DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) Best of luck to anyone doing the annual Wicklow Way Ultra (44k) or the Trail (22k). This classic race in the mountain running calender has always been supported by the regular mountain runners (like myself) but this year with on-line entries the numbers have increased and there’s bound to be some new faces. It’s a terrifically scenic run, though the landscape has changed somewhat over the years!

Qoute from Barry Minnock on IMRA forum about last year’s race:

The conditions underfoot were perfect - a little hot, but guess that affected the ultra runners more.
Eoin’s continued dominance of the ultra is equally praiseworthy - he even had enough in the tank to ensure I didn’t catch him - if only he didn’t spot me : ) I’m particularly impressed with Martin coming 2nd in the Ultra given the stiff competition and the fact that he went there planning on running the shorter trail race! Impatience must be a virtue …

Start of the Ultra is Johnny Foxes pub, over the hills to Lough Tay and back, simple! Extra good wishes to Tony K and Liamo doing the double ultra: Connemara Ultral ast weekend and then this one. All part of their China training! Happy racing everyone!

-Aisling-

Image from IMRA.

Which is exactly what one of our Wednesday Night gang is doing. Eoin Ryan (he did a static ironman in Dublin last October) has created his own ultra distance challenge. He’s calling it the Ultramarathon Triangle and it’s based around the usual multi-day event concept of 6 and a half marathons over a week, but he’s based this around the Grand and Royal Canals. He’ll start with the Grand Canal in Dublin (40k) on day 1, then 55k to Bury Bridge Tullamore on day 2, 36k to the Shannon on day 3. Day 4 is the Royal Canal, a whopping 82k to the Meath/ Westmeath border. Trip to Leixlip on day 5 will involve 42k which brings him to the final 20k to Dublin on day 6.

He’s running in aid of Children’s Hospital Crumlin and a charity looking after the poor in Argentina. Eoin kicks off on June 19th! Best of luck!

UPDATE: He’s gotta website: Irish Ultrarunner.

-Aisling-

Image of Grand Canal from Dublin Tourist site.

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Geared Up Blog) - Shane Ohly has set a new winter record for the ramsay round in 29hrs and 59mins and 34seconds. To date there have been only 45 successful finishers of the ramsay round. Charlie Ramsay was the first person to complete the round in 1978 in a time of 23hrs and 58 minutes. It was another 9 years until the next successful attempt and also the first person to complete the round solo an unsupported.

Shane Ohly:

“My round was solo, unsupported and largely ‘on-sight’ as my recce efforts earlier in the winter were consistently thwarted by poor weather.

I chose to travel clockwise taking on Ben Nevis and the Aonachs first. I wanted to get the highest and most technical section of the round completed first, when I was fresh, and I also didn’t fancy descending the stony path down Ben Nevis at the end of the round.

The first 10 hours or so were a joy. I chatted with walkers on the summits, felt fresh and was comfortably keeping under my sub 24 hour schedule. Then my body died. I’ve analysed my food wrappings and calculated I ate less than 5,000 calories the entire time I was out! I was basically ‘bonked’ for the last 2/3 of the round. I don’t know why I stopped eating but it’s something I need to think hard about before my next attempt. The last 1/3 of the round was truly painful. I was seeing sleepmonsters (think mythological creatures) and hearing music (despite being alone on the hills). In the final stages, cutting down through the forest near Achriabhach, I caught myself on some brambles and nearly burst into tears. As for winter conditions, I was hoping for the hills to be ‘whiter’ than they where. However, I am happy that the Round was sufficiently wintry and in keeping with the other winter rounds of the Ramsay.

I definitely believe that the Ramsay Round can be done in sub 24 hours in winter and I have already decided to have another go next year. The whole experience was fantastic with the long night section being particularly memorable….and cold!”

-Eoinod-

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) The new look Connemara Website has been launched. Alan has been on to let us know that it’s one of the first steps towards the biggest Connemarathon yet!

There’s plenty of news, information, photos, and even a few videos.
Information on the old site was a bit scattered, so we’ve tried to organise it a bit better, and more importantly, it will be easier to add information as we go on.
It looks at this stage that we’ll be sold out at about the same time as last year, if not a few weeks sooner.

It’s about the right time to start planning any big spring events for yourself so I can highly recommend this one. There aren’t many marathons where the race director virtually greets every runner who crosses the line or starts each race (3 in all) on a motorbike?! The new site looks great and the forum area is very, very active so find out everything you need to know there!

Connemarathon has three events runs together: the half marathon, the full marathon and the ultra (39.3 miles). Having ran the ultra 3 times (and the half once!) and genuinely loved every minute of every mile I can testify to the sheer pleasure people seem to really get from their Connemara experience. It’s also the reason I ended up at Team Geared Up! :-)

Well done to Race Director Ray who’s probably done God knows how many marathons this year! All good training for the Marathon Des Sables 2009!!

-Aisling-

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - With a tagline of “The Other Desert Race”, Sleepmonsters emailed me this Canadian ultra race notice yesterday. I suspect some of you guys may have got it too, it’s the Rock & Ice Ultra.

COLD FOOT CLASSIC
A 75 km, continuous foot and snowshoe or XC ski race. Compete solo, as a three+ member team, or as a 2 - 7 member relay. The Cold Foot Classic is a fully supported race. There are 5 road accessible check points along a well marked trail and racers are encouraged to cache food, gear or have a support crew on stand by.

K-ROCK ULTRA
A 135 km foot and snowshoe or XC ski race. Compete solo or as a three+ member team. The K-Rock Ultra is a partially supported, 3-day / 3-stage race following a well marked trail. Racers are required to pack a gear box including all the necessary food and equipment for camp. The gear box will be transported to stage camps by Rock and Ice volunteers.

DIAMOND ULTRA
A 225 km foot and snowshoe or XC ski race. Compete solo or as a three+ member team. The Diamond Ultra is a self-supported, 6 day / 6-stage race following a well marked trail. Racers are required to pack a kit including all the necessary food and equipment to survive for the duration of the race. Racers must also possess navigational and map reading skills.

Set in an extreme Canadian environment, a recent city climate study ranked the nearest civilisation first in 13 categories, including: Coldest Winter, Coldest Spring, Coldest Year-Round, Most Cold Days, Most Deep Snow Cover Days, Extreme Wind Chill, Most High Wind Chill Days, Driest Winter Air.

Photos of previous years here.

The prizes are crazy:

1st place foot and snowshoe: a 1 carat, brilliant cut EKATI Diamond valued at $13,000!
1st cross country ski : a 1 carat, brilliant cut EKATI Diamond valued at $13,000!

This would be a great race to compete in, and if not, even volunteer as a marshal.

-Robin-