When a marathon just isn’t enough….

Please bear in mind that the words you are reading have been written by a fairly enthusiastic runner who in the past has run the Dublin marathon twice and plans to run it again this year. However, two weeks ago when I heard that a friend would be taking part in Gaelforce West in Westport and then subsequently found out just what that entailed i felt I had to go along to cheer her on. By taking part in this event you really would need all the encouragement you can get. It’s bonkers. Plain and simple.

Here are the details.

Stage 1: Beach, Trail and Road Run – 12km
Stage 2: Kayaking across Killary Harbour – 1.6km
Stage 3: Trail and Road Run – 3.5km
Stage 4: Cycling – 32.5km
Stage 5: Mountain Run/Hike – 4.5km
Stage 6: Cycling – 12.5km

Oh and that mountain mentioned in Stage 5 – it’s only Croagh Patrick! To be honest, Stage 6 should read descend Croagh Patrick with Stage 7 being the cycle but I guess they don’t want to scare competitors away!

The front runners set off at 6:30am so by the time I got to the course around 11:30 the front runners had nearly finished. I found a good spot a few km’s from Westport and took a few shots of the lead pack coming through on their bikes – and even a few coming through on foot pushing their battered and busted bikes alongside them as they muttered obscenities as their chances of victory quickly evaporated.

After a bit we set off to climb Croagh Patrick to hopefully meet our friend Lorraine at the top – which we did. For those of us who only climbed the mountain is was a great experience – for the competitors who had just completed the previous 4 stages I can only imagine it was like having metal rods driven through the heels of your feet and upards through your shins. And it was windy.

Anyway – you can see a slideshow here.

I also created a little video captured with my little Lumix. Listen to the wind! Enjoy.

Congrats to Lorraine for completing it. Incredible feat. Oh, and “hi” to Karl with a K who we met at the top.