Ireland’s Annual Rogaine is one of this country’s best kept secrets. Every year, Setanta Orienteers hosts this race deep in the Wicklow Mountains on the weekend closest to the summer solstice. I’ve entered this race twice before, in 2007 and 2008. On my last outing, my partner Andrew and I were subjected to the worst weather … Continue reading Learning the ‘trick’ to the 6 Hour Rogaine
Last weekend’s Quest Wales Adventure Race was a great excuse for a quick holiday break away. All it took was a speedy ferry ride from Dublin to Holyhead and, in less than an hour, I was in Betws-y-Coed in the heart of Snowdonia, race HQ for the weekend. Wales is a brilliant place for anyone … Continue reading Quest Wales Adventure Race
This was my third time entering Westport Sea2Summit’s Adventure Race. In 2014, I came third. In 2016, I placed second. This year I wondered if, third time around, I could do one better again. My preparation for the race was less than ideal. Sea2Summit takes place in November, right at the very end of the … Continue reading Third Time Lucky at Westport Sea2Summit
You’d think, after four years of doing events like Quest, that I would find adventure racing easy. Instead, it’s quite the opposite: It seems to get harder with each event. Just look at last weekend when, for the third time, I lined up at one of Ireland’s toughest adventure races, Quest Killarney. I don’t think … Continue reading Head-to-head Battle at Quest Killarney 2017
The Mourne Mountain Marathon hurts. I can still vividly remember the pain from nine years ago, when I last did the two-day race. Entering my forties has, however, made me curious to see whether I could survive it again. So this year I penciled the event into the list of races I wanted to enter. … Continue reading Surviving the 2017 Mourne Mountain Marathon
The Mourne Seven Sevens is not for the faint-hearted. It is a challenge to climb the seven peaks in the Mourne Mountains that are 700 metres or more. With the route starting at sea level in the seaside town of Newcastle, it means covering 29 kilometres of ground and 2,495 metres of climb. The event … Continue reading Racing the Mourne Seven Sevens in 2017
I was six months pregnant with my first child, and feeling tired and fat. I was so depressed that I couldn’t race in my current condition that I started to flick through my phone to see what my mountain running friends were up to. I saw them racing up and down mountains, and traversing entire … Continue reading Why do I adventure race?
I was on the hunt for points last weekend at Outfront’s Achill Roar Adventure Race. It was race number five out of the nine race National Adventure Race Series, with four races in total to count. I already had two wins and a second place in the bag from three races this year, so I … Continue reading Raring to go at Achill Roar Adventure Race
The alarm went off at 4am. I felt sick. Not just the normal “sick with nerves before a race”. It was a nauseous feeling, a feeling that something wasn’t completely right with the body. I wondered if I should even get up and get the bus to the starting line. You shouldn’t race if you … Continue reading Going Green at Gaelforce West Adventure Race 2014
There’s nothing like a race on home turf. So when I saw that the next race in the Adventure Race Series was up in County Donegal, I definitely planned on entering. Gaelforce North's course goes through parts of the county I’d not been to in 20 years. It starts with a 15km run through Glenveagh … Continue reading Going Good at Donegal’s Gaelforce North Adventure Race