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Mountain running tends to take a hiatus during the Irish autumn and hill runners find themselves turning to the frenetic cross-country scene for their off-road fix. The trend set by several new races being organised continues unabated, however, and this fall promises to be different. Read more…
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What do Snowdon and Djouce have in common? We’ll, this weekend, both where the tasks to be overcome successfully for those with international aspirations in Britain and Ireland, respectively. Read more…
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The spectacular roar of the Glanmore waterfall, then larger, coined the current name of yesterday’s race venue: The Devil’s Glen. Two former Irish internationals roared highest as Michael Kelly, Gowran, beat a competitive men’s field… Read more…
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While English runners turned their attention to the Rydal Round, Borrowdale and other challenges, Irish runners have not been lying dormant. The Trail League kicked off at Glen of the Downs wood two weeks ago with victories for Joseph Mooney and Karen O’Hanlon, Maynooth… Read more…
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Another IMRA summer league has waxed and waned as the thirteenth, and most technical, of the routes finished yesterday at The Great Sugarloaf (501m) next to the M50 highway. Barry Minnock had wrapped up the men’s individual title… Read more…
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The Irish Championship entered its third fixture this weekend at Lugnacoille, Leinster’s lone Munro, but arguably the easiest race of the series but also the final counter in the King/Queen of the Mountains competition setting the stage for an enticing drama… Read more…
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A long Leinster League season nears the end and the first signs of fatigue may have been apparent at the running of the new Seefingan course was 135 runners took the field. Or perhaps it was an air of post-script with Barry Minnock and Rathfarnham WSAF having wrapped up the individual and team titles last week… Read more…
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Runners were once again treated to an unusually dry and clear passage up Lugnacoille’s “back door” in the Fraughen Rock Glen from which yesterday’s penultimate Leinster Championship race took its name. Read more…
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This year’s Wicklow Way Relay found itself in one of the busiest weekends of the year with the Mourne Way Marathon up north and the European Trial in Crone Wood robbing the event of some long-distance men and aspiring internationals… Read more…
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Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest peak, has hosted the premier mountain race in Ireland for twenty-three years running now but 2009 marked the last running of the old course. Access issues with a local farmer enforced a change to a route described as “the best ascent of the mountain”. Read more…
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Barry Minnock’s absence at Scarr meant the Leinster League title stays up for grabs for another week. Tristan Drute would be the one to take full advantage when the Sligo AC man secured his first win under the IMRA banner. Read more…
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A new team emerged in style on the Irish hill running scene yesterday. Orienteers CNOC took on a strong Rathfarnham team, yet came out with a one point win! They were led home by debutante Seamus O’Boyle who combined with Colm Hill and new-joiner to the team Niall McAlinden. Read more…
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Saturday 22nd saw IMRA celebrate its 30th birthday. Much younger than the FRA and BOFRA, thirty years still holds a lot of history and IMRA has decided to celebrate this with a re-running of the very first organised hill race: Fairy Chase. Read more…
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The new Circuit of Avonbeg course is one of the closest things you’ll experience to one of the long English fell-races in Ireland and is a route brilliantly conceived by Paul Nolan, the former national coach and Irish international. Read more…
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More news from Ireland courtesy of Rene. A new league in Munster, starting with the Clare Glens race, plus racing at Gibbet Hill with Martin Monaghan taking a convincing win over form-man Mick Hanney… Read more…
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A very strong field took set off in welcome break between showers yesterday evening at Prince William’s Seat. 220 runners once again added to what looks to be a record season for IMRA in terms of attendance and, as usual for the Leinster League… Read more…
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The Dublin Mountains Partnership (DMP) was setup in May 2008 with the aim of improving the recreational experience for users of the Dublin Mountains. Off-road runners now stand to benefit from this mission as the DMP team up with IMRA to bring runners a new exciting event. Read more…
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Once again, memories rolled back to 2007 and 2008 as Barry Minnock, Rathfarnham WSAF, continued to stake a claim to regain the title he has held as he made it two victories on the trot. Just under a minute later, 3ROC’s Gerard Butler held off Martin Bradshaw, Bilboa AC, in a tight finish for second and third… Read more…
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Plenty of action from our Irish weekend round-up: A hybrid half-marathon, a classical fell-race and a trail race were available for the picking for those not doing the Total Experience Adventure Race in Blessington. Read more…
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What a return to the hills and what a race! Barry Minnock, the hegemon of the 2007 and 2008 Leinster Leagues, contested Howth. Given his traditional dominance many would have expected a foregone conclusion… Read more…
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In later years, the small knoll standing prominent over the small marina town of Bray has served as the Leinster League opener and once again this year prospective finishers could get the first of the seven necessary counters at Bray Head, the shortest course in the league. Read more…
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While the Silent Valley race opened the British Championships in the Mourne Mountains this weekend, there was also plenty of action south of the border. Not far away in the Cooley Mountains, the traditional opener of the Leinster Championships took place at Black Mountain. Read more…
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One of the most traditional fixtures of the IMRA calendar, the Wicklow Way Trail, and its big brother, the Wicklow Way Ultra (the out-and-back equivalent) has awaited eager hill runners every April since 1998, when Maurice Mullins laid out the route. Read more…
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The Winter League finished on a high note with another gorgeous sunny day at the revised Carrick Mountain route. Your trusty reporter went for a run of the route before the race and local man Mick Hanney had done a good job creating a varied and exciting route… Read more…
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Mark Keneally broke his silver Duck at this weekend’s Irish National Senior/Junior XC and led his team Clonliffe to another title in this year’s Irish cross-country season. The Clonliffe man took the expected win by 14 seconds from Galway’s Gary Thornton… Read more…
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The flat reddish hulk of Tibradden Mountain has been known as a vaunted ‘ankle-breaker’ in hill-running folklore, strewed as it has been with loose rocks and scree. In later years, heavy erosion of the central trail had forced the route out of circulation for a while… Read more…
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In the absence of many established hill runners in this year’s Winter League, notably defending WL champion Eoin Keith of Boards AC, there has been room for daring outsiders to establish themselves among the echelons of IMRA race winners. Read more…
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This classic Irish round has been awarded status as a points scorer for the years big French Ultra, the UTMB. Writing for IMRA, Eoin Keith reports that runners wishing to take part in the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc need 4 points from qualifying events, the Wicklow Round will now carry 3 points… Read more…
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The 2009 Yearbook is the first of its kind for IMRA. It features 80 pages of articles… which capture the magic that was mountain-running in Ireland in 2009. With articles from 17 contributors and featuring the amazing photographs of John Shiels, this yearbook is a limited-edition hardcover book that will grace any coffee table. Read more…
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The Irish Mountain Running Association represents hill running in all the four Provinces of Ireland (Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster) yet an oft-heard joke is the inference that the association is more The Leinster Mountain Running Association. Read more…
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IMRA’s year drew to a close this weekend as the Charles Barrington Memorial race was won by Richard McCauley in his first IMRA race in 9 years with Rathfarnham’s Laura Flynn 1st woman. This race commemorating Irishman Charles Barrington, one of the three men to first ascent the Eiger… Read more…
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This year’s IMRA calendar was released over the weekend and it proves one of the most innovative in years. While several old classic have returned, a surprising amount of new races will be inaugurated. Read more…
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Last year, the presiding IMRA chairman Tony Kiernan, decided to resurrect the Stone Cross to Lug Relay, bringing it back on the calendar from an 8 year hiatus. This year, the event has survived despite, or perhaps, because of, modest attendance… Read more…
