Thanks to Catherine McGlinchey for the following report from this years Gael Force West adventure race -Catherine completed the gruelling event in under seven hours. Adventure racing adds a new dimension (and a lot more endurance) to multi sport racing; for anyone tempted by this insight there is another event in November being organized by this years gael Force winner, Pauric Marrey (2010 sea2summit).
Approx Distance: 14km run; 2km kayak; 3.5km run; 34km cycle; ascent and descent of Croagh Patrick; 12.5km cycle; 800m sprint to finish.
I found the silence on the 7.30am shuttle bus to Killary pretty intimidating, as was the sight of carbo gels taped in “quick-draw” position on the athletes’ bagstraps. When the start horn blew for wave 6 athletes at 9.25am however, there was a friendly cheer of relief. The waiting was over and we were off on our very own Gael Force Challenge (would we survive?). The weather was ideal; cool and dry with the prospect of some sun and we (Cathy Kilcoyne, Sligo Tri, Claire Donegan and I) were optimistic.
Stage 1 of the race starts with a gentle, rolling road run from Glassillaun Beach heading for the southern shores of Killary Harbour, Ireland’s largest natural fjord. From there we ran a rough but relatively flat mountain path with steep drops into the harbour. We were in the shadow of the majestic Mweelrea mountain, Connaght’s highest, so the views were spectacular. As we turned from the path onto the road heading south east, we got more fantastic views of the Twelve Bens and Maumturks. But we had to concentrate on our first stage goal – the kayak port at the harbour 13.9km from our starting point. Once there, we timed out and had a relaxing 10min queue for an open double kayak to become available, a good time for the squashed banana carbo loading. If you’ve tried kayaking before, you can’t really go wrong and would expect to be across the harbour in approx 8-10 mins. Having said that, some athletes struggled to kayak straight and took a zig-zagging ‘scenic route’!
Stage 3 involved a wet and boggy 3km run up to the main Leenane to Louisburgh road and a short flat road run into transition at Delphi Adventure Centre. Unlike the transition of a sprint triathlon where speed and urgency pervade the area, Delphi was calm and relaxed with some athletes picnicking as we passed through. Maybe it was because we were in the jogger category – the elites no doubt fly through. On the bike, the weather started to change and dark clouds rolled in off Mweelrea. Luckily a tail wind blew us and the hailstones through the first part of stage 4 – up the valley between Ben Gorm and the Sheeffry Hills. After a long, slow and sometimes steep ascent, there was a short, winding, wet descent. As I rode down the hill, a cyclist was being straight-jacketed into an ambulance having crashed the barrier at the dangerous bend at the bottom. I was glad I hadn’t followed him or her, but it could have happened to anyone. The onward cycle to Drummin and Liscarney was a straightforward, scenic cycle, though littered with puncture repairing athletes and a couple of walkers whose bikes had packed up. The tailwind we’d enjoyed earlier now became our headwind across the bleak, open bog section of rough ‘road’ up to Croagh Patrick. This was a new route section for 2010 and my key goal was to get across the bog without a puncture rather than with speed. I was lucky, though I’m sure many got caught as the stony surface was awful.
Croagh Patrick was a daunting prospect when I arrived at its foothills. I was craving some real food after five hours of racing, and envied the sensible people who had packed a thick sandwich for this transition. I saved my snickers bar for the top and set off plodding up the mountain (at this point “raced” seems a bit far-fetched). It took me an hour to ascend and half that to descend, but it was the most stressful part of the day. It’s a dangerous path and the continuous erosion means it takes a lot of concentration on the cone not to slip, or sprain an ankle, or send rolling stones down on people especially children climbing up. It’s hard to imagine the elites get up and down averaging about 40 mins! It was a relief to get off and back onto the bike for the final stage of cycling. This involved a varied terrain of mountain path and then good road into Westport Quays. The mountain path was quite frankly impassable on anything but a mountain bike even though it was dry. I admit I wasn’t going to risk wrecking my brand new, not long out of the box Merida road racer for 3km of speed, so I just ran like hell, fired on by the end being nigh. I enjoyed a speedy downhill, where a raucous cheer from Una Mannion and family sent me off on the main road with a gleeful heart, I was nearly there. It was a smooth cycle and I soon hit the Quays where we paraded around the green looking out for family and friends as we headed to the finish. The atmosphere was great, with cheering and people milling around, but it was onwards and outwards as far as The Point, away from the crowd and into the final transition area where we dropped our bikes. As if we hadn’t done enough, we’d to run a final 800mts cross country to reach the real finish line back at the Quays. Phew! What a relief and what a great feeling! I’d had a super day and it was fantastic to meet the family, Cathy and Conor, Claire and Mike and club members Una, Mary Eg, Jackie and Cecilia at the finish.
So would I recommend Gael Force West to any of our club triathletes? Absolutely, you’d love it. It’s challenging, exciting, tough and varied, with fantastic scenery to spur you on. I know other club members did the race this year and many raced with greater speed than I, to their credit. The winning times were spectacular with first male in at 3:36:51 and first female in at 4.15.52. But as someone new to tri, new to adventure racing and with a completion time of nearly 7 hours I will say, it’s a great race which is within everyone’s grasp… and they’re taking bookings for the 2011 Gael Force this September. Go on, rise to the challenge!!
