The Burren 24/05/08

Ballyvaughan was the destination for our second marathon on home soil. As this was the inaugural year of the Burren Marathon we didn’t really know what to expect in terms of the route, terrain and general organisation of the race. Our main concern that day though was whether we would be home in time to watch Munster in the Heineken Cup Final.

 The best thing about this race was the fact that we could sleep in our own beds and didn’t have far to travel on Saturday morning. It also meant that some of our friends could join us in the various races that were taking place in conjunction with the marathon.

It was a typical morning in Ballvaughan, overcast, cool and misty with the threat of rain hanging in the air. The official race starter was none other than Brendan Gleeson who gave a nice little speech about the beauty of the Burren and who looked like he may have had a late night in some of the local hostelries. He started the race with the immortal line “I haven’t said this since I was about ten: On your marks. Get set. Go!” And we were off.

The marathon was planned as a walking marathon but of course at such events you will always get lunatics like ourselves who want to run them. One such lunatic passed Danielle (who was doing the half marathon) and me in the first mile or so. He had seen my T-shirt with the 12 marathons on in it and said “Fair play to ya! This is my twelfth marathon already this year and my 108th altogether.” Suitably humbled I acknowledged his greatness with a smile and let him run off into the distance. There’s always one….

The first five or six miles were uphill but I was going well and feeling strong. Danielle was running well too but she broke off on her own course after about 7 miles. At this stage we were well off road and running through rocky, mucky walking trail. After about 9 or 10 miles I came across a guy from Galway and we started chatting. It turned out he had also done the Connemara marathon and I actually remembered him from that race. I remembered him because he used to run ahead of me then he’d be knackered and start walking and I’d pass him out. Then he’d start running again and go past me and stop again up ahead. I told him all this and described what he had been wearing that day and he said: “Jesus, that was me alright!” We had a great chat until I had to rudely interrupt it with a trip to the bushes for a Number 2 – a result of all the dates I had eaten in the car on the way up!

The first real nastiness came around mile 11 – a tough hill which most people had to walk. But by the time I reached the top the sun had come out and I was looking out over the bay to Galway with a downhill stretch for about 5 miles into Fanore. Life was good. As usual in a marathon though, the good times don’t last for long. Instead of following the coast road from Fanore back into Ballyvaughan and home, the organisers sadistically decided it would be more fun to route us back up hill over Blackhead and down to the finish from there. And thus began again the hell with which I had become so familiar over the last few months. No point going into it here again. Suffice to say I got over it eventually and finished in 4hrs 28 mins. At the finish I met Alan and Danielle who had also finished their races and we rushed home to watch Munster.

The race was tough, but a great challenge and was very well organised, with plenty food, drinks and water all along the course. The only pity was that there were no official times recorded. It’s always nice to have your time recorded for posterity and to give a sort of stamp of officialdom to your suffering. Big thanks also to Marie, Emily and Bernard who completed the half marathon and to Catherine, Edel and Keith who all completed the 10k.

Burren Race Info

Marathon Type:  Mostly hill walking trail some road.

Temperature: 16-22 degrees

Conditions: Overcast then Sunny

No. of  Participants: ?

Entry Fee: 30 euro