Race report by Ronan Murray
Saturday November 28th 10.00am several Sportsworld clubmates stood at the start of the RUN the Line 26km mountain challenge. As we waited for the countdown I couldn’t help wonder what we had let ourselves in for, it was blowing a gale and the rain was hitting us side on. According to the forecast it was 7 degrees but felt more like -7. We hadn’t even started but we were already wet through and freezing cold. But where else would you rather be on a Saturday morning !
After a countdown from 10 we were off, it only took about two minutes for the climbing to start , up the side on 3 rock. After what seemed like an age we reached the top of mountain one, where it was completely exposed. If was virtually impossible to run in a straight line as every time one on the gusts hit you, you changed direction. All we could do was laugh at the sheer madness of it. We soon settled into a rhythm and before we knew it we had climbed 2 rock , Tibradden and we were on our way up cruagh. All we had to do was turn around and do it all over again in the opposite direction, easy …
The route back way just as cold and exposed but before long we had a marshal shouting at us that we only had 2k to go , downhill….Wohooo !!!
He wasn’t joking about the downhill , we could have done with parachutes . It felt like a sheer drop, in some of the photos you can actually see the fear on our faces as we approached big drops unable to stop because of the downhill momentum and no grip, but finally we were home , exhausted , soaked , starving and wondering what the next challenge is.
It was only when we sat down in race HQ and got dry that we noticed all of the people being tended to by medics suffering from hypothermia, it then sunk in how bad it was up there.
That said , I would do it again. Well organised event and beer afterwards, what more could you want.
Sportsworld crew that took on the challenge:
Ronan Murray
Shay Brady
Willie Murphy
Eileen Rowland
Audrai O’Driscoll (13km option)
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