Google+ Running in Cork, Ireland

Monday, August 24, 2009

A quick look at the Connemara 100.......
Someone mentioned this race to me last week and a few days later, I received a mail with some interesting links. So what exactly is the Connemara 100???

Most of you will know that a Marathon is 26.2 miles, usually the longest distance race for most people. While there are several of these in Ireland (Dublin, Cork, Belfast, etc), there is an Ultra-Marathon race every Spring in Connemara which is one and a half Marathons long........i.e. 39.2 miles. Up to recently, that was the longest race there was in Ireland until the 15th of August of this year when the Connemara 100 was held.........that's 100 miles, not 100 kms!

It's almost impossible to get your head around that kind of distance..........100 miles........almost 4 Marathons and the time limit is 30 hours! I can imagine it must be tough trying to run 2 Marathons but almost 4?!?!

The event was won by Mick Rice of Athenry AC who averaged around 9 min per mile..........i.e. he probably ran most if not all of it...........i.e. no walking. An incredible feat...

In second place was Joanne Fearon who is living in Cork. In fact, 3 of the first 5 finishers were women which seems a bit unusual. Joanne has an interesting detailed account of her race up on this website.

The full results of the Connemara 100 can be seen HERE.

There is a small photo gallery HERE.

100 miles in less than 30 hours...........do you think you could do it???

Comments......??

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to say that is an amazing feat. I don’t know if could do it, or want to, but I just finished reading Dean Karnazes memoir about Ultra marathons, and since then I have been contemplating running longer distances. Amazing stuff and well done to all the 100 milers!

Paudie said...

100 miles. John the ultra must be considered the long run in preparation for it.