From Valerie:

Beijing Bound…Heroes and history combined as World champion rowers, Paul Griffin, Sean Casey and Cathal Moynihan, all from Muckross Rowing Club, Killarney, are representing Ireland in the lightweight and heavyweight coxless (-4) in Beijing, for the 2008 Olympic games. There is a very strong tradition of Rowing in Killarney going back over 200 years, there are five clubs in the town. Muckross Rowing Club are very proud of their olympic hopefuls, and rightly so! The excitement is building in the town. All club rivalries have been put on hold until after the olympic games!

We’ll be watching out for the Kerry rowers and wishing them huge success!

-Aisling-

Image from Valerie O’Sullivan.

It features a Bouldering Wall and a Lead Climb Wall that’s 28m long and 12.5 metres high and an impressive 8m overhang. This is without doubt Ireland’s No.1 Climbing wall. In addition there will be a high wire course opening with some exciting features built in and the introduction of Irelands first Powerfan, it involves jumping from a 12m platform at 80% of free fall rate and then landing gently onto the ground, all the fun of bungee without all the bouncing.

When next in Dingle, come out of your Comfort Zone and experience the excitement under our instructors supervision.

Way outside MY “comfort zone”……but then again so was swimming not so long ago…… ;-)

-Aisling-

From Alan Buckley:

Congrats on a great event. This was only my second triathlon and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Great bike course. Real cyclists course because it’s so technical. The run is another matter…… Looking forward to ‘09 already.
Only suggestion, could it be held on a Saturday. Kenmare is such a great town that it would be nice to have a few pints in peace after the race on a Saturday night.

And from Karina:

Thanks to all the organisers for a great event! Loved the course, the scenery helped to distract a little from the hills!!! i agree with Alan’s comment in that it would be great to have it on saturday to enjoy the rest of the weekend in Kenmare. Thanks again, see you in 2009!!!

The winners were:
1. Owen Dwyer
2. Mark Nolan
3. Alan Buckley

1. Ellen Viting
2. Joyce Wolfe
3. Katie Cooke

Pictured above are Alan Nevin, Eamonn ‘Mikey Ned’ O’Sullivan, Bryan ‘Mikey Ned’ O’Sullivan, Kenmare, Karina Teahan and Sharon Finn, Sneem. Photo by Valerie O’ Sullivan.

-Aisling-

Main photo of Paul Kelly kindly sent to us by Valerie O’ Sullivan!

According to RTE:

The event, which was inspired by a similar competition in Finland, was being staged as part of the Sneem Family Festival.
The contest involved women being carried over a 250m course, including dry and water obstacles.
Contestants who weighed less than 49kg were given a loaded rucksack to make up the minimum weight.

Also as part of the festival there was a crate building competition….. ;-)

-Aisling-

Images thanks to Valerie O’ Sullivan.

Name: Patrick Marshall
Have been involved with Adventure Racing for a number of years, however M.A.R.S is our first full AR team. My main sporting love in life is running which allows me to be fit to try anything else really. I’ve taken part in a number of shorter adventure races but this year will be first full expedition race and what better place to do it but on home turf. Currently doing lots of running and plenty of triathlon training.
Name: Margot Buchhorn
Has been involved with adventure all her life but only take the competetive plunge into adventure racing last year. Margot is not one to shine away from pain having complete numerous half Iron Mans and more recently a full Iron Man.
Name: Steven Cleary
A man never to turn down a challenge. It took him all of two minutes to commit to taking on a expedition length adventure race. Steven is an accomplished mountaineer and all round head case.
Name: Cornelius Marshall
All round very strong athlete. Has competed nationally and internationally on track,roads and mountains. A holiday for this man usually involves some ultra running, followed off with more ultra running.

Some photos from their training sessions here. They seem well prepared already with training sessions mapped out from here to June including shorter length adventure races like the one in Avon Ri (might see you there!). And they’re doing it all for charity. We’ll be watching their blog with interest… ;-)

-Aisling-

NEWBRIDGE, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - I’ve been meaning to put this together for ages, however now that I’m back in the country it turns out it was most worthwhile in hanging on (worst pun ever! Shoot me if I ever do that again :) before writing it up.

Firstly, Paul Harrington has been busy in the Cork region with a new coastal area. Rock Bay in County Cork, situated on beach and going by Paul’s photos there’s proof that there’s been at least a few dry climbing days this year. The crag has a nice selection of problems from font 4 to font 6c. If you’re in the area, it’s worth checking out. You can find Paul’s page of info here

I had the luck in arranging another visit to the Doolin boulders in County Clare. I found the boulders accidently myself a few years ago while exploring for a potential sports crag, and since then this area has been actively developed by Gregor, a resident of Galway city. In the past weekend, strong Irish boulder Nigel Callendar, completed one of the final projects. Estimated grade is Font 7c, and unfortunately as he only completed it on Wednesday night (by torchlight!) before going in for surgery on a shoulder injury, I’ve no photos. In between all this, we managed a quick drive around East Clare in search of more new rock. Not much luck on this trip, but there’s definitely more out there for people who are willing to spend an afternoon driving!
For anyone interested in checking out some photos of Doolin boulders (and it’s amazing location), check out Paul’s other page here (also includes some photos of the late Michael Reardon when he was down having fun here)

Myself and Nigel (who has been intermittently checking the area out for a few years now) also managed to get a day of exploration around County Kerry. Having driven most of the roads in the Killarney area, I’ve seen enough to be impressed and why oh why is it so far from Dublin!?! :) The Gap of Dunloe has a more than respectable amount of problems (and new routes to be climbed). Amusing moment of the day was passing by a rumoured super-steep crag….and finding that the front of the cliff has fallen off - at least 40 meters wide and 20 meters vertical of cliff-face (would have loved to be around to see that!). Photos can be found here for anyone interested - there’s loads more rock up behind for development…..

To top it off, I then received this photo from a good friend in Belfast during the week of a new bouldering area somewhere in Northern Ireland. Who says there’s limited amounts of rock to be found around Ireland?!

As always of course, if you find any new areas, or successful ascents of new problems, let me know (so I can go climb them, oh and report them here ;).
Image Credit: the view from Doolin boulders looking across towards the Aran Islands, County Clare, Ireland. Taken last weekend in the ‘indian summer’ we’re having! Photo by author (additional photos from weekend can be found by clicking on the photo).
Lower photo taken by Angela Carlin of mystery new bouldering area in Northern Ireland

- Neal :) -

Just to let you know, a beautiful ceremony in Michael’s memory was held on Valentia Island yesterday evening. A crowd of about 200 gathered to celebrate his life with music, song and many, many stories. It is testament to Michael’s popularity that he touched so many peoples lives within his short visits to Kerry.

A plaque made from Valentia slate was unveiled by Marci which reads ‘Mícheál ” Ríordáin - An Solas Geal Lonrach. Son, Husband, Father, Friend. Inspirational Free Spirit. 1965-2007′.