Home Race Report Wicklow Way Ultra Marathon 2016

Wicklow Way Ultra Marathon 2016

Report by Ronan Murray

To see Ronans great GoPro video of the event: Click Here

In Mid February myself and Shay Brady completed the Donadea 50K. Afterwards we decided we wanted another challenge, so we signed up for the Wicklow Way Ultra Marathon. Six weeks later we were back on the start line for a very long days running.

We lined up to start at about 8.30 on a very cold Saturday morning with another 200 or so runners. The route took us on road for 1 mile before the climbing began. We went up what seemed an endless range of hills and mountains , passing Prince Williams seat and down into Crone carpark to the first water/aid station about 1.5hrs in.

From there we went over the top of the powerscourt waterfalls , over Maulin and then it was time to tackle Djouce , the biggest climb of the day. From there it was a nice few miles downhill to the halfway point where the race marshals tried to stop me because I was limping from a sprain I picked up earlier ( No chance).

After some much needed food we set off back to where we started. This time we had to climb Djouce with 4.5hrs of running on our legs. It seemed endless. On the way down Shay fell while moving fast on a gressy stretch , then he fell again. I thought this was hilarious until I fell , then again , then again.

Eventually a woman picked me up and I was off again.We got into the last aid station about 5.5hrs into the run and refuelled to the finish , we had 8 tough miles to go and both of us were on dead legs.

Again the race marshalls suggested I stop due to my limp but then a guy with a bad cut came in and while they focused on him we were off. Before we knew it we were on the final downhill , all that remained was the final road section and eventually the finish line.

Job done , mug received and it was time for the pub. Big congratulations to Sportsworlds Eoin Keith who also raced and had a fantastic run to finish 7th overall!