Report by Liam Lenehan
Photos from www.imra.ie
As trail races go it was relatively short but still tough with all of the climb in two straight up runs at the race start and through the third quarter on steep woodland paths.
IMRA (Irish Mountain Running Association) races are graded so you know what you are letting yourself in for. This was a grade 5 (1,2,2) – easy terrain, 200-500m ascent and 6km – 10km. The highest/max is 10 (3 for most difficult terrain, 3 for over 500m ascent and 3 for over 10k with an extra 1 added for over 30k).
All of us came through unscathed and buzzing from the effort and the camaraderie of tackling the challenge together. You can view the results on the night here – https://www.imra.ie/events/results/id/1581/
Times and places don’t really matter but IMRA does a good job of recording and posting all the stats on the evening (all members take turns to volunteer, similar to Parkruns) including age categories and your time as a % of the winners.
Glen of The Downs was the third of the 3 trail race series run as a warm up (shorter, less climb and easier terrain) for the big time Leinster League.
The Leinster league races start on Wednesday May 9th and take place every Wednesday at 7.30pm. First up is Bray Head Race followed by Howth summit. Check them all out here: https://www.imra.ie/leagues/view/id/283
It costs €10 to join IMRA for the year and €7 pay as you go per race of you can buy a €50 voucher which gets you 10 races.
Longer and warmer Wednesday evenings on the Wicklow hills and Dublin mountains are fab. And they slot nicely between club Tuesday and Thursday sessions!
Usually a car share or two leaving from Bushy 5.30/6.
Anyone interested in running a few or more races let myself or Eoin know and I will add you to the IMRA whatsapp group where you can track whose heading to the races from week to week.
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