The 4th Annual Irish Beer Mile Championships. July 2nd 2016

Itziger

Chivito550 wrote: »

Special mention to Timmaay and belcarra, who were the only pukers out of the 16 competitors.

I was impressed with their honour code though. Both of the penalty laps were called by the pukers themselves, somewhat to the surprise of the 'officials' it seems.

davedanon

KielyUnusual wrote: »

I seem to remember two of the Tallaght lads had issues surprisingly enough. One of them was somewhat controversial though #FrothGate

That's f*cking fightin' talk. AFAIK there was Northie Niall and that's it. He's still on the club naughty step ever since.

KielyUnusual

davedanon wrote: »

That's f*cking fightin' talk. AFAIK there was Northie Niall and that's it. He's still on the club naughty step ever since.

I guess I should have clarified that. Two lads from Tallaght AC . I believe the A/Rtist formerly known as ecoli was another penalty lapper on the night.

tang1

KielyUnusual wrote: »

I guess I should have clarified that. Two lads from Tallaght AC . I believe the A/Rtist formerly known as ecoli was another penalty lapper on the night.

Hardly surprising that, sure he couldn't have been anymore than 16 back then!!

KielyUnusual

tang1 wrote: »

Hardly surprising that, sure he couldn't have been anymore than 16 back then!!

Ha, yea. It was an initiative we were trying out back then, the Junior Beer Mile. Unfortunately, there were some dissenters to we had to abandon the idea.

Toulouse

Suppose I better post up my report before I forget what happened!

Training for the event was pretty much a non-existent. I downed one can of the beer I'd chosen (Sierra Nevada Nooner), did a few burpees and burps and when everything stayed where it was supposed to I was fairly happy I'd manage 4.

Headed over to the Beer Mile Stadium at Kilbogget via two Dublin Buses. Arrived early so detoured to the nearest garage to use the facilities and ran straight into Murph_D. Chit-chatted until it was time to go and then headed into the park.

As soon as I arrived I discovered that I wasn't going to be the only female and started to get a little nervous. MrsMc and FBOT arrived to support so was delighted to see them! I went for a warmup lap with Murph and really started to worry that I'd eaten too much earlier. I'd gone to see a friend who had insisted on cooking lunch. Inevitably it was late which I hadn't banked on so I was still feeling a little full and was in danger of getting a stitch on the warm up. Was in full on panic mode at that stage with only two thoughts in my mind

1: Don't puke.
2: Beat the other girl.

We lined up, got a quick run down of the rules and suddenly we were off! I don't have any times because although I started the watch, I messed it up during the run so had no useable data at the end.

Beer 1: It seemed like I was chugging forever, the other girl seemed like a strong drinker so when I finally took a break and still had half a can left I was freaking! It seemed very frothy so I couldn't really tell when I was finished and I didn't want to risk disqualification so sucked at the can until I was sure it was empty and took off. Lots of good burping so was happy with that.

Lap 1: I was behind the other girl at this stage but passed her after about 200m and kept going. Continued to get the gas up during this lap and made a mental note to check whether the beer was frothing when I opened the next can. Really didn't enjoy the final 20m or so, the cinder seemed very thick and it was like running on sand.

Beer 2: Opened okay, no froth. Now I just had to manage chugging whilst trying to get my breath back. Settled into some kind of rhythm, finished the can while the other girl was half way through hers. More burping and I was off again.

Lap 2: Can't remember, just ran!

Beer 3: Tummy was starting to feel swollen and was hurting a little. It was far more difficult to burp, not much was coming up. Murph was in pain beside me but I was just happy to be keeping up. Other lady was still about half a beer behind me.

Lap 3: Again, nothing remarkable to note. Felt like a barrel on legs.

Beer 4: Thank god for that! MarthaStew and Mr. Stew had arrived. I was just focused on getting the beer down and beating the other girl. A lot of the men had finished. Again hard to get any gas up and I was bloated and sore.

Lap 4: Took off ahead of the other girl and ran as fast as my legs and pot belly would allow me. Only thought of not puking! Then after about 200m I heard incredibly fast footsteps behind me, gaining fast. I thought 'it couldn't be her could it?' but I didn't dare look. As they got closer and closer I stole a look to the side to see Timaaaay fly past on a penalty lap. When I rounded the last bend I looked over to see her on the other side of the track. Ran on in and stopped short of the finish line! But got over it then after being shouted at

Had to lie down for a little but when I was confident I wouldn't vomit I joined in as everyone willed belcarra over the line. The alcohol hit me like a sledgehammer so I was grateful to FBOT and MrsMc for dropping me home.

So there it is! Had a great time so thanks to the organisers and also the volunteers for making it happen. I'll be back next year to defend my title and hopefully knock a couple of minutes off my time!

davedanon

Bravo!

Peterx

Chivito550 wrote: »

Somebody left behind a blue beer case with an ice pack inside. Whoever owns it let me know.

On the flip side, I have lost my right shoe. This makes no sense as I didn't open by bag properly until I was in town but if anybody has seen a black Echo shoe can you please let me know. Maybe it fell out of my bag when grabbing my beer and somebody picked it up in error. Thanks.

Cheers. Will pm you to arrange pick up of the cooler box and en route I will scan all gutters for a black Echo shoe

Chivito550

Background:

Since 2012 I've become a regular beer miler. This year's event would be my 6th beer mile. I’ve always prepared well, and up until last year I performed respectively well on each occasion, but last year I got it so badly wrong.

1) - Parkville Beer Mile - Melbourne University - Sep 2012

9:20 with Hahn Super Dry, 4.6% and 330ml, under the required Kingston Rules criteria. I finished 15th out of 39 (top 39%).

2) Autumn Classic Beer Mile - Melbourne University - Apr 2013

8:19 with Hahn Super Dry, 4.6% and 330ml, under the required Kingston Rules criteria. I finished 10th out of 26 (top 39%). This remains my unofficial PB.

3) Parkville Beer Mile - Melbourne University - Sep 2013

8:27 with Coopers 62, 5.0% and 355ml, Kingston Rules approved beer. I finished 15th out of 40 (top 38%). This is my official PB.

4) Irish Beer Mile Championships - National Beer Mile Stadium - June 2014

9:07 with James Boags, 5.0% and 375ml, Kingston Rules approved beer. I finished 6th out of 13 (top 47%). I threw away about 15 seconds trying to twist off the caps that would not budge, rather than using a bottle opener. First ever run on the slower cinder surface too, so I reckoned I was in solid 8:40ish shape.

5) Irish Beer Mile Championships – National Beer Mile Stadium – June 2015

10:36 with Moosehead, 5.0% and 355ml, Kingston Rules approved beer. I finished 15th out of 23 (top 65%). I had raced earlier that day, taking in a lot of Powerade in the process. From the minute I finished that first beer, I knew I was toast, and slowed to a 24 hour pace ultra jog at one point. I had overtrained, and was incredibly disappointed.

This year I was determined to make amends.

Preparation:

The timing this year suited perfectly. With Nationals being early, the bulk of my racing took place in May and June. Things are now winding down, so I took an easy week training wise, which gave me more time to do beer mile sessions. Last year I tried to combine 400m training and beer mile training into my schedule and I bit off more than I could chew. This year I had ample recovery between beer sessions, as I took a down week from sprinting, training just 2 days during the week (Wednesday and Saturday).

Sunday evening I got lots of base mileage in, with a rough night on the sauce for Nationals after party.

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday I did a 4 x James Boags off 1 minute. The final beer was a death march. Confidence was rocked.

Wednesday I did the same session and the improvements were massive.

Thursday myself and my housemate did a beer + run session. I did 4 runs/ 3 beers, starting and finishing with a run. This went well, and I now felt ready to rock.

Friday was planned to be easy mileage on a work night out, but it surfaced out of control, did too many quick miles, and ended up on the piss with Stephen Hunt of all people (long story!) in House until about 3:30am.

Race Day:

I woke up feeling very rough. I managed to haul myself to training, where I was at my poorest form of the entire summer. My reactions were appalling, and I must have been 2 metres down on the other lads by the time I reacted to the coach shouting go for our 40m and 60m reps.

Stomach felt a bit dodgey but like a boxer frantically trying to make the weight pre-fight, I had time. I took in lots of water early in the day, a bit of food, then had my dinner eaten by 4:10pm, exactly 3 hours before the race would start. I hoped for 4 hours, but I had a few things to do in town and miscalculated my timing a small bit. After this I didn’t eat or drink any water. I wanted a fully empty stomach. I was now starting to feel very nervous, as myself and my housemate, who is not a runner at all, and who I coaxed into doing this event, in the promiss of female national championship glory.

Ask any tennis player stepping onto Centre Court at Wimbledon, any snooker player who enters the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, or a golfer who is about to tee off at St Andrews, it doesn’t matter how experienced they are, the nerves will kick in. As we rounded the corner into Kilbogget Park, and I saw the glowing cinder track in the far distance, I started to get the butterflies in the stomach. This is why we drink beer, and why we run, for moments like this.

As we got close to the track I could see a suspicious looking group of about 6 people huddled close together. This was becoming real now!

Conditions:

Dry, partially sunny, but mostly overcast, and very windy.

Beer:

I reverted back to James Boags, my beer from 2 years ago. Moosehead was awful stuff, so I was happy to drink a slightly bigger bottle (375ml), which would easilily be compensated by a much smoother taste. In addition, my beers were twisting off perfectly this year, so there would be no need to waste time with a bottle opener, though I had one with me just in case.

Race:

Timmaay brought down race numbers and pins and we got the registration into full swing. There were 16 competing in total, including 2 women. None of the top 3 from last year were competing, Cathal Dennehy being a very late withdrawal due to ill health, so the title race was blown wide open, and the bookies were starting to panic.

After the usual formalities it was time to get underway.

Beer 1: This one went down comfortably, without a need for a breathing break. This is always a quick one, and it came in at around 28 seconds. However I was behind a lot of the field at this point. Not to worry. This is a long race, and there’s no prizes for a fast opening beer.

Run 1: I didn’t go past anybody on this lap, and kept the run to a controlled jog pace. I struggled to get the burps out during the first 100m, and it took me longer than normal to feel back to normal. A few people went past me on this lap; KU and davedannon in particular. There was probably only 4-5 behind me as I entered the second beer, but I was happy with how I set up the rest of my race. I was around 2:10 when I picked up my second beer.

Beer 2: After the first beer which is one gulp, I revert to a different technique for beers 2, 3 and 4, of taking big fast gulps, quick breather and go again. Even one or two nice burps mid beer. I flew through this in around 40 seconds and off I went, feeling surprisingly better now than I did about 90 seconds earlier.

Run 2: At this point the field is starting to spread out. I’ve gone past a few people on the beer, Timmaay in particular. At this point I realise I forgot to take off my tracksuit bottoms before the race. A brief moment of frustration before I realised that when you are running this slowly it really doesn’t make any difference. I kept the jog controlled and as I came to the last 60m or so, about 3 or 4 went by me. No sweat though, I was ready for this third beer, and would overtake again. I was around 4:30 at the half way point.

Beer 3: Much like beer 2, I got through this at a steady, but unremarkable pace. I’m feeling strong, and I sunk it in about 40 seconds or so again (maybe a small bit more).

Run 3: At this point I have no idea where I am in the field, and am pretty much alone. I focused on keeping the head down and just getting through it. As any good coach would say, forget about what others are doing, just focus on your own race, your own technique and stay relaxed. The stomach was feeling much fuller now, but I was feeling strangely comfortable. I definitely dropped the pace a bit though as it was approximately 7 mins dead on the clock when I entered transition for the final time.

Beer 4: This one I really just had to go for. No long breaks. The quicker you drink, the quicker it is over. Don’t give the pain a chance to kick in or you’ll get stuck there for ages. This beer actually felt easier than the previous two. Perhaps this was psychological, knowing it was the last one. Beer was down in 40-45 seconds or so, and I was at about 7:45ish. A big last lap would be needed to get sub 9, but truth be told I wasn’t even thinking about that.

Run 4: I felt awful for the first 100m of this lap. I desperately tried to force the burps out. Davedannon cruised past me with 300m to go, and I didn’t have the spirit to try chase him down. I looked behind me to see what sort of gap I had to the next person and it was about 60m, so I thought I will just hold that position now and cruise home. Then low and behold with about 230m to go I got a second wind. Davedannon was about 10-15m in front of me, and visibly tiring. Cleanman was another 30-40m in front of him. I gradually upped the pace, closed on him and then with about 150m to go put on the after burners and went past davedannon as if he was standing still. He reacted though, and once the gap opened to about 5, it stayed at that, as he put up a good fight to reclaim that position lost. With 50m to go I am closing on Cleanman at an alarming rate. Then all of a sudden he looks around sees me, and kicks again, to comfortably stay ahead of me by 2 seconds.

I finished in 6th place with 9:01.99. My last lap was around 75 seconds or so, but the last 200m must have been close to around 32 seconds. I emptied the tank and immediately afterwards my stomach felt like lead, and I was certain I would spew, but fortunately this urge subsided after about a minute or so and then I was fine.

Reaction:

I’m absolutely delighted with this run. It was a bit down on my 8:27 PB, but that was on a proper track in spikes. This is a new Kilbogget PB, bettering my time from 2 years ago by 6 seconds, and 1:35 ahead of my disaster last year. Redemption tasted very sweet.

Aftermath:

The banter took over after and everyone was in flying form. CR7 very kindly brought down some local craft brew from Cork which served as prizes for the podium placers, which ultimately just got spread around the group. In fact effort of the day had to go to CR7 and his friend who came up from Cork especially for this event. Magnificent dedication. Huge congrats to DogSlySmile who took out the National title in a sprint finish with CR7. We all had a lot of craic with the post-race interviews, cool down beers, and the sun came out and we all chilled in the sunshine for awhile, before hitting Ryan’s on Camden St.

The beer mile is 100% the best thing that has come out of this forum. So much craic, and good natured fun, with a great crowd of people. I’ll be back for the 5th edition next year that’s for sure.

Peterx

Thanks to Chivito et al for organising.
I had never been in Kilgobbet Park before and in the evening sunlight it truly is a pleasant place.
My training could be characterised as patchy but the big lesson would be to use a drink that works. Brooklyn Lager in cans was a frothy mess whcih really put a dent in my beer splits. My run splits were consistent enough, slowish but at least not getting slower.
I never really got close enough to the lads to trouble them and felt 4th was a comfortable distance back so it really was just about not puking and keeping a steady eddie approach.
The winning final lap by DogSlySmile was awesome to watch, a full on all out assault on the leader with absolutely zero regard for the gassy pressure which must have rising higher and as the finish line beckoned. I didn't have either the bravery or the disregard for my belly to go for it so chapeau to the winner and commiserations to the provider of the prize beers in CR7.

Splits (approximately);
21
85
27
81
35
86
46
85
As you can see the beer splits were getting progressively more terrible and getting the gas out in the form of burps were taking longer on each run lap too. Moosehead next time!

Murph_D

My race report is here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=100240567&postcount=1947

Can't say I enjoyed this but glad to have one under the belt! Well done to organisers, participants, helpers and spectators.

Chivito550

Was there anybody taking photos of the race on Saturday by any chance?

MonkstownHoop

Chivito550 wrote: »

Was there anybody taking photos of the race on Saturday by any chance?

Have 2 here if they're any use

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hu92zhnvrv6mden/AAD7upHVI-J72HTZObJWL-SAa?dl=0

Peterx

I have a few more photos I could add.

simonw

Really happy with my result on Sat, can't really do a race report justice as I didn't bring a watch to time the splits (that's me in the video on his phone at the start line trying to download a lap timer app! And my phone died on the home straight... :rolleyes: ) The only times I remember were starting my 2nd beer around the 2min mark and starting the 3rd beer around 4:30, so last 2 legs were probably around 3 mins each

Last year I came in with a time of 10:42 in my debut, due to a combo of poor drinking speed and conservative running to avoid puking, so knocked off almost a minute to finish 9th with 9:45. I think there is plenty of room for improvement as well so aiming for 9ish next year.

Great craic as usual and huge thanks to everyone involved, race numbers were a great touch as well!

Chivito550

All details of the Beer Mile World Classic are here:

http://www.beermileworldclassic.com/

Entries can be submitted here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beer-mile-world-classic-2016-the-worlds-premier-drinking-race-tickets-22089488254?aff=website

Schedule of events:

http://www.beermileworldclassic.com/#!race-day/o1l95

TRR_the_turd

Well done everyone on great runs/glugs.

Sorry I couldn't make it out but something popped up during the week and I couldn't get out of it. Chivito asked me to say nothing as he was afraid no one would turn up if it was just him organising. You've met him now and I bet most of you agree he's not the worst arsehole on here

If nobody has any objections I will upload the full results and video to the official beer mile website. If you want your name omitted let me know.

Itziger

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

Well done everyone on great runs/glugs.

Sorry I couldn't make it out but something popped up during the week and I couldn't get out of it. Chivito asked me to say nothing as he was afraid no one would turn up if it was just him organising. You've met him now and I bet most of you agree he's not the worst arsehole on here

If nobody has any objections I will upload the full results and video to the official beer mile website. If you want your name omitted let me know.

Such warmth, such emotion. Lovely to see.

Slogger Jogger

I did a lunchtime run in Kilgobbet today. Twas lovely. And no trace of the beer mile event, so clean-up kudos to the runners. I got the sense that the track was relieved to be finished with another beer mile for another year

CR 7

Some great race reports there. I must put one together myself when I have a few minutes, and once I get over the flashbacks of being out-kicked by an ultra runner.:pac:

What's the story with team selection for London? I'm still up for a chance to redeem myself anyway.

Chivito550

CR 7 wrote: »

Some great race reports there. I must put one together myself when I have a few minutes, and once I get over the flashbacks of being out-kicked by an ultra runner.:pac:

What's the story with team selection for London? I'm still up for a chance to redeem myself anyway.

If we have enough people interested we can put a team together.

Can anybody who wants to do the beer mile in London let me know within the next few days?

Peterx

Low res start line photo

tang1

Article on Lewis Kent in this months Men's Running magazine.

davedanon

I have a question for Belcarra. Was away for a few days there up around the Donegal/Sligo/Westport area. Are you actually from Belcarra?

davedanon

davedanon wrote: »

I have a question for Belcarra. Was away for a few days there up around the Donegal/Sligo/Westport area. Are you actually from Belcarra?

I believe he is.

TRR_the_turd

I've uploaded results. Apologies for the delay

http://www.beermile.com/display/event_150263

let me know of any typos etc. I copied them from a sheet and I'm sure there are a few spelling mistakes etc

belcarra

davedanon wrote: »

I have a question for Belcarra. Was away for a few days there up around the Donegal/Sligo/Westport area. Are you actually from Belcarra?

Indeed Dave, I'm guessing you got lost and saw some signs for the village??

davedanon

belcarra wrote: »

Indeed Dave, I'm guessing you got lost and saw some signs for the village??

Nah, we were staying in a place near Claremorris, and I saw the sign for Belcarra along the road to Castlebar a couple of times. I wanted to stop and take a picture, but I figured the wife wouldn't take kindly to me saying "there's a bloke I know on the internet with that name!".

Murph_D

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

I've uploaded results. Apologies for the delay

http://www.beermile.com/display/event_150263

let me know of any typos etc. I copied them from a sheet and I'm sure there are a few spelling mistakes etc

No age cats this year?

TRR_the_turd

Murph_D wrote: »

No age cats this year?

were not included on the results page I was sent.