MUD, SWEAT & TEARS
Moire O’Sullivan tells her story of attempting to run the 110K of the Wicklow Round and reveals her passion for mountain running
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In 2006, a group of runners designed a long distance
challenge around Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains. They created a gruelling endurance run spanning 110 kilometres over 26 of Ireland’s remotest mountain peaks. They then threw down the gauntlet to athletes far and wide to visit all these peaks within twenty four hours. By 2008, nobody had yet completed the challenge. I only discovered the discipline of mountain running the same year the Wicklow Round was conceived. My first sortie into the sport was horrendous. All I remember was trying to run uphill and nearly collapsing from the pain.
BACK FOR MORE Ireland’s infamous rutted bog and tangled heather kept trying to trip me up. Wind blew me off my feet and I nearly got lost in the mist. I hated it and vowed never to return. Less than a day later, I thought it was the best thing I’d ever done, so went back for more and more. Over the two years, I competed in all the mountain races I could possibly find: everything from 10K sprints up summits, to 100K runs requiring map and compass skills. But it was not until I set my sights on the still unconquered Wicklow Round that I finally found my nemesis. It took me a year to prepare for my 2008 attempt. I had to get fitter and faster. I had to improve my navigation skills and I had to figure out what to eat, drink and wear during this massive ultra-run. Every weekend I drove to the
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Wicklow Mountains to run around the route. And in doing so, I found myself falling deeply in love with Ireland’s mountains. Sure, they could unleash freezing fog and fierce winds and they would dare me down sheer cliffs and taunt me up steep climbs. But in their quieter, gentler moments, they would show me spectacular sights that only mountains can bestow.
FIRST ATTEMPT In July 2008, I attempted to complete the Wicklow Round, unfortunately after 22 hours I collapsed, two summits short of the finish. By the end, I could barely walk. Blisters oozed blood between my toes. Ripped skin hung from my feet. My lungs were battered and bruised from too many laboured breaths. My shins were criss-crossed with lines of dried blood after running through miles of skin-piercing heather. After failing, I thought I would call it a day.
IGNORANCE IS BLISS Once my wounds had healed, my head walked through each and every mistake I made on my maiden Round attempt. And in doing so, I found solutions to each and every one. I started to conclude that, if I had only done the Round differently the first time through, I would have easily completed it. In May 2009, I went back out and
tried it again. Ignorance was bliss the first time round. Stepping up to the plate one year on, I knew exactly the pain and fear I was going to relive. But
after 22 hours and 58 minutes of running, I reached the finish, having visited all of the 26 summits within the requisite time.
I had become the first person to complete the Wicklow Round. So often us girls think that things like
ultra-running in the mountains simply can’t be done on our own. But I tried to prove this belief totally wrong. In doing so, I hope that many more women get to experience the highs and learn from the lows that only the Wicklow Round can provide. And I hope that more women learn to believe in themselves, because when we dig deep, it’s amazing what lies inside. Moire O’Sullivan’s “Mud, Sweat, and
Tears” tells one woman’s story about her passion for mountain running, a passion that has brought her to the heights of some of Ireland’s most impressive mountains and to the depths of her own human limitations. Paperbacks can be bought from Basecamp, Great Outdoors, Amazon and from
www.moireosullivan.com.
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