Stone Mad July 15

Rantan

I ran Donadea last month as my first 26+ race and have recovered well.
so thinking of following it with the sunday mountain ultra as part if the stone mad event in July.

Anyone have any experience of last years event? positive/negative?

I did 15 miles last Sunday from Tomduff cross, followed the course and up to top of Mt Leinster and feel worse than I did after Donadea!
But I think that's the hardest part of the course so should be ok .

Any advice/opinions?

DogSlySmile

If you are only going to do one day of Stone Mad I would recommend day 2.

Its good that you are able to get out on the course and can get to know the turns etc as I found the route marking to be poor last year and the marshalls knew nothing about the route, but maybe they will improve things this year.

The route is mainly on road. There is a decent amount of climbing but you only go off road for about 5k of the whole route. Shoe wise you will probably go for road runners but the off-road section is tricky underfoot and mostly downhill so something with grips would be helpful. If you had a comfortable hybrid shoe definitely go for that as you could lose time on the off-road part.

But best advice would be to check the maps and do a couple of recce's to make sure of route.

All the best with it

Rantan

DogSlySmile wrote: »

If you are only going to do one day of Stone Mad I would recommend day 2.

Its good that you are able to get out on the course and can get to know the turns etc as I found the route marking to be poor last year and the marshalls knew nothing about the route, but maybe they will improve things this year.

The route is mainly on road. There is a decent amount of climbing but you only go off road for about 5k of the whole route. Shoe wise you will probably go for road runners but the off-road section is tricky underfoot and mostly downhill so something with grips would be helpful. If you had a comfortable hybrid shoe definitely go for that as you could lose time on the off-road part.

But best advice would be to check the maps and do a couple of recce's to make sure of route.

All the best with it

thanks...had forgotten to ask about the of road bit actually..fingers crossed the ground is dry in july and not mucky..is the downhill bit the typical gorse/heathery stuff or is it stoney/scree? From the little I know of mt leinster its gorsey??

DogSlySmile

Rantan wrote: »

thanks...had forgotten to ask about the of road bit actually..fingers crossed the ground is dry in july and not mucky..is the downhill bit the typical gorse/heathery stuff or is it stoney/scree? From the little I know of mt leinster its gorsey??

You are running down across open mountain and picking up little sheep trails here and there. It's tough to get up any rhythm on that section and it's tough on the ankles so careful not to roll an ankle.

I see on the fb page they have put up maps for 2015 race

Stevo1983

Doing the HM option, looking forward to it.

webpal

DogSlySmile wrote: »

If you are only going to do one day of Stone Mad I would recommend day 2.

Any reason why? Just curious

DogSlySmile

webpal wrote: »

Any reason why? Just curious

Just the way I found it, really.

Day 1 sounds great on paper. Mile after mile of flat running along the river flanked on either side by trees and bushes. Lovely, sounds like you are going to get lots of great views. And you do. For five minutes. Then it's the same view over and over and over again until the end.

I just found it to be a little boring. Day 2 is more fun. Good climb, tricky descent and a mix of terrain.

Your mileage may vary, of course. You may hate day 2 and love day 1! I suppose the organisers should be commended for offering something for everyone:)