Race Report

Its the morning after the Wicklow Adventure Race. I am here minding the 3 kids as my good wife is away and I am a tired boy. I think I could probably sleep inside a cement mixer today.

What a magnificent sunny day yesterday was. The scenery around the wicklow hills was as good as you would see anywhere in the world.

There were 800 entries to this race. I got down there around 7 and it was pretty cold with ground frost in the car park. My wave was starting at 8:15 so I got the bike racked and thawed out for a while till we started. I had little idea what to expect for this race. I had an idea it would be hilly and I was very correct about that. Immediately we had to run up "The Spink" mountain and around the upper lake in Glendalough. You probably have been up here before, its got sleepers all the way up and across. I would have loved to get some pics up here but I would have been in the way. By the timeI got to the top of this the sweat was pouring off me and I had some slight concerns about how tired I was with so much left to do! 8K later and we were back to the bikes. Beautiful views of the lake in hazy morning sunshine.

The next section was a cycle to Lough Dan so we could kayak around the lake. It became really obvious that i am very slow on my bike. I would be fairly fit but people were streaming by me on the bikes and especially on uphill sections. Is it the bike I have or is it me? I wonder. There were times I was in the easiest gear and still struggling up some of those hills. My legs were burning. At the Kayak section I actually got paired up with a guy who knew how to kayak and steer the boat so we motored along nicely here passing many others. Again it was very scenic on the lake and I didn't care that I was getting soaked.

Back to the bikes for another cycle to the next mountain run section on the Djouce Mountain. Bloody hell it was all uphill. There were hills here where I had no hope of cycling up so I had to walk up. My legs, my feckin legs! Took me ages to evetually get up to the next run stage. It was the guts of an hour running and hiking here. Again, not a cloud in the sky with amazing views of the valleys and lakes an.d we were on forest tracks with nice bits of shade every now and then. Fair play to the lads that can run up this mountain. I hiked up and my right leg started to cramp. Something you notice at this stage is the really fit women out there. This girl literally skipped past me. Kudos to her. What an amazing view she left behind too. Up on top of this, its got sleepers again so I was able to trot along them for the most part.

And so the final stage. The last cycle over the sally gap back to Glendalough. 28k. I was too sore to enjoy the views at this stage. there were some massive downhill sections here that had me bricking it. I had no shades on so the bike was hopping on the road surface and my eyes were watering from the wind so I was afraid of hitting a patch of gravel or a pothole and killing myself. Other lads were pegging it past me. By the time I got to the finish line my legs, shoulders, back and arse were in tatters.

So there you have it. A very cool race indeed. Next big one is GaelForce west in August.