Irish Mountain
Running Association

Double Wicklow Round

AuthorDateMessage
Paul O'CallaghanJul 9 2020, 9:34amThis is my official notification that I’ll be making an attempt at a Double Wicklow Round this Friday, 10th July, starting at 10am. This will be a solo, unsupported (self-sufficient) attempt. I’ll carry all my gear and provisions from the start, for the duration of the attempt, and will not have drop bags or logistics support during the attempt. It will be one continuous attempt, with the finish time of one Round being the start time of the next.
Stephen BrennanJul 9 2020, 9:54amThe very best of luck Paul.
Graham K. BusheJul 9 2020, 10:14amWow! Great stuff Paul. Best of luck x 2
Conor O'FarrellJul 9 2020, 10:20amBest of luck Paul. You're really racking up the rounds!
Summer Round, Winter Round and now the Double Round.

What;'s next, a reverse round?
Gareth LittleJul 9 2020, 10:30amGreat to hear, Paul. Best of luck!
Thomas RocheJul 9 2020, 11:14amBest of luck Paul x 2. I hope everything goes ur way on the weekend.
Sarah BradyJul 9 2020, 1:22pmNice one, Paul. Best of luck.
John MurrayJul 9 2020, 3:13pmAwesome....twice the FUN!!! :)

Wishing you the very best of luck Paul. Conditions not ideal but no better man!
Richard NunanJul 9 2020, 7:56pmBest of Luck Paul - lots of time for people to get out and support you !
Simon KellyJul 10 2020, 9:23amHere is the tracking link for Paul's Double attempt. Thanks to Primal for providing it and Paul for sharing it: http://live.primaltracking.com/wwdoublepc/
Jason DowlingJul 10 2020, 9:32amWishing you the very best on your Round today and your other one tomorrow!! Thankfully the weather seems to be fairly decent for you, have a great run.
Alicia Christofi-WalsheJul 10 2020, 9:33amIt's a gorgeous morning out there, best of luck on your adventure Paul.
Avril ChallonerJul 10 2020, 9:39amBest of luck, hope the weather is kind! Certainly looking beautiful for your start :)
Brian KitsonJul 10 2020, 10:56amLegend.
Gavin ByrneJul 10 2020, 2:49pmMachine! Keep her lit Paul
Kevin ToherJul 10 2020, 8:51pmFair play man! Keep it going!
Igor Gonzalez-GuridiJul 11 2020, 8:47amGood luck Paul. Amazing challege. Sure you can do it!!
Richard NunanJul 12 2020, 9:11amUnbelievable running, 46Hrs 21min - The Double Round has been completed for the first time ! Well Done Paul
Rachel CinnsealachJul 12 2020, 10:13amAmazing Paul. What an achievement
John MurrayJul 12 2020, 11:57amSorry Richard...completed for the second time! And I hope that was a personal statement and not one from a Committee point of view.

IMRA does not recognise Double Rounds and therefore there are no rules or time frames. This is what I was told last year when I did my Double Round.

Congrats Paul on an absolutely amazing run and smashing my time from last year to become the FKT Holder for a Double Wicklow Round. Delighted I got to bump into you at 3am at Sheepsbank. Knew there and then nothing was going to stop you! :)
Richard NunanJul 12 2020, 12:14pmMorning John, as per my Face book post - Paul o Callaghan with his two Wicklow Round Trophies ( 2 attempts ) (I make that 4 now I think, Summer, winter, double) So i counted two Successful Round attempts. I called them a double as the 2 consecutive attempts were completed both with in the 24hr time limit allowed. This is the first time this has been done.

The first attempt was 23:20:47 - Second attempt time to be validated. But the 2 double (or the 2 Consecutive Attempts) were completed at 46 hours and 21 Minutes. So the time for the actual 2nd attempt i will validate once we get the splits. But both attempts were completed at 8:20am this morning, having started at 10:00am Friday. A total of 46 Hours 21 min
John MurrayJul 12 2020, 12:49pmThanks for clarifying it’s the first time someone has gone under 48hrs and not the first time a Double Round was done.

Maybe it’s time IMRA started bringing in some Rules regarding Double Round Attempts and the recording of these challenges just like single Rounds attempts!

I’m sure Paul would love to have this recorded as a Double Round and not two singles which it will be.
Richard NunanJul 12 2020, 1:12pmYep - I probably should have said - Noone has ever completed back to back Wicklow rounds before. this is the first time it has ever been done ! Absolutely fantastic running and thats all that was meant by statement.

All good

Rich
Mick HanneyJul 12 2020, 2:39pmGreat, if bonkers achievement! Fair play to the staying power.

What next - the opposite way - is that even allowed? :-)
Paul O'CallaghanJul 12 2020, 5:35pm@john. IMRA is the ratifying body for Wicklow Rounds and the IMRA definition of a Wicklow Round is "A looped course covering 26 peaks totalling over 100k and over 6,000m climb inside 24 hours'. To complete a double or back to back Wicklow Round would entail doing two consecutive runs, both within the above definition. A circuit of the route outside those parameters is not a Wicklow Round by the definition of its ratifying body. So a wicklow Round followed by a circuit outside those parameters is not a double, or a back to back. No more than it would be if a person took 3 days to walk it, and then followed up by walking it again in 4 days.
Brendan LawlorJul 12 2020, 5:55pmWell done Paul on your fantastic achievement.. to sprint to the line after two days of running in the mountains capped it all ! Super stuff
Lillian DeeganJul 12 2020, 6:33pmMassive congrats Paul. Such a whopper of an achievement! Happy refuelling and recovery time to you. Is it a small in t- shirt size now :)
John MurrayJul 13 2020, 10:34am@Paul - Tell that to Nicky Spinks that her Double Paddy Buckley doesnt really count because she did it in 56hrs! lol

Well done again, another massive result for the Wicklow Round.
Richard NunanJul 13 2020, 11:37amJohn,

You can ask Niki about the other round that is ratified in a similar way. The Bob Graham Round

A double round is two rounds (132 miles and 54,000 feet of climbing) on consecutive days. This has been achieved twice within 48 hours, with the record held by Nicky Spinks:

14 and 15 May 2016: Nicky Spinks - 45:30
Stuart ScottJul 13 2020, 12:02pmWell done Paul, that was amazing running!

Would the Committee consider recording (but not awarding):

1) A description after the result (e.g. 'as part of a Double Round' \ 'Reverse Round', 'Solstice Round');
2) Completed attempts over 24 hours, as suggested by Paddy last year.

Both would encourage uptake of the Rounds whilst not detracting from the accomplishment of the sub-24 hour round.

Stuart
Gordon PlaceJul 13 2020, 12:48pmGreat suggestion Stuart, it doesn't take much to compliment everyone's accomplishments without compromising the sub-24
Alicia Christofi-WalsheJul 13 2020, 1:05pmHuge congratulations on an incredible run Paul!
Super idea Stuart, it would be great to see that happen.
Alan AylingJul 14 2020, 8:02amI'd like my planned Mountain Bike Round added to Stuart's list please. But for God's sake don't anyone tell the Fun Police in the NPWS what I'm up to :-)
Jason DowlingJul 14 2020, 9:45pmCongratulations on an incredible effort Paul, that is some achievement. From the dot watching, you looked to be coasting for the first round, and that didn't change for the second one either!! I'm just lost as to what you aim for after that but enjoy thinking about it anyway. Hope you're enjoyed a round of a different kind with a €9 meal afterwards. That is some accomplishment, enjoy your rest..
Robert CostelloJul 15 2020, 10:20amWell done Paul. Some achievement.
Re Stuart's point above, an official reverse Round would be very interesting. Could be tougher than the current route?
In saying that I still have to do the original!
John J BarryJul 16 2020, 11:10amFor completely selfish reasons (!) I would love to see the 24 hour limit lifted.
Alas we don't all have Paul's fabulous fitness and mental strength..
It might also encourage overseas visitors that would not able to do full recces.

The reverse would also be class, finishing with a run of Kippure sounds appealing.
Peter O'FarrellJul 16 2020, 1:45pmShirley being allowed to start and finish at the pub in Glenmalure is the one change this challenge needs. Think of the children, think of the supporters, think of the pints!

And double well done Paul.
Paul O'GradyJul 16 2020, 2:00pmShirley you can’t be serious
Mick HanneyJul 16 2020, 3:38pmGreat suggestion Peter!
Eoin KeithJul 16 2020, 5:35pmPeter, that's a great suggestion :) There's a lot of mountain running "history" in that particular location.

John, the 24 hour time limit is a key part to the history of the Bob Graham Round. The Orginal challenge for the local fell runners was to see how many peaks could be run in 24 hours. The 24 hours was the orginal key part, not the route itself. Indeed the record for this version of the challenge was broken last weekend by Kim Collison (the record had been standing since 1997 I think). The Bob Graham round is based on on Bob Graham's record settting 34 hour attempt from 1932.

And most of the other rounds, including the Wicklow Round, are based on the idea and ethos of the BGR, which is why the 24 hour limit is built in as part of the criteria. The exception is the Paddy Buckly round in Wales for some reason (possibly because the first round was completed in 25 hours). (Incidently,that's probably why Nicky Spinks is able to count her back to back Paddy Buckly rounds, even though they weren't both under 24 hours).
Stuart ScottJul 16 2020, 5:54pmJust to be pedantic, if it took Bob Graham 34 hours then surely the Bob Graham Round should be based on a 34 hour limit? :-)

Going back to my idea, I'm not suggesting in any way that the 24 hour rule be relaxed or prizes awarded for times above this. However, I would like to see all completed attempts recorded for posterity, whatever time they took (you could even call it a 'losers' section if you wish!). This would encourage much greater numbers to attempt it and boost its popularity even further.

Stuart
Mick HanneyJul 16 2020, 7:55pmI wonder what is the criteria that justifies another peak? I expect it needs a certain distance and/or height gain/loss?

Begs the question what other peaks could come into consideration in such an extended scenario in Dublin / Wicklow - a scenario only necessary for the exalted few :-) I know Croaghanmoira was part of the original set-up but removed as it was probably too much of an outlier to the existing route.
Richard NunanJul 17 2020, 11:44amMorning Stuart,

I knew we had visited this before (a few times) We were had 2 parts - results & records and attempts. Sorry for the delay on response but I Found the old link :-)

This fell off when we validated the rules of the round in 2018. Hope this approach satisfies the requirement. We will do some work on this in the coming weeks,

https://web.archive.org/web/20171115112931/https://www.imra.ie/wicklowround/

We can work to get that fixed.

Rich
Stuart ScottJul 17 2020, 11:50amHi Richard,

I presume you're referring to this link? https://www.imra.ie/wicklowround/media.imra.ie/ad-hoc/WicklowRoundDetails.doc

If so, then yes, that makes me happy!

Thanks,

Stuart
Richard NunanJul 17 2020, 12:55pmThat page doesn't work for me (404) - the link i sent was the layout of the page previously. But we we will get this on the list! So people can submit their effforts. Thanks
Richard NunanJul 17 2020, 3:58pmThanks Conor - https://media.imra.ie/ad-hoc/WicklowRoundDetails.doc