The Irish Experience - Part Three

Race day started at 4.30am. I thought most runners in the lodge would have been up and about but no it was just the Australian bloke who was bleerily scraping some sort of conserve on his toast. It was all a bit up in the air in regards to how quickly the course was going to be covered. 70km is never going to be easy but the elevation map hadn’t looked too severe. However a ‘reccy’ or reconnaissance of the ‘wee hill’ in the middle of the course struck fear into the assembled elites. Of course everyone was putting on a brave face and in a bit of gamesmanship nobody really mentioned the giant elephant, called Benbaun Mountain, in the room.

The other problem facing the field was the wet ground. Local publican Gerry had declared the mountain to be ‘dry as a cork’. Maybe the cork he was talking of had sunk to the bottom of the bottle because the Irish summer had dropped buckets of rain in the lead up to the race. A phenomena not experienced greatly in Melbourne town is the bog. In Ireland bog has nothing to Sundays and grog, it’s just disgustingly wet ground that looks ok to step on until you find yourself knee deep in the mess. So an initial prediction of a seven hour finish had moved out to approximately eight hours.

The start line was amazing. Set at Kylemore Abbey the place was buzzing. Camera crews and a helicopter filming from overhead really let you know that this was no ordinary ultra, it was the Championship of the World (insert voice of American boxing ring announcer). As the hooter sent the field on their way I thought how great it would be if I was part of the action. That thought didn’t last too long as the pain, shock and awe etched on the faces of all runners let everyone know that they were experiencing something beyond belief. Seb commented after the race that it was easily the toughest thing he had ever done. This from a guy who had recently done TNF100, described by Dean Karnazes as the toughest 100km event on the planet.

From behind the tables at the checkpoints it was a great day. Jo and I got to meet people from all over the world. The Canadians were right next to us and they couldn’t believed the detail in the instructions we had to work with. Not many other runners had written on the actual skin of bananas to explain to cut in half. ‘½ for CP1........1/2 for CP2’. There was great tension when I made the surgical incison into the fruit. They reckon I got it 60/40 and ruined his race.

I shouldn’t have worried though, Seb comes through checkpoints grinning from ear to ear. This too was commented on by other countries.  At 12, 28 and even the 60km checkpoints, Seb would jog in like nothing was wrong. Even though his words expressed the brutality of the course, the smile was still there. Maybe he truly is mental.....in a good way.

At 60km still got the energy to high 5 others into the fun

Throughout the race we got to see most of the field pass by us. Even though I knew about the bog I still couldn’t believe seeing people with mud caked on well above the knees. This course was ridiculous. Twenty of the world’s best pulled out, some through injury, some who admitted not being prepared for the challenge and quite a few who were angry and looking for answers about why the course was so over the top. The race director was looking a bit sheepish at the end of the day.

At the finish line I was struggling to hold it together. The enormity of the event and what this greying 41 yr old was achieving was all just amazing. The announcer called out his name and country when he was 200m from the finish. After 70km of hell Seb finished the run in absolute delight. His trademark jump in the air at the finish line was just the final part of his celebration full of high fives, fist pumping and huge excitement from all watching him. One Irish bloke thought for sure he was on drugs. It’s little wonder that 160 people turned up to the fundraiser to get us all there. This bloke did everyone proud. There may well be better runners in the country, Mr Humble will tell you that, but none enjoy it as much and none bring so many along for the ride. Thank you Kevin.