Irish Mountain
Running Association

Trooperstown Hill

Authors

Warren Swords

Warren Swords

You know it's going to be a great evening on the hills when you have to pull over on the Sally Gap to take a photo of the stunning vista on the way to the start.

My time off the hills has meant my feet are somewhat spoiled by the space-age comfort offered by the Nike super shoes, with their zoom x foam and hidden carbon plates.

I said as much to Jason and Liam, complaining that I could feel the stones in my Inov8s. This led to perhaps (un)fair comparisons to the Princess and Pea and much laughter at my expense. Still, on my warm up, I felt some stones underfoot again so opted to change shoes 5 mins before race start, donning a bare of old nike trail shoes.

So off we go on the downhill and up through the first climb through the trees. I find myself moving well on the road with the early leaders well in sight. On to the mountain proper and the legs are already burning. I get passed by three or four runners and working hard to keep the imaginary elastic band from snapping.

Ran hard over the crest of the first peak and the legs suddenly felt springy. Game on. Edel and Ali are ahead of me, flying on the uphills. I catch Edel on the downhill before the climb to the turnaround. Legs feel much better on the uphills now. Peter Bell comes past, I can see the fear in his eyes at the mere sight of me in full flow on the climb...

Time to throw the kitchen sink at the second half of this race. Managed to pass Ali who then returned the favour, retaking me on the last climb and putting in a decent gap. Got by Ali again and figured I was in 5th place, not bad. But what's that in the distance? There's Ciaran chasing David and I'm closing the gap fast on the steep drops. We hit the road close together, all pushing hard on the tarmac, Ciaran passes David, followed by myself. Ciaran almost goes down the wrong trail and loses a couple of seconds. I'm right on his heels heading into the last forest. I decided to take a few risks and manage to find a nice line through the trees, getting ahead just before the fire road and crossing for 3rd place. Delighted.

Myself and Peter pose for our customary photo (which will be available as NFTS on the IMRA store)

Great night of racing