The Wild Atlantic Way showed its power and force this weekend as over a 1000 competitors headed for Quest Achill. Due to severe winds the kayaking section had to unfortunately be cancelled but it didn’t take away from the race as there was now a new unscheduled obstacle to overcome… No matter which route you chose, there was no getting away from the wind. The race itself was run over multiple terrains e.g grass, beach, loose rock, boggy mountain side and tarmac. Each route was hotly contested & the pace was frantic up the front from the off.
In the mini, Kayathlons Padraig O’Connor came over the line first in the mens and Deirdre Keogh in the ladies.
In the Sport mens, the podium was hotly contested with only 30 seconds separating the top 3. Honors there went to Matt Casey followed by last weeks Competitor Spotlight Bernard Smyth. In the ladies, Lorraine Carey smashed the rest of her field with over 8 minutes to spare. Unbelievable stuff.
In the Expert Killian Heery finished the 63km course in an unbelievable 2:28:29. Killian is a shoe in for the National Adventure Race Title this year and in his current form, he will be hard bet. In the ladies Laura Driscoll came over the line with almost 6 minutes to spare from 2nd place Eimear O’Brien. Both setting cracking great times.
The wind definitely added to the achievement of not just the times clocked by the winners but to everyone who took part.
As ever, the event itself was brilliantly organized with no stone left unturned. And as for the after party…Some competitors really showed their endurance & stamina levels here as they partied hard into the early hours in Gielty’s and beyond…but they shall remain unnamed 🙂
It was a great day I still can not believe I did it but the only one thing I was disappointed about was how they starred dismantling the finish line before all competitor’s had arrived back as a good lot of the expert route were still out on course. I was lucky I got a bottle of water and a little soup but lots who came after me had no finish line or water when they finished. I know it’s a long day for all but all competitors pay the same registration and after spending 5 hours out on course should of had something when they finished.
Also one part of the expert run after the last check point before reaching the last at the top the mist was very bad and we noticed a few in front of us heading right lower down on the ridge, my husband noticed they were going the wrong way and called them back. They would of had a very steep climb up to the top the way they were going.