Croagh Patrick Mountain Race

Latest report from Joan Geraghty, author, 'Anyone can run' and trainee marathoner

As my training continues I now know for sure that one kind of running I'm not in to is mountain running. My Wicklow race experience up and down the mountain (hill to some I'm sure) known as Brockagh put paid to that. My strongest memory, apart from having to keep going up and up and up for the first half, is how hard it was to keep foot-sure on the way down. The amount of concentration needed to guide your every footstep along unknown and choppy terrain, simultaneously trying to run at speed and somehow draw deep breaths even though your frame is bent forward in self-protection, is just too much. To my mind, it takes away the fun of running entirely. And it's just way too hard.
So even though I did take a trial test jaunt up Croagh Patrick one day a few weeks ago, covering the 2,500 ft up and down as quickly as I could with take-off from Eoinie Campbells pub, on the day of the actual official Irish Mountain Runners' Race on Saturday August 2 last I was happy just to stand on the sidelines. More than 80 people turned up for the event - doubling last year's entry apparently - and it was simply fabulous to watch them all - knowing how difficult a challenge they were taking on and seeing them suffering through it! The first man back down to Campbell's arrived in just under three quarters of an hour. Unbelievable. The first woman back made it in just over the hour mark - a phenomenal achievement. My own best time was just under 2 hours. What are these people made of? They look the same as you and I but their make-up must surely be superior in some way. Or else it must just be down to plain hard and consistent training, which in itself, is a constant slog.
At the commencement of the race, the organiser advised participants that walkers on the pilgrimage mountain always had right of way and runners should yield to them at every instance. He also paid tribute to the Campbell brothers themselves, particularly Eoin, for supporting the event for 20 years and supplying finishers with drinks. A well deserved tribute and it was great to see the big man himself there on the day, as well as Michael, attending to the Croagh Patrick runners. Long may this event continue to attract such fine healthy specimens of Irish men and women!

Stick with the training!

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