IMRA season 2012

donothoponpop

Here's a new thread to replace our 2011 one. Its a place for discussing hillrunning, races, training, equipment, shoes, banter: so long as it goes up and down, and makes you mucky, this is the place for it! I'll put in a few links for new runners who might be curious about hill running, feel free to post more relevant info below so that we can direct newcomers to the first page of this thread throughout 2011.

What is hill running? Irish Mountain Running Association for all the information you need about races, dates, maps, carpooling, results, etc.

Do I need special gear? In general, the only specific gear you need is hill running shoes, which will provide extra traction for the different terrain. Most hill shoes have less cushioning and support than road shoes, and are more durable. Some good shoes are discussed here, here, here and where to buy them

Other gear you may need, depending on the difficulty of the race, may be waterproof clothing, map and compass, mobile phone.

How do I enter? IMRA membership is €10 per calendar year, and then €7 per race. You can register your details, (gender, age grouping, club affiliation), before each race, once that is done, you are in the system, and will be included in the results (with lots of neat graphs and charts so you can track your progress throughout the years races, and that of your rivals!).

Do I have to be in a club? No, you may leave the club section blank if you wish. However, the inter-club rivalry is a big part of the races, and gives runners down the field a chance to "score". If you are not a member of another running club, you can put down "Boards ", and be a part of the Boards team who run the IMRA races. There is also an inter-county rivalry, so you can enter your county (of birth or residence, especially if that contributes to a bigger geographical spread than Dublin and Wicklow!).

Besides the above, carpooling helps to lessen parking problems in often remote locations, turning up early (+1hour) before the race start helps with registration queues, and most of all volunteering often helps keeps prices down and organization efficient. Through these pages, we have ran a couple of very well received map-reading course's. The ever-popular Wicklow Way Relay has seen Boards triumph in 2010, and a creditable third in 2011. Competition for places this year will be especially keen, as we seek to regain the crown!. We had a great time talking about, and running in, IMRA races in 2011, thanks to everyone, from all clubs and none, who helped make it such a huge thread! Onwards and upwards in 2012!

donothoponpop

Winter League upcoming races

Jan
22 Howth Winter
28 Ticknock Winter

Feb
12 Annagh Hill
17 Trooperstown

Mar
03 Maulin Winter

donothoponpop

I'm Race Director for Annagh Hill again, and this is an important message to help alleviate carpark congestion.

Annagh Hill was run for the first time last year, and seemed to get a great response. Word-of-mouth has spread, so we're anticipating much greater numbers this year. We had 135 runners last year, and the car park at The Gap pub was filled to capacity- literally, if we had one more car, we would not have had space to park it. So we're going to try something new to alleviate the congestion- I've organized a 50-seater coach to pick up runners at 9:30am from the Sandyford Luas stop, and drive them to the race in comfort. You'll get here in plenty of time to register, and will be able to enjoy a pint or two post-race beside the turf fire of The Gap, before leaving for Dublin at around 3:30pm or so.

This is very necessary to aid congestion, so I'd encourage as many as possible to avail of this service. Cost will be about €9 per person (you'd spend more on petrol driving down and back). I need to get an idea of numbers (we can add a second bus if necessary), so can anyone interested in helping lessen IMRA's footprint, sign up for this bus as soon as possible on the carpool section (listed under Paul Joyce). If anyone from Boards is going to take the bus, can they sign up ASAP. If this works, we might be able to organize coaches to similar far-flung rural races.:)

donothoponpop

There's a brand new IMRA relay, the Wicklow Glacier Lakes on Sat 14th April, and we already have a couple of runners interested in running for a Boards team. Details below, shout out here if you think you'd be interested in running it.

The race takes in some of the highest glacial lakes in Wicklow. The proposed route is outlined below. The IMRA Committee have the final decision on the route. The race traverses some of the wildest terrain in Wicklow so participants should agree safety precautions with their team members and carefully recce their leg(s). Participants must touch the water in each lake on their leg.
A team comprises between 1 and 4 persons. Juniors are not allowed to compete because of the nature of the terrain and the distances involved. A mobile phone, cagoule, map, and compass are compulsory kit. Bring food and water according to your needs for a run of around 10 km in tough mountain terrain.

The race will use chasing starts with the first team to finish being the winners. Women get a bonus of 10 minutes for each leg they run; Persons over 50 get a bonus of 5 minutes; and Persons over 60 get a bonus of 10 minutes. Hence any teams of four W60 women will start at 8 am whereas teams of four senior men will start at 9:20. An M50 solo runner would have a bonus of 20 minutes so would start at 9 am. Teams who declare themselves non-competitive can start at 8:30.

Leg 1 starts at the hotel in Glendalough and takes in Lough Ouler with the handover at the car park at the Wicklow Gap. The only part of the Wicklow Gap road that you can run on is the part on the St. Kevin's Way. Challenge: route choice and terrain.

Leg 2 takes in Lough Firrib and either of the Three Lakes with the handover at Glenmalure hostel. Challenge: navigation and tough terrain in middle of leg.

Leg 3 takes in Art's Lough and Kelly's Lough with the handover either at Ballinafunshoge car park or Drumgoff (to be decided). Challenge: route choice and steep terrain.

Leg 4 takes in the Upper and Lower lakes in Glendalough with the finish at the hotel. Challenge: a runner's leg!

Slogger Jogger

Might try to kick off the new year with a good old slog around the Annagh hill route pj?

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Might try to kick off the new year with a good old slog around the Annagh hill route pj?

Meeting someone to recce it tomorrow, probably morning time. Will confirm time with you- anyone else is welcome too, PM for details.

ocnoc

For a city center student thats too lazy to cycle the length of Wicklow, I think a bus to the arsehole of nowhere (aka somewhere that its challenging to get to on public transport) is a fantastic idea.

I'm just not sure a bus full of 90 people would appreciate an overly hyper active person getting excited about the up coming pain and suffering at early o clock in the morning though

donothoponpop

We'll put you in the baggage hold to cool down;)

Yeah, there's always one (imra forum Anon). Local fields round here in Feb tend to swallow cars that might consider parking in them. Everyone I've asked says the bus is a progressive idea (I ran it by the committee too). There's zero public transport around these parts.

Bottom line is we can plan for the expected numbers by hiring a bus (at around €8 or €9 return per person), or we can have a drive-down free-for-all and turn away runners who arrive when the carpark is full.

Its a no-brainer.

RacoonQueen

Howth might be worth doing actually, could run most of the way home from that as a LSR.

Annagh Hill has me tempted but it's the same day as the Enniscorthy 10k...

donothoponpop

RacoonQueen wrote: »

What are the chances of me finishing kippure in one piece/alive?

donothoponpop wrote: »

Zero. You haven't got the ability to run it, you will not be able to do it. You're not good enough. Don't even try to prove me wrong.:pac:

I'm cruel to be kind, kiddo. You'd faint from lack of oxygen on Howth, and muddy those shiny new runners on Annagh. Not a chance you'd survive either one, best stick to the safe option and run that nice 10k.

misty floyd

I don't suppose any beginner map reading/orienteering type courses are planned any time soon? I think it was PositiveNegative that took groups out last year?

Cheers.

ocnoc

Papal Cross, Phoenix Park.
11:00-13:00 Sunday 15th Jan

ThreeRock (club) are organizing a local orienteering race.
If you want to learn to navigate enough to race - go and say hello.

Its not mountain nav, but once you have the basics down, mountain nav is a hell of a lot easier.

ocnoc

3 call outs too many.

http://www.98fm.com/2012/category-news-sport/rescue-app/

nerraw1111

So first race of 2012 on Sunday.

Is the course same as last year? Says new one lap course but might be just a copy and paste from last year.

Looking forward to Howth. A great blast around the trails.

paulmorro

nerraw1111 wrote: »

So first race of 2012 on Sunday.

Is the course same as last year? Says new one lap course but might be just a copy and paste from last year.

Looking forward to Howth. A great blast around the trails.

Think the Winter is always one lap.

Missing first two races of the season... already my great plans to get back into into this year are getting messed up!

ThisRegard

paulmorro wrote: »

Missing first two races of the season... already my great plans to get back into into this year are getting messed up!

Join the club. I'll miss Howth and Ticknock (I really wanted to do Ticknock as I like that course) because I won't be around. Even if I was here I'm nowhere near fit enough to tackle them, went for my first run last night since Powerscourt Ridge due to being off with a host of bugs and viruses.

Annagh Hill is a great course but again given it's not too far away and the lack of kms in my legs I don't think I'll be able for it. I think I'll be volunteering for that one.

SharkTale

Thinking about doing Ticknock,

How difficult is the course & will I need to invest in a pair of trail runners?

Thanks in advance.

Slogger Jogger

SharkTale wrote: »

Thinking about doing Ticknock,

How difficult is the course & will I need to invest in a pair of trail runners?

Thanks in advance.

Difficulty is relative. How fit are you? It depends too on how used you are to running hills - up and down. Hill races can be a shock to the system for those that haven't tried them before. Its a tough run but fun in places too. Theres a bit of everything. Trail and rocky, technical bits. Trail runners would be a lot better than road runners there. Perhaps try it out with whatever runners you have and see how it goes and you can invest if you are attracted to it. There will be runners of all ages and abilities in the race so give it a go. Its a nice social vibe too.

DogSlySmile

SharkTale wrote: »

Thinking about doing Ticknock,

How difficult is the course & will I need to invest in a pair of trail runners?

Thanks in advance.

Its not too bad. Its a gradual climb for the first 2.5-3m but then its fast all the way home. Foot placement is the biggest challenge IMHO. The last couple of times I've been up there its been very muddy/slippy so trail runners will be an advantage, but not essential.

Slogger Jogger

Nice win by T-runner today in Howth. All that training is working.

metamagical

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Nice win by T-runner today in Howth. All that training is working.

Yep, well done to him - he was a few metres ahead at the end of the pitch section, but after the first hill I couldn't even see him any more. Today's run was a good reminder I need to start doing some of that training stuff myself

Well done to IMRA as well for a very well organised race, not least for trying to persuade the headphones brigade to leave them off. I mean, it was great to see so many new people running, but I'm still surprised how many of those thought it was a good idea to try to make themselves as oblivious as possible to what was going on around them on a narrow, slippery course.

donothoponpop

Almost 300 at Howth!:eek:

What do people think about limits to the numbers allowed enter a race? IMRA is wholly a volunteer organization, it strikes me that at some point growth is not a good thing. Its fine to say races should be open to everyone, but dealing with the environmental impact of 300 runners (and nearly as many cars) in often remote and sensitive areas needs to be balanced too.

guapos

Regarding the large numbers, pre registration on the imra site with the maximum decided by the race location would cut out this problem. Race fee could go up to 10e to cover the extra costs of setting up this feature on website.

Great race yesterday, you have to go off fast to avoid bottle necks, unfortunately i'm not that fast. Super stuff from the volunteers to get the registration done on time.

Peterx

I think Mick made most of the points very well over on the IMRA forum.

Sign on closure times need to be inforced strictly.
The first race of the year and the first race of the summer Wednesdays need to be at least 35 minutes long for laptop input.
The first race needs to be based in a large hall or pub function room for easier registration.

Entries should be capped at 300?

donothoponpop

Pre-reg, and Micks ideas, are great. It's about planning and enforcement now with the numbers. A far cry from a LC race hosted out of the boot of someone's car.

There's no way Annagh Hill could support anything over 200 (parking, trails, pub). A cut-off in numbers would have to be the same across the specific league, for scoring to be kept fair? I guess it could be argued "first-come, first-served" negates this, though.

earlyevening

I don't get it. On one post appeals are sent out for new runners to show up and try out mountain running and then, a few posts later you're trying to stop them showing up.

What exactly is IMRA policy here?

shotgunmcos

earlyevening wrote: »

I don't get it. On one post appeals are sent out for new runners to show up and try out mountain running and then, a few posts later you're trying to stop them showing up.

What exactly is IMRA policy here?

Just a case of being careful what you wish for perhaps?

nerraw1111

Is it not the case that Howth was a great success? Sign in went smoothly, parking worked great, course was well marked and results were online that night.

Obviously 300 turning up at another race would be an issue in terms of parking etc.

I would be totally against a first come, first served basis. Doesn't take into account where people live/work etc.

Back to race. Great opener to the new season. Really enjoy that course, very fast.

It seems that this year's results were a lot faster than last year, any reason? Winning time last year was 24 mins, this year it looks like 8 people ran under 24 mins.

donothoponpop

earlyevening wrote: »

I don't get it. On one post appeals are sent out for new runners to show up and try out mountain running and then, a few posts later you're trying to stop them showing up.

What exactly is IMRA policy here?

Is this directed at my post?

As far as I know, IMRA policy leaves it up to the RD of each race to make a call on what a safe amount of runners is for that race. There's a number of criteria for that, such as car-pooling and parking facilities, and trail conservation. Any cut-off's or restrictions are pointed out beforehand on the IMRA forum, in good time.

earlyevening

donothoponpop wrote: »

Is this directed at my post?

As far as I know, IMRA policy leaves it up to the RD of each race to make a call on what a safe amount of runners is for that race. There's a number of criteria for that, such as car-pooling and parking facilities, and trail conservation. Any cut-off's or restrictions are pointed out beforehand on the IMRA forum, in good time.

Yes. It seems to me that mixed messages are being sent out.

It'll probably sort itself out anyway. The races close to Dublin will be popular. Annagh Hill and others that are miles away won't look so appealing to those who haven't experienced them.

donothoponpop

earlyevening wrote: »

Yes. It seems to me that mixed messages are being sent out.

It'll probably sort itself out anyway. The races close to Dublin will be popular. Annagh Hill and others that are miles away won't look so appealing to those who haven't experienced them.

Fair enough. Just in case it doesn't sort itself out, I'm trying to get a feeling on how the growth in numbers should best be catered for. If it looks like there's an increase in numbers generally, I'm going to factor that into plans for Annagh. I'd prefer not to turn people away because the car park is full of single-occupancy cars, hence the bus. I doubt we'll get anywhere near the 290 of Howth, but anything over 200 will cause problems.