Report and photos by Liam Lenehan

Chamonix, France – 25th June 2016

Eoin asked me to write a few words on my recent mountain race in Chamonix which I am delighted to do. I’ll keep it short and let the photos tell most of the story but now that I have the forum …

Race reporter Liam with hois wife Orla!

… If you said to me a couple of years ago ago (when a weekly five-a-side and maybe a jog or two were my staples), that having turned 56, I would be track running in Tallaght and trail racing in the Alps, I would have said you needed your head examined. But here I am, not a wet week in IMRA and Sportsworld, and my world has changed.

Bursting my lungs in Bushy Park and pumping my legs up and down the Wicklow Hills have filled my spring and summer weeks and rejuvenated mind and body. The best part of it all has been the discovery that running with others beats the socks off running solo and I have Eoin to thank who, with Myles help, sold me on the benefits (better race times and great craic he said!) of joining Sportsworld when I was collecting my number at the clubhouse for the Terenure 5 back in May. 6 weeks later I can vouch for the fantastic camaraderie in the club and I am sure I could not have run so well in Chamonix without being dragged and pushed around fartlek sessions like last nights!

To the race – many of you probably know of the UTMB which happens in August in Chamonix but the iconic Alps town also has the Marathon du Mont Blanc weekend of trail running every June. The centre piece is of course the Marathon (42k with 3,000 metres of ascent) but there is also an 80k/6,700 metres, the Cross (my race) with 1,600 metres, a 10k/350 metres and the notorious Vertical KM! (1k straight up 3.8k of switchbacks from the town centre to the Brevent ski station – winners timw was 36mins).

7,500 runners (I counted about 20 Irish or so in the entry lists) invade Cham for the weekend and 1,500 took on the Cross at 8am on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning.

Starting from the Chamonix paragliding landing field (already 1035m up) our route climbed steadily towards the upper Chamonix valley, progressively passing through the hamlets of Les Bois and Lavancher before reaching Argentière (1250m). We passed the ski stations for Grand Montets and Le Tour and reached the half way point and feeding station (distance not time as the steepest climbs were still to come) in the hamlet of Tré le Champ, a pretty village based right before the Col des Montets, from where we hit the Balcon Sud (south balcony trail with amazing views of the valley and Mont Blanc).

At Flegere ski station (1850m), thunderstorms were imminent so we were diverted (first time this has happened in 38 years of staging) from the usual higher finish at Brevent ski station (2,000m) to a finish back in Chamonix. The net result was was the same overall meterage of ascent but an extra 3k added to bring the distance to 26k, and a non stop very technical descent of 800 metres over 8k (had my only tumble on this section and it was spectacular – still have the bruises and cuts to show for it!).

The reward for the route diversion was a raucous finish in front of the crowds (runners from the other races, supporters, locals and bemused tourists!) in Chamonix town square – won’t ever forget the atmosphere!

Photo from Mont Blanc Marathon Website

Winning time was 1h:59 and first woman home was 14th in 2h:25 (both were Salomon sponsored runners). For the record I finished in 3 hours 23 minutes which earned me position 293 out of 1527 runners and 25th out of 157 in the V2h category (men over 50!). Thrilled with the time as I was targeting 3h:30 and variable weather and route change mitigated against good times.

Cant wait for next year (maybe the marathon??). By the way if you are interested in participating next year, such is the demand that there is a lottery for places – registration for 2017 is late September 2016 with the draw results a week later so if you do get lucky you have plenty of time to prep!

Race report by club legend Maura Ginty

The leinster league is a series of 13 summer races run by IMRA in the Dublin/Wicklow mountains every Wednesday until mid July.  You can compete in as few or as many races as you like but it takes 7 races to score in the league and get some form of t-shirt; all levels of runners compete and there is even an early start time for those who need extra time to complete a route.  About 200 runners do each race.

Race Reporter Maura and Eileen

On Wednesday night the race was up and down Sorrell Hill out near Blessington for a 9.45km round trip up and back, with nearly 400meters of ascent.  This was #8 in the League.

I have been doing these since mid April – I wasn’t able to commit to club sessions this season and had always wanted to try mountain running…initially thought I would be a natural as my summer and winter holidays are in the hills – with lots of running every week.  Race 1 dispelled all thoughts in that regard and I realised I may as well have been off at the ballet.  It turns out that hiking/skiing on mountains and running on roads are no assistance whatsoever to the act of physically running up a mountain.  But the whole imra race experience, including the social side, had me hooked from the beginning and I have vowed to do as many of these summer races as I can.

For this race, Eoin had put out call to arms on facebook and myself, James DB and Liam The New Guy met at club house and set out, with Eoin driving.   On the way there, we got the low down on Liam (he’s M50 if anyone’s wondering) after threats to look him up online later that evening.  Though, true to form, we had barely reached Templeogue when the lads started convincing him that he should do a marathon.  The journey was also broken by James giving us a full rundown on his health insurance plan.

The joys of carpooling

We met Eileen at registration in field and as usual at imra races, great atmosphere and camaraderie about – these are the friendliest most welcoming races I’ve participated in (terenure 5mile excepted).

The evening was gorgeous, though slightly too warm for running.

Sorrell Hill (the one in the background)

Race kicked off and I would like to say that Eoin and Liam went tearing off ahead, but in this race and given the uphill start I think it would be fairer to say that Eoin and Liam started a slow jog at slightly faster pace than me.

As I see it, the main difference with Imra racing and the roads is that it is ok to walk bits and most people do.  However, it seems to be only socially acceptable to walk when the gradient is steep. The worst part of imra race is any long gentle gradient where peer pressure dictates you have to run.  There are also obstacles like styles and wire fences – which again you are delighted to see and you can ease right down as take time crossing them (technically frowned upon, but I reckon everyone does it).

Still smiling post race – until we realised James had no idea where the car key was

I found the race tough psychologically as could see the hill and the sneaking line of runners going all the way up.  But because the terrain is so varied and given that you can make it as competitive as you like (e.g. racing against other girls for places), the time goes really quickly.  Half the time I’m trying to determine if the heavy breathing creeping up behind me is a girl (bad) or man (good – no threat). Coming downhill is where the fun really starts, you are rewarded for being completely irresponsible… it is here the weekday shackles come off and you can really just go for it.  Oh and the scenery also and sense of adventure is nice too.

My race was not great – came 18^th girl and would usually be 12/13^th – though still better than the shambles that was trooperstown hill last week.

The lads had more of an adventurous time than me – James jumped over two dead sheep and Liam saw the guy ahead of him lift the leg of a dead sheep with one hand and throw him in the ditch.  Eoin and Eileen had no sheep stories but seemed content regardless.

Its cool, he was only playing dead #messer

We were all happy out at the end though and agreed it was great workout, whatever else. After hinting to the lads several times, I finally decided to casually ask Eoin if he was off to the pub – the post imra race pint is a mountain running ideology I have wholeheartedly embraced.

Eoin had his negative reply ready, and with that I had a glimpse into the mindset of a 1,200meter track champion; deviating from the plan was never in the equation for him… as he glanced off into the middle distance trinity track never far from his thoughts.

The BHAA Trinity Grass Track Races – Next Wednesday 7pm

Some would say the tactic of a 9k hill run one week out from the biggest track championship meet in the country (fact not verified) is kamikaze stuff but maybe the Champion needed that evening away from the BHAA buildup and hysteria, out in the Dublin mountains at sunset, to become reacquainted with the true nature of running – as the saying goes “the gazelle needed to embrace the goat before he became a gazelle for the second time”

And so the formalities:

James was just in after the 2^nd female – 51:10

Liam was 4^th M50 – 56:50 (He’ll be pleased with that. His joint best imra finish to date)

Eoin was 103^rd – 1:03:16 (poor eoin as a M30 doesn’t get any category to make him feel better about the placing. Still he’s got next week)

Maura was 18^th female – 1:05:02

Eileen was 22^nd female – 1:06:48

For results and future races visit the IMRA website: Click Here