Art O’ Neill Challenge 2018

D33

Hi Folks,

I know there are a lot of historic AON threads knocking around these parts, but none appear to be specifically for the upcoming 2018 event, which is spine-tickingly close at this point.
I’m braving the Ultra but was hoping to do a recce of CP 1 & 2 particularly, over the Christmas period and was wondering if anyone is doing likewise and interested in arranging a bit of a crew to head out?

My navigational skills need ehh work, but I’ve no issues wt pace and a pre-race recce or two would do the nerves no harm at all!!

grahamor

Checkout a post on the IMRA forum - https://www.imra.ie/forum/topic/id/4699

The Noble Nudge

Best of luck to everyone involved hope it goes well for you all.
Dont forget the wet gear

Mad Benny

It looks like it's going to be a wet one. Best of luck all!

opus

Wet for sure, I got a taste of what's heading in that direction on a bit of a run at lunch time. Sure the rain will only make the taste of that pint in the Glenmalure Lodge even sweeter

Best of luck to everyone!

Working class heroes

Any news?

ArtieFufkin

They're not very good with updates are they? I couldn't find out any info on how the race played out.

summit2summit

I think the guy who won it was the same guy as last year. 5:29 wining time which was astonishing considering the horrendous weather.

summit2summit

Also, the lads have all been up for 36 hours plus so I’d say there all fast asleep now ��

myk

ArtieFufkin wrote: »

They're not very good with updates are they? I couldn't find out any info on how the race played out.

The DWMRT team were really busy running the race and making sure everyone was safe in very difficult conditions. I'm happy for them to have a few days rest before looking for them to provide online updates.

I did the challenge for the first time. Finished in just under 11 hours. It was really tough, but I thought it was brilliantly organised!

mo_bhicycle

Question for anyone who’s done multiple AONs: How does this year compare to previous years in terms of difficulty?

mloc123

mo_bhicycle wrote: »

Question for anyone who’s done multiple AONs: How does this year compare to previous years in terms of difficulty?

Look at the top 10 times over the last 5 years to compare. IIRC one year was quite slow due to the deep snow from cp2 to the finish.

Djoucer

Arguably the toughest conditions in last 6/7 years. Unrelenting rain and strong winds for mtn sections with zero visibility. Was nuts. Even the last easy table track section to finish was difficult as you couldn't see in front of you.

Slogger Jogger

Djoucer wrote: »

Arguably the toughest conditions in last 6/7 years. Unrelenting rain and strong winds for mtn sections with zero visibility. Was nuts. Even the last easy table track section to finish was difficult as you couldn't see in front of you.

Yet, incredibly, the winner wasn't too far off the course record! That is some achievement given the conditions. The winners from last year won again I believe.

Mad Benny

mo_bhicycle wrote: »

Question for anyone who’s done multiple AONs: How does this year compare to previous years in terms of difficulty?

I've done a few and it was the hardest one yet. River crossings were difficult due to higher water levels. From arts cross to table track was very muddy.

LastFridayNight

Super event, very well organized and supported by DWMRT. Visibility was down to a few meters for much of the two mountain sections- lost count of the times I nearly fell into massive bog holes that suddenly appeared in front of me. On the final decsent to table track, I knew I wanted to be on the west side of the avonbeg river, but for some bizarre reason I ended up crossing the river three times in the space of five minutes to get to the other side! Not sure what I was thinking - I guess my brain was shutting down in the cold. The mandatory kit list included a fleece top, and I was very glad I brought it, despite thinking it was only on the list for the walkers benefit. Never so glad to change out of the wet cold clothes into dry ones at the end. Congrats to all, especially the walkers who were out for so many hours: I doubt they could even have had a chat along the way due to wind and rain.

myk

LastFridayNight wrote: »

lost count of the times I nearly fell into massive bog holes that suddenly appeared in front of me.

I lost count of the amount of times I did fall into bog holes in the last section. One time I fell in up to my waist!

I'm looking forward to seeing the final results to see how many people completed and how many were unable to complete.

Mad Benny

Are the results out yet?

myk

Mad Benny wrote: »

Are the results out yet?

Not that I can see. They have posted lots of photos on their Facebook page today though

Mad Benny

myk wrote: »

Not that I can see. They have posted lots of photos on their Facebook page today though

Thanks. I heard that 50 didn't finish. Any idea if that is true?

myk

Mad Benny wrote: »

Thanks. I heard that 50 didn't finish. Any idea if that is true?

I've heard higher. But don't know if that is true. Heard a figure of 60 dropped out at checkpoint 2 alone. Waiting for official results to see for sure.

Djoucer

http://www.artoneillchallenge.ie/downloads/AON2018Results.pdf

Looks like 55 DNFs, over 25% of the field.

summit2summit

Folks, the team are looking for feedback on the event. As always, good, bad or indifferent feedback is all welcome! Thanks S2S

Mad Benny

Hi summit2summit,

The event organization was excellent. I can't fault it in any way. The DWMRT is a truly amazing group of people. I have even more respect for them than I had before. They are committed, friendly, professional and hard as nails.

The river crossings were very dangerous in my opinion due to high water levels and the speed the water was moving. The risk of an accident was higher compared to previous years. I've heard that many participants were too afraid to cross. I also heard that some of the guided group leaders advised people not to cross. The relatively high number of DNFs may be an indication of that.

I expected it to be cancelled when I reached both CP1 and CP2.

I was also expecting the winner to be much slower this year. I was surprised to hear that he finished in 5 hours 20 minutes. I believe that was faster than last year. What a legend! Perhaps I lost my nerve and I just need to man up!

Djoucer

Definitely man up.

The thought of race being cancelled never entered my mind.

Weather was crap but it's the Art O'Neill. It's recreating an event where the original race leader died.

I'm surprised that anyone would think the race would be cancelled.

It's a race that takes place in middle of winter, at night, across open mountain.

You want the race to be tough, and arduous with a high chance of DNFs. River crossing are always risky, especially at night.

Weather had a lot of people cold and moving slow which would've contributed to high DNF as did the poor visibility.

Well done for finishing.

I thought it was great event this year. Couldn't fault it.

trailrunner

Can I add my bit , may not be popular but......
The high numbers of DNFs are probably due to the lottery system of entry. This is an extreme race , distance, weather, navigation, terrain, and on top of that it’s dark with no moonlight ..!!! I have every respect for The mountain rescue but the system of entering such a demanding race really needs to be looked at again .
The amount of people I know that have went to run this race that are
1= unaware of the terrain
2= unable to navigate
3= unable for the overall distance really is worrying.
Really needs to be a proof of ability to enter this race .

I for one am not surprised that with the conditions this year the DNF rate was 25% , I worried that it would be higher !
The winnner (hats off to him ) proved that conditions weren’t an issue so the rest may just settle with the fact that they were unprepared and under trained . Simple as .
It’s a pity as it could be the most prestigious ultra race of the year .

Djoucer

Agree partly with you but it's wrong to say conditions weren't an issue.

Added at least 20 minutes to fast times compared to last year. Course record would've gone otherwise.

It hasn't rained that hard during race in years and ground conditions were v soft.

I do think the conditions exposed people to just how brutal the race can be.

The weather has a huge impact on finishing times. Frozen ground, clear night, full moon make it a very different race from conditions this year.

Enduro

Well fair fecks to the winnner/ That's a fantistic time in the conditions.

summit2summit

Great feedback so far, thank you!

mo_bhicycle

Fantastic event, brilliantly organized!
My only contribution in terms of improvements is very very minor: A CSV or Excel version of the results would be great so that we can nerd over the splits in a bit more detail

The Noble Nudge

Any ideas when AON opens for 2019?