Mountain running video in Glenveagh National Park - Descending from Errigal 21 August 2010

A fleeting tour of NZ

Here is a video of my 2010 NZ trip.

Climbing Carrantuohill and Mount Brandon in a blizzard

At Easter time Ali and I decided to climb Carrantuohill and Mount Brandon, in County Kerry on the West Coast of Ireland. It's fair to say that the weather didn't exactly play ball. However, that didn't stop us from trying. Here are some pictures of us battling the elements in some fierce Ireland Weather. We felt like Hillary and Tenzing when we disappeared into the clouds half way up and got hammered with snow and sleet. It was mental, and there was nothing but white in all directions. Though unlike Hillary and Tenzing's escapades, we were able to knock off these bad boys in a morning (on consecutive days), leaving us the afternoons free to sit around by a fire and eat soup!

Going up was hard enough work, but running/rolling down from the summit of Caher in the thigh deep snow was brilliant!

















Jase: Let's go up there! (Carrantuohill, 1050 metres) Ali:Ok














Should have brought the crampons. 'Don't worry, it'll be sweet'.














Some long pants and hiking boots wouldn't go astray either (top of Mount Brandon at 925 metres)
















Mission accomplished

Living the high-life in Northern Wales - Snowden

Mount Snowden is the highest mountain in Wales, at 1070 metres, and lies in snowdonia national park in northern wales. The area is a lush mountainous area rich in history, littered with historic stonework and buildings, castles and ruins.


Snowden mountain is part of an impressive horseshoe ridge, which encircles a lake. Every July a classic fell race is held on Snowden. The race is a 10 mile 'out and back' route from the town of Llanberis, at the foot of the mountain, to the summit and back.

Sadly i haven't had the opportunity to race Snowden yet, since one has to get in quick to get entry. However, i got my chance to run the Snowden race route on Saturday morning, en route to a wedding nearby.

The route starts in the village of Llanberis, and traverses an ascending ridge that rises to adjoin the Snowden horseshoe ridge. The trail runs alongside a railway line, upon which a small engine transports tourists backwards and forwards between Llanberis and the Snowden summit all day. The route is steep, so the train travels at approximately the same pace as I was running up the trail, though it zig zags up the mountain and ducks in and out of tunnels.


The climb was entirely runnable, though was steep and challenging in parts (especially the day after a marathon interval session!) and fairly rocky. The summit was cold and windy, so when i arrived at the summit after 57 minutes, i checked my watch and immediately began my descent.
The descent was fast and exhilarating, made even more exciting by the complication of having to weave through copious numbers of hill walkers whilst hurtling down the mountain. Great fun. Descended in 29 minutes. Total time 1:26:59. Here is the Garmin run report and map of route:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42898003

From there, I rejoined forces with Alison and her folks and retreated to Ruthin Castle (our residence for the weekend, built in the 12th century) to scrub up for the wedding. Thus experiencing the more civilised side of life in north-west Wales.

Galtymore recon mission

With Galtymore IMRA race fast approaching, Brian Furey and I thought it might be worth a day trip to check out the Galty mountains (though I'll miss the race myself). The route is just under 13km, but is extremely tough due to the near 1300 metres of vertical climbing and the boggy conditions under-foot. Save some energy for the second climb up glencoshabinnia, because it's a killer!


Garmin report:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/41744433


Brian descending glencoshabinnia, galtybeg obscured by cloud.


View north from Galtymore ridge through the clouds down to lough diheen.


Brian scouting for trails heading down galtymore, with galtybeg up next on the return leg.

Location:Tipperary, Ireland

Irish runner 5 mile race report

It was an overcast and blustery day in Phoenix Park, Dublin on Saturday for the Irish Runner 5 mile (8.1km). The race is the first in a series leading up to Dublin marathon (which takes place in October), and this year attracted a substantial crowd of 5000 participants. The course is hilly, the first mile is downhill and consequently a fast one, then the second and third mile have a couple of uphill sections, before the course flattens out in the last couple of miles. Ten weeks out from Berlin marathon, this would be a good test of speed before I begin to really step up the endurance work over the coming weeks.

The first mile was downhill with the wind at our backs. After a 1.5 miles the course turned uphill and against the wind, so I knew that it would be important to be in a group at that stage of the race. The pace was fast off the start, owing to assistance from the wind and descending route. We passed the 1 mile mark in well under 5 minutes, the guy running next to me exclaimed 'NO WAY' with a thick Cork accent, in shock when he saw the clock (apparently the marker was short) My club mates Turlough Conway and Paul McGovern pulled up beside me.

At the 1.5 mile mark I maneuvered myself into a group and managed to get boxed in as two groups merged! But that was ok, because it meant that I hardly felt the wind, and I knew I could sit it out for a mile or so and then think about moving forward in the group as we reached the half way point. The two leading ladies were in the group. I felt very comfortable at the pace we were running, and I thought that I would end up pushing ahead of this group, hopefully with my club mates. The group started to break up a bit at half way, and I went with the breakaway guys. I couldn't see Turlough around, but i knew that Paul was still beside me.

The group of 5 or 6 of us pushed on, in a rotating leader type formation. Then the course turned with 1 mile to go and the wind was no longer a factor. I didn’t look at my watch, but one of the lads called ‘21:27’. I figured then that if I ran a 5:30 mile then I would achieve my 27 minute target. I still felt comfortable, and ready to go, so I boosted off the front of the group. I started pulling back guys who had been running on their own about 50/100 metres ahead of our group throughout the race. Managing to pull back tow or three of them.

I thought I was in the clear, with just a couple of lads in view to try and pull back, but then with 600 metres to go I was passed by one of the guys whom I'd been running with earlier in the group. Didn’t see that coming. I gave him a few seconds to get ahead and think he was safe, then with 300 metres to go I put the hammer down. Important to get timing right, because if you go out too soon then you can run out of steam before the line. With 200 metres to go I went past him. He kicked as well, but I had left enough in the tank and was confident that I could hang on.

My official time was 26:45 (average pace 3:19 min/km, last kilometre in 3:08), 31st place. Winning time 23:49. On track for Berlin.

Location:Phoenix Park, Dublin

Thoughts on Croatia - the Dalmatian Coast

• Croatia has a stunning and dramatic coastline called ‘the Dalmatian Coast’ which runs North from Dubrovnik on the Adriatic Sea. This is where the mountains plummet down to the turquoise Sea. It is quite something.
  

• Dubrovnik is a charming and beautiful city, saturated with tourists. The old town is built within the well-preserved city walls, which are several hundred years old. When you walk around the old town, you can imagine at times what it might have been like for people living in the city 400 years ago.
• This romantic reflection will last for a few seconds, before the next group of boisterous American tourists walk around the corner eating ice creams and spouting superlatives. Despite the expected crowds, I would highly recommend Dubrovnik as a place to visit, and a good spot to start a trip up the coast.
  
  http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubrovnik?wasRedirected=true

• July and August are very hot – up to 35 degrees in the day and around the mid 20s at night. Don’t bring jeans, do bring flip-flops. Be warned - you may be hesitant to leave the confines of an air conditioned apartment during the hours of 9am and 6pm.

• Beer is cheap in Croatia, especially outside of the trendy tourist areas. Prices as low as €1.50 for a pint if you like to drink with the locals! Nice.
  
• Croatians are good at making pizza, and sandwiches. Fruit and vegetables are also tasty and cheap. Dinner options were less pleasing, since the local delicacy seems to be a dry piece of fish with soggy sliced boiled potato and some spinach (and I’m not exactly fussy).
  
• The Adriatic Sea is a gorgeous colour, and is great for swimming. I stupidly forgot my swimming goggles.
  
• In the absence of sand, the term ‘beach’ has a broad interpretation in Croatia. A ‘beach’ can mean anything from jagged boulders which protrude from the trees and then abruptly drop into the sea (sun bathing can be awkward), and a rocky/dirt terrain reminiscent of a construction site. In fact, to describe Croatian beaches as ‘pebble beaches’ would somewhat embellish the truth in many cases. Buy a rollout mattress, or pay a beach vendor €5 to make use of a beach chair for the day. If you can get a comfortable enough spot, and spend plenty of time in the water, then you'll get over this pretty fast.
  
• Choose your Croatian holiday spot carefully, as plenty of them seem to be over-run by families (relaxing on the 'beach' while being surrounded by noisy kids can be challenging) and resorts.
  
• Split is four hours north of Dubrovnik by bus along the picturesque Dalmatian Coastal Route. The bus trip is very scenic, but the lack of air conditioning and soaring temperatures may limit your enjoyment. Brac and Hvar are islands off the Coast of Split, both are popular tourist destinations. I can see why.
  
• Dubrovnik and Hvar are full of glamour, wealth, beautiful people. In contrast, The island of Brac is full of resorts, families and couples. Hvar is full of super-yachts that back up onto the promenade - Here is darth vadar's one.

• Hvar town (on the island of Hvar) is a bustling party-town with an aesthetically-pleasing and historic sea-side town centre, lined loads of great bars and cafes. Hvar is a guilty pleasure. It is the most pretentious place that I have ever been, but yet I liked it. Maybe it's because they have bars built into the rocks (the ‘beach) where you can drink cocktails and Coronas in the sun, in the company of fancy people who wear sparkly sunglasses worth €400.
  
• On the islands you can hire small boats and cruise around the many islands and pull up to a ‘beach’ of your choice for a swim. You can pretend to be a captain, if you like.
  
• Croatia has great mountains for running or walking up, but in the height of summer it is difficult to make good use of them because it's so hot. Croatia is also not overly suited for marathon training, in case anyone was thinking of going there with that purpose in mind. The best, and only, way to climb mountains or train is to wake up very early, and then sleep during the day.

• Croatia is less of a back-packer destination, than it is a domain of families / the rich. But there are some backpackers there, most are Continental and Australian, most are groups of females or couples.
  
• Ice cream vendors are a-plenty, and ice creams cost less than €1. The ice creams are about 1/3 of the size of a NZ ice cream in a cone, which can be perplexing, but that's ok because it gives you an excuse to have another one.
  
• You can find accommodation as you go, since you will be surrounded by enthusiastic apartment owners upon arrival at each town.