well down to our two winners PD and POC. Both picked up age category awards. POC also picked up a 3^rd place award in one of the races at the race awards on Wednesday night.

The Danes were the big winners of the 21st International Running challenge, with Jeppe Farsøht taking the men’s overall titles in the 10k, 13k, 5k and 21k. Marie-Louise Brasen, also from Denmark was the female winner. I introduced myself on the last night and promised we would have our secret weapon Lucy Darcy back next year to annihilate her. The pair won the Vuelta de Tinajo (21k), the Ridge Run (13k) and Clásica de Lanzarote (10k). In fact it was a clean-sweep for Marie who also won the 5k Beach Run.

Wednesday night saw everyone in the disco. The night was spent dancing and partying until the wee hours in the night club followed by a sobering cycle to the beach on Thursday. Thursday evening was spent in Restaurant Amura in Puerto Calero – one of the island’s Michelin Guide Listed and most luxurious restaurants. Then it was on to the night club for more fun and games. POC minus his luminous yellow hat from the night before tried to lead the YMCA out but couldn’t match the style of the Danish girls in the club (video to follow). A quieter night than Wednesday finished with me and TS being escorted to our room by security at 4AM for violating the noise laws in the hotel.

The race organisation and value for money is fantastic with drinks, food and a great atmosphere after each race. Being in a sub-tropical climate, the pace on Lanzarote matches the climate. It’s an ideal place to relax and soak up the sun on golden beaches, or by the pool even for those not running. La Santa was a great experience that offers something for everyone. When can I go back?

The overall results for those that took part in the races are listed below. Full results are online. If I missed anyone apologies please let someone know and it can be edited. Photos in the gallery with more to come.

Womens

21 19 Bernie White 40-44 IRL 00:48:37 01:02:03 00:26:04 01:47:05 04:03:48
22 184 Irene O’Connor 40-44 IRL 00:48:38 01:04:12 00:28:10 01:43:58 04:04:57
27 168 Tara Murphy 40-44 IRL 00:49:05 01:05:41 00:28:53 01:47:57 04:11:33
30 170 Breda Browne 45-49 IRL 00:50:18 01:08:44 00:26:52 01:51:10 04:17:03

Women’s Individual

10K

17 203 Susan McDonnell 25-29 IRL 00:22:52 00:23:34 00:46:26

13K

23 325 Helen Dixon 35-39 IRL 01:03:12

5K

11 203 Susan McDonnell 25-29 IRL 00:25:46
25 325 Helen Dixon 35-39 IRL 00:27:12
52 208 Amy Fitzgerald 25-29 IRL 00:31:28

21K

31 325 Helen Dixon 35-39 IRL 01:47:51

Mens

5 205 Paul O’Connell 30-34 IRL 00:33:28 00:44:54 00:19:03 01:14:09 02:51:33
11 183 Paul Duffy 25-29 IRL 00:35:13 00:46:23 00:19:40 01:13:27 02:54:42
14 282 Trevor Sweeney 35-39 IRL 00:36:03 00:48:25 00:20:01 01:16:25 03:00:52
16 178 Gareth Murran 25-29 IRL 00:35:48 00:49:08 00:20:21 01:17:56 03:03:10
19 180 Michael Cunningham 30-34 IRL 00:36:18 00:47:52 00:20:27 01:19:44 03:04:19
29 284 Edward Mc Entee 40-44 IRL 00:37:26 00:49:27 00:21:52 01:23:12 03:11:55
35 262 Declan Horgan 40-44 IRL 00:40:50 00:52:54 00:22:27 01:25:13 03:21:23
76 227 Killian McMorrow 50-54 IRL 00:46:18 01:00:25 00:25:29 01:38:57 03:51:08

Now that winter nights are upon us it’s time to set a training goal or two.
A few brave souls have already committed to the Waterford Half Marathon on Saturday, December 12th. It’s an out and back course and you can get full details by clicking here.
The entry fee is €20 (Online entry).

We have booked a 14 seat mini bus which has 6 seats left. It’s a day trip departing Bushy (approx) 7:00am returning to Dublin (with a dining stop off) at around 6:00pm. The European Cross Country is in Santry the next day.

The mini bus fee is €20 per head return.
It’s on a first come first served basis.
If we need a second bus, no problem.

To reserve your bus pass – please contact Sean O’Byrne or myself.
Sean 087-266 1606 or Conor 087-662 2801

Conor Kenny

On Saturday 26/09/09 about 6000 runners gathered in Phoenix Park to take part in this year’s Dublin half-marathon. Among the participants there were a lot runners in white and red Sportsworld singlets.

We ran on a new course which consisted of one lap and seemed flatter than last year’s. As it’s impossible to make one 13 miles lap in Phoenix Park that wouldn’t include any hills so some of us had difficult moments climbing the Kyber Road and the hill near the lake on the 12^th mile. Fortunately, at the top of Kyber Rd there was a big group of our club runners who had just finished their weekly cross country session and gave us a great support.

The last hill seemed much harder as when it finally leveled up you had 12 miles in you legs and it was very difficult to force them to the final effort.

The fastest man from Sportsworld was Paul O’Connell (3^rd overall) and our fastest woman was Stephanie Bergin.

Caroline Lynch was 1^st in category F60. Eanna Cunnane who is getting back to running after a serious injury was 4^th in M35 and Orla Jordan was 5^th in F35.

Well done to all runners and thank you to all supporters!

There were so many club members taking part in the race that it was hard to find everyone in the results (if you ran and you’d like to be added on email us with your name and start number:-)).

Place overall/ Name/ From/ Cat./ Place in cat./ Chip time/ Finish time

3 Paul O’Connell (No. 2193) Kildare MS 3 01:11:09 01:11:10

20 Eanna Cunnane (No. 4947) Dublin M35 4 01:15:34 01:15:36

66 Gareth Murran (No. 121) Dublin MS 30 01:20:49 01:20:53

148 Joe Byrne (No. 5682) Dublin M40 25 01:24:49 01:24:53

169 Colm Kennedy (No. 5174) Waterford MS 79 01:25:20 01:25:25

186 Jakub Splawski (No. 2222) Poland MS 90 01:25:51 01:25:57

220 James Benson (No. 7088) Wexford MS 106 01:27:00 01:27:06

269 Stephanie Bergin (No. 1645) Laois FS 15 01:28:16 01:28:22

274 Liam Mc Fadden (No. 7341) MS 130 01:28:23 01:28:29

419 William Greensmyth (No. 7365) MS 199 01:30:54 01:31:20

436 Orla Jordan (No. 694) Dublin F35 5 01:31:26 01:31:33

507 Hugh Kearney (No. 6243) Dublin MS 235 01:32:29 01:32:58

530 Eoin O’Brien (No. 5807) Dublin MS 247 01:33:05 01:33:32

863 Dave Clarke (No. 2297) Dublin MS 419 01:37:52 01:38:20

1326 Stephen Willoughby (No. 3284) Dublin M45 70 01:42:24 01:42:53

1336 Louise Bruton (No. 599) Dublin F35 36 01:42:55 01:43:03

1404 Tara Quirke (No. 5947) Dublin F35 38 01:42:51 01:43:42

1472 Anne Sweeney (No. 3235) Dublin F40 24 01:43:26 01:44:17

1502 Sandra Redmond (No. 1851) Dublin FS 110 01:43:46 01:44:32

1704 David Trimble (No. 5460) Dublin M50 46 01:46:02 01:46:17

2224 Caroline Lynch (No. 5872) Dublin F60 1 01:50:10 01:50:56

2295 Aileen Melody (No. 1036) Dublin F45 17 01:51:04 01:51:35

2779 Claire Harrington (No. 1386) Dublin F45 28 01:55:01 01:55:41

3065 Karen O’Connor (No. 1218) Dublin F35 126 01:57:54 01:58:01

3369 Catherine Gilmore (No. 1041) Dublin F40 90 02:00:11 02:00:50

3890 Michelle Heaton (No. 5349) Dublin FS 592 02:06:21 02:06:47

5335 Jennifer Maher (No. 1035) F35 355 02:44:39 02:45:37

Report by
Jakub

At the weekend 8 Sportsworld members made the trek to Ballybofey, Co Donegal for the National Half Marathon and returned with one medal. Leaving on Saturday lunch time, we opted to use Letterkenny as a holding base and arrived there before 17.00. We rented 2 newly built celtic tiger style houses in the town centre in what proved to be much better, cheaper and comfortable than B&B’s or hotels as we had our own space. After receiving the keys from the landlady (to whom we assured that we weren’t a stag party, much the opposite in fact), one of the first things to be done was to get some shopping for food and supplies so we strolled down town. In the local mall we came across a Super Valu that was there 2 years ago but had somehow been replaced, and a rival sports chain store called Sports World; showing that there are alternatives to Ireland’s best sports shop. Then when we found a Dunnes Stores, there was much debate and disagreement as to what we should buy for the houses and what would be a sinful waste of money from the kitty we’d all chipped into. After unpacking we went downtown for dinner and to see the boys in green score a very lucky world cup qualifier win over Cyprus.

On Sunday morning we drove to a drizzly & dreary Ballybofey (the home of one of Ireland’s all time greatest distance running clubs Finn Valley AC), and after a warm up jog on their cinder track we jogged to the start line and away we went. The race consisted of predominantly northern club runners and people from the north west, however a fair share of people came from Dublin and from much further afield. Although the course contained a few hills here & there, it was a fair one with fresh tarmac and was well stewarded and organised.

Leading us home was a magnificent Paul O Connell who despite the difficult conditions came home in 70:58 mins and a place tenth. Our performance of the day was given by a magnificent Paul Duffy who finished in the top 25 and far beyond what anyone would have expected of him. The scoring trio for our senior mens team was completed by Ed who put in a fine display and ended up only 15 seconds shy of an M40 bronze.

Next down the list were Sligo’s finest export since Mary Cullen – Trevor; and Mikey, meaning that we’d 3 lads within 30 seconds of each other. The latter ran a marvellous pb, while the former was hoping for a little better but was stiff and tired from having spent the previous day gardening in the north west when not used to manual labour. Packie started reasonably well going through 5m in 29:52 and 10m in 61:27 but struggled with hip trouble and was happy to finish it. Lucy put in a stunning performance to win the F40 category and finished 4th female overall. The red & white turnout was completed by Liam McFadden just outside the hour and a half. From one of Ireland’s most northerly peninsulas, the former gaelic footballer reached 10m in a decent 64 mins but like Packie struggled after that. Liam used his local knowledge and contacts to make the weekend much easier on all of us so we are very grateful for this in the club.

Our only team entered (senior mens) finished a decent 5th out of 8 in 222 mins. Interestingly our senior men in 2007 (Eanna, Phil & Packie) ran the same time on the same course which was good enough for team silver, indicating a more competitive race this year and a rise in the standards of road running, despite being told the opposite by so called experts from the past.

At the sharp ends of the field, it ended up an all Belfast contest and the pair was together for much of the race. The senior men’s race was won by former national 10,000m champion Joe McAllister in a marvellous 65:51, beating the many times national inter club and inter counties XC champion Gary Murray. The latter (Donegal man) used to compete for the host club but in his debut half marathon found the distance a little too long and lost by 45 seconds. Clonliffe’s senior men were unfortunate to be denied a team silver because their 3rd scorer forgot his club singlet (now let that be a lesson to any of us!), and so were disqualified from the team competition. Strangely however the offending athlete was given his earned individual M35 bronze medal when surely the same rules should have applied again.

The magnificent Catriona Jennings made a worthwhile journey from our neighbouring club Rathfarnham WSAF to take the ladies title in 79:12. Catherine Conway (a beginner from Mayo AC) was second in 80:31 but is definitely going to be a name for the future.

On a negative note it was disappointing that we couldn’t field a senior girls team given that we are traditionally known as a girls club and that so many train with us. National senior medals could have been won here (for girls who are already out of novice & intermediate) much easier than at the senior cross country events. Also it must have been hard on Lucy being the only girl on the trip away.

Having a few drinks in the clubhouse during the medal presentation we witnessed the Kilkenny hurlers win 4 in a row, and we stopped in Monaghan for dinner that evening. We would like to say many thanks to Liam, Mikey & Trevor for supplying the motor power and our club coach Emily for fuelling it. It was a moderately successful but thoroughly enjoyable team bonding weekend away.

Full Results

Race report by
Packie

As your truly had run night before in Dunshaughlin, Tara very kindly offered to keep me company. We were full of chat for the first couple of miles until we both started to complain about how hot it was as race had a 11 of clock start and must have been in the mid to high 20s. Running along Dollymount Strand was surreal as fog had come down and you could only see about 30 metres infront of you.

Louise led us home closely following by Helen who both looked very strong as they passed us on opposite side of the road. After Tara saying with a couple of Kms to go she wasn’t going to finish and I spending those Km’s persuading her that she was going to finish she took off into a sprint for the line which I couldn’t match, so much for finishing together!!

Karen and Claire both seemed to run well.

Funny what keeps you going as all I could think about near the end of the race was treating myself to a nice cold Diet Coke, so I got myself two!

Full Results.

Report By
Stephen Willoughby

The race consists of a marathon, half marathon and mini marathon and is organised by the Ballyvaughan Hill Walkers Club and so as can be expected a large part of the field where walkers. So out by the pier in the lashing rain the brave Sportsworld souls defiantly made our way to the front in our vests and shorts through the field of backpacks, walking sticks and stairs through the rain gear. Our MC for the day (and he was MC’ing the whole day!) informed us to remember it wasn’t a race but a challenge and to add a little razzmataz Brenden Glesson thanked us for bringing the weather and set us on our way.

Phil, Ed, Paul and Will were out for sight by the first corner and so I waved them Au Revoir and settled into a comfortable pace. Someone mentioned in the bar the night before that it wasn’t a hilly course and the opening few miles, with the exception of the wind and rain, where pleasant enough taking us along stone walled country lanes and by Newton castle. The fun started after about 3 miles when we took a sharp left through a gate and straight up a stony trail that had become a mud bath with the heavy rains. The trail opened out into a path that took us up Faunarooska hill and over the rocky fields of the Burren. Not far off the peak thankfully our trail pealed off to start descending again whilst the brave full marathon runners, heads bowed in the rain, continued off up to the crest and deeper into the Burren mountains.

Back at sea level we tore along a trail parallel to the Rathbornry River, with the size of the puddles we had to splish splash through it would probably have been less damp running in the river itself! We got back on to the roads of the Burren Way before coming upon the point where we realised why this was called a challenge. The epic sight before us was the cold stony face of Gleninagh Peak and tiny runners zigzagging up the path out of sight. So up we climbed and followed the trail around the peak and the past the warning sign of “uneven surfaces ahead”. That sign was ever so slightly understated as we then tried to negotiate our way across a minefield of limestone crevasse’s. But then the view opened up into a spectacular coastal scene of Galway Bay and the Burren where I believe the front runners even eased off the pace to take it all in. We continued on across the north face of Gleninagh, past a race steward with a pot-holing hat on to a death defying decent upon a trail that had been rendered a mud slide due to the rain. Throwing caution to the wind flinging yourself down the hill at the mercy of gravity was the only option as a controlled decent in the slippery mud was nigh impossible. Hitting the bottom we had a welcome but never ending flat 2.5 mile finish along the coast road as the weather finally broke and the sun shined through.

In the end Phil Kilgannon came in 2nd place behind West Limericks Dermot Kearns. Ed McEntee followed in 3rd and Paul Duffy 4th and all finished the race in sub-90mins which is impressive given the conditions and terrain. Will and I came followed the lads Trevor had an impressive return from injury finishing the mini marathon.

In spite of the weather it was a great race and the course was really something different and the weekend is definitely penciled in for next year. Much to the delight of one of our entourage the post race entertainment in the local pub was provided by “The All Ireland talent show 2009 winners – The Mulkerrin Brothers” followed by a late night of dancing. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to the Poulnabrone Dolmen the flowing morning to freshen up before we headed east again (Phil promises a trip to the Aillwee Caves next year!)

Eoin