Adrian Hennessy – Blog
With the race season definitely in wind down mode, I’m starting to feel some pangs of guilt that I haven’t updated the blog in quite a while. At this stage in the season I’ve noticed that folks are starting to look like Chippendales on hunger strike for a few months – not much fat or muscle left. I think it’s time to put on a few pounds again with the winter coming in. For some people thoughts are turning to other forms of torture like cyclocross, cross country running, the Dublin marathon, or some other more relaxing pursuits. For me the season is finally winding down after the Killarney AR last weekendand with the Raid 26hr AR coming up on October 27th&28th. I’m happy with consistent season I’ve had this year – podiums at every adventure race I entered, both of the long and short distance variety.
Last year was the inaugural race in Killarney so no one really knew what to expect. This year was destined to be much different with over 1100 entrants across three competitions and much stiffer competition. I managed to pick up a fortuitous win there last year after I pipped Tim O’Donoghue in the last few km’s after he bonked in the last 10km. Since then Tim has been pretty much unbeatable in this format and last weekend would be no different. Mountain runner Paul Tierney was also expected to turn up as well as some of the usual suspects including Noel O’Leary, Paul Mahon, Kevin Murphy and Rónán O’Shea. Drew Sharkey, third place finisher from last year, made the trip over from Scotland along with a few other invaders from the UK. The course in Killarney is pretty gruelling, probably the toughest of this type of multisport race in Ireland even though there’s only 35km of cycling. This is definitely one for the hill runners – Mangerton mountain is where it’s all won and lost. And so it was to be this year as well.
One of the drawbacks of a large field of entrants is the requirement for an early start. The elite wave was scheduled to start at 8am. I generally tend to avoid physical activity in the morning; my legs don’t wake up for at least 2 hours so unsurprisingly I was off to a slow start. Around 10th place to the top of Strickeen and feeling like I should still be in bed. I’m not one to panic that early in a race but things weren’t looking good. I managed to pick up a few places on the descent and started to feel a bit better by the time I got back to the bike. I just wish that I could have paused to take in the amazing views over the Reeks. A low-lying fog had settled over the lowlands leaving the Kerry peaks basking in the early morning autumn sunshine – it was really a surreal experience.
On the bike we alternated between blinding sunshine and 30 metre visibility in the fog. I managed to work first with Noel O’Leary on the bike and then with Rónán O’Shea and James Blackhouse for the last few kms so that by the time we got to Muckross lake we were in a group of 3 lying in 4th or 5th spot. I jumped on a double with Rónán and off we went for a quick splash. The kayak had to be cut short due to the fog on the lake and the resulting safety risk with so many people on the lake. I wasn’t complaining as my kayaking has been poor this year due to pretty much no kayak training. Off the kayak and heading up Mangerton I was lying in 4th with Paul Tierney about 1 minute ahead. I needed to be ahead of Paul at this point to have any chance of overhauling him. A seasoned mountain runner like him wasn’t going to give up that kind of lead. My only chance of making the podium was overtaking Drew Sharkey who had just put in the fastest bike split of the day. He still managed to gain a couple of minutes on me on the Mangerton ascent so that by the time we reached the top I had left myself with a difficult task to catch him. Untouchable Tim had extended his lead at this point and Paul had consolidated his position in second. I set off in pursuit of Drew knowing that he is a slower descender than I, but not knowing if I had enough distance to catch him. About half way down I managed to overtake Drew and move into third. In fairness to him he shouted some words of encouragement at me as he saw his podium finish slip away. However the race wasn’t quite over yet. The last bike leg was a short 4km sprint back to the finish line, which should have been uneventful. As I was making my way up the laneway leading back to the finish, two oblivious mountain bikers decided to take up the full path. Despite my shouts from far back they couldn’t decide whether to move left or right, forward or back so that by the time I reached them I was left trying to predict what they were going to do to avoid colliding with them. I guessed wrong. I did manage to avoid a collision but not coming off the bike. My helmet and shoulder took the brunt of the fall but my biggest concern was the chain wrapped around the pedal. I struggled with it for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually I managed to get the chain back on while the startled mountain bikers stood there; mouths open, and bemused looking. Despite the tumble I managed to hold onto third.
Ollie Kirwan and his team add some nice touches to the race that make it stand out. One of those is the hot tubs at the end. It’s definitely an incentive to finish early so you don’t have to wallow in the filth of all the competitors who finish before you. The organisation in Killarney is top notch, a really well run event with top sponsors, beautiful scenery and great fun. I can see it getting even bigger in years to come. “Real” adventure racers always complain that the likes of Killarney AR, Gaelforce, the WAR races are not proper adventure races because they don’t involve navigation, sleeping on your bike, drinking your own urine or eating your team-mates when the going gets tough. It’s true the shorter multisport events are a very different type of competition. In my opinion it doesn’t diminish the achievement in finishing one. The problem is one of terminology – everyone wants to call their race an Adventure Race because that’s what people want to say they have done. I say let them, who really cares, a race is a race. Winning an Olympic gold medal in the marathon is no less or greater an achievement than winning a gold medal in the 400 metres, it’s just a different type of athlete and training. It’s the same with Adventure racing – it takes all shapes and sizes. In my next post maybe I’ll talk about Adventure racing of the longer, sleep deprived variety.