Rogaine 2010 - Competitor report
Having competed previously in two 6 hour Rogaines, I thought I would try my hand at the 24 hour Rogaine for the first time this year.First things first, logistics. After consulting two people who were 12 inches taller than me for advice, I ended up packing way too much food. I made a similar mistake the first year I did the Mournes, but better safe than sorry. The next thing was to decide between staying out all night or returning to the campsite for sleep. Competitive teams stay out all night, but given that I was a first timer, I willingly opted for the back to event centre option. My teammate was happy with this as well.
The clock started and we received our control descriptions. After 30 mins spent marking down the control points, we decided on a "stretch goal" to head southwards and pick up the 500 point control at Carriglineen Mountain before heading back to the event centre. This would give us plenty of escape routes if we found ourselves running short of time before dark.
After picking up a 200 point control on the way to the resevoir, we headed in the direction of the first stream between Tommaneena and Convalla picking up a 300 point control. We then picked up another 300 pointer downhill of Convalla before heading in the direction of Table mountain. We made rapid progress over this section, thanks to the dry summer we'd be having. Using the long stretch of peat cutting on the way to Table mountain as a handrail, we quickly found the control we were looking for. Across the way, we could see a team wandering around lost. A nice little confidence booster for us.
From Table mountain, we headed over Camenabologue, down in the direction of the SE top and picked up a control by the forest. From here, we climbed straight up to Benleagh, and contoured round to pick up another high point control in the crags under Lug.
After reaching the control point on the crag, I was feeling more ambitious. We were making excellent progress at this point and I decided it was time to take out the map to see if we could fit in extra controls. Looking at the map, we needed to gain 225m of climb to get onto the ridge that would bring us to our next planned control. However, by dropping to the road, we could pick up a 400 pointer and be left with 300m to climb back up to our control. A 75m net climb difference and worth it for an extra 400 points. It would also give us a chance to sample the Fraughen rock glen IMRA race route that I had missed two years running. So decision made, down to the road we would go.
This didn't prove to be such a bright idea when we got down there though. The control description for the control said we were looking for a boulder and this was important as grid references on a 1:30000 map only get you within an approximate distance of your control. After quite a while spent looking for the control, we started growing quite wary of its proximity to the gangs of rough campers who had setup base near the control site as well as the youth hostel nearby. (The area was left in a right filthy state by the way). We figured that if any control was to go missing out on the course, it would be this one. So we decided that we could continue to search indefinitely for the control that might not be there, or we could cut our losses and move on. Move on we did. We decided to search by the nearest marked boulder on the map that was down the road a bit from the grid reference we were given but no joy there either. The climb back up to our planned control proved to be much tougher than anticipated due to the roughness of the terrain and cost us a lot of time compared to our planned route down from Lugnacoille.
About 6 hours in I was feeling really crap and wondering why I ever signed up for 24 hours. However, after stopping for a break and a sandwich, I gained my second wind. About 30 mins later, I was bouncing off, feeling ready to go all night if I had to. We contoured round to the zig zags off Clohernagh, through some lovely deer tracks through the ferns, rejoining the road through the access route that had been agreed with the local landowners there. After a long dull walk along the road, we decided to stop off for a pint in Drumgoff. Here we met two other Rogainers who were grabbing a feed before their plan to stay out all night. We discussed the control near the youth hostel/gurrier campsite with them and to our dismay, they informed us that they found the control on a crag after double checking the control descriptions with the event organisers before leaving the event centre.
Kicking ourselves, we finished our pints and started to make our way up the road to Carriglineen. At this point, we witnessed a strange sight. Three people who looked like Rogainers were running down the hill towards us, the lead runner dressed in business casual style shirt, slacks and shoes. Thinking it might be a hallucination brought on by lactic acid fused with alcohol, I conferred with my teammate who confirmed what I saw. I considered that a team of Rogainers might themselves have gone insane from alcohol and lactic acid and decided to hunt the first person they came across in Hounds of Zaroff style, but the prescence of a rucksack on his back seeemed to suggest otherwise.
We got up the turn into the forest, cut up through a ride and found the control. There was a nice path leading down along the fence to take us back to the road. At this point, we were two hours ahead of schedule so we decided to pick up a few extra controls on the way back to base camp. We picked up a control out past Shay Elliot monument and one just inside the forest near Cullentragh. We considered getting a control on the other side of Mullacor, but it was getting dusky at this point so we decided not to chance it. At this point, we were on the Wicklow way so had an easy time getting back in the dark. We were able to pick up a control near the Glendalough Education centre on a stream that was easy enough to follow in the dark. We then headed up the track behind the Education centre to join St. Kevin's way home. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?", my teammate asked at this point and I reckoned, yeah I was.
On the way home, we were met with some amusement by some kids staying in one of the holiday homes along the way. About 12:30am or so, I was glad we had decided to return for sleep as my previous exuberance faded away with the daylight. My teammate at this point had taken to asking "are we there yet?" at regular intervals and there were many remote places out in the event area to bury a body. We tried getting a 100 point control near the event centre on our way back, but weren't able to find it in the dark. We arrived in fighting sleep at about 1am where Denis Deasy, Dave Weston and Finbar McGurren were manning the event centre. We had some soup and went off to try and get some sleep.
About 4am, the alarms went off. We spent the twenty minutes shouting across to each other's tents: "You're okay with going out and getting more controls? I mean I don't mind, but if you don't want to." before deciding to get up and start again. Luckily the rain shower had passed at this point so we didn't have to put on our clothes in the rain though I wished I had brought a spare dry pair of shoes. We stood around having breakfast and chatting to Dave and Denis for a while, eventually getting the blood moving in us again and hitting the road at about 5am.
Next few hours weren't the most productive unfortunately. We decided to head west, following the power lines through rough terrain. My teammate suggested jogging a bit but my knees weren't up to the task of running down the concrete road towards the power lines. I quite enjoyed it once we got to the softer rougher terrain and found plenty of little deer tracks through which I could make relatively rapid progress. My teammate was not impressed with my route choice however, tripping and falling the whole way through. I made a navigation mistake which cost us a bit of time, picking the wrong bend in the river to look for a control. Fatigue was creeping in at this point. We made it following the power lines to a track, which brought us to our next control. From here, it was a short hundred metres through terrain to St. Kevin's way which would bring us to the Wicklow gap road. At this point, even a hundred metres was too much for my teammate who cursed me the whole way through as he stumbled over rough ground. Even after getting onto the paved track of St. Kevin's way, the first question was "When do we hit tarmac?". I decided not to risk being the one to find himself buried in an unmarked grave in the hills, so stuck with keeping to the road on the way back. My knees didn't thank me as much as he did for it.
We started walking along the road back to the event centre. We were still doing a good pace along the road and we decided to get two controls near Tonelagee. We considered getting another 200 pointer by following Madman's road around, but my teammate had other ideas when it turned out not to be an actual road. We picked up another 100 pointer a small distance down the road before returning to the event centre. We arrived in at about 10:30 and were informed that we still had time to pick up the 100 pointer that we missed during the night. "Feck that", was my reply, after weighing up the unlikelihood of gaining another place with 100 points versus the prospect of walking for nearly another hour when we weren't in the mood. My feet were quite blistered at this point as well and I was glad to be off them. So we called it a day with 90 mins to go. Other teams were more enthusiastic than us, proclaiming "we're not finished" as they ran past the finish point in search of that control.
All in all, a great first 12 hours with over 50km of terrain covered and the southern part of the map cleared of 400 and 500 pointers (with the exception of the youth hostel control). Had we kept the pace, we would have done very well placing wise I reckon. A poor second day, brought on by fatigue, staying too long at the event centre and probably being over conservative with not straying too far from the event centre for fear of losing points from the first day meant losing quite a few places on people but c'est la vie. If they did 12 hour Rogaines, it would be perfect, though it seemed we barely had enough numbers for the 6 and the 24.
Big thanks to the organising crew who were on hand at the finish with plenty of burgers to help us refuel. A massive undertaking as well to set up an event area half the size of Co. Wicklow for the event.
We got up the turn into the forest, cut up through a ride and found the control. There was a nice path leading down along the fence to take us back to the road. At this point, we were two hours ahead of schedule so we decided to pick up a few extra controls on the way back to base camp. We picked up a control out past Shay Elliot monument and one just inside the forest near Cullentragh. We considered getting a control on the other side of Mullacor, but it was getting dusky at this point so we decided not to chance it. At this point, we were on the Wicklow way so had an easy time getting back in the dark. We were able to pick up a control near the Glendalough Education centre on a stream that was easy enough to follow in the dark. We then headed up the track behind the Education centre to join St. Kevin's way home. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?", my teammate asked at this point and I reckoned, yeah I was.
On the way home, we were met with some amusement by some kids staying in one of the holiday homes along the way. About 12:30am or so, I was glad we had decided to return for sleep as my previous exuberance faded away with the daylight. My teammate at this point had taken to asking "are we there yet?" at regular intervals and there were many remote places out in the event area to bury a body. We tried getting a 100 point control near the event centre on our way back, but weren't able to find it in the dark. We arrived in fighting sleep at about 1am where Denis Deasy, Dave Weston and Finbar McGurren were manning the event centre. We had some soup and went off to try and get some sleep.
About 4am, the alarms went off. We spent the twenty minutes shouting across to each other's tents: "You're okay with going out and getting more controls? I mean I don't mind, but if you don't want to." before deciding to get up and start again. Luckily the rain shower had passed at this point so we didn't have to put on our clothes in the rain though I wished I had brought a spare dry pair of shoes. We stood around having breakfast and chatting to Dave and Denis for a while, eventually getting the blood moving in us again and hitting the road at about 5am.
Next few hours weren't the most productive unfortunately. We decided to head west, following the power lines through rough terrain. My teammate suggested jogging a bit but my knees weren't up to the task of running down the concrete road towards the power lines. I quite enjoyed it once we got to the softer rougher terrain and found plenty of little deer tracks through which I could make relatively rapid progress. My teammate was not impressed with my route choice however, tripping and falling the whole way through. I made a navigation mistake which cost us a bit of time, picking the wrong bend in the river to look for a control. Fatigue was creeping in at this point. We made it following the power lines to a track, which brought us to our next control. From here, it was a short hundred metres through terrain to St. Kevin's way which would bring us to the Wicklow gap road. At this point, even a hundred metres was too much for my teammate who cursed me the whole way through as he stumbled over rough ground. Even after getting onto the paved track of St. Kevin's way, the first question was "When do we hit tarmac?". I decided not to risk being the one to find himself buried in an unmarked grave in the hills, so stuck with keeping to the road on the way back. My knees didn't thank me as much as he did for it.
We started walking along the road back to the event centre. We were still doing a good pace along the road and we decided to get two controls near Tonelagee. We considered getting another 200 pointer by following Madman's road around, but my teammate had other ideas when it turned out not to be an actual road. We picked up another 100 pointer a small distance down the road before returning to the event centre. We arrived in at about 10:30 and were informed that we still had time to pick up the 100 pointer that we missed during the night. "Feck that", was my reply, after weighing up the unlikelihood of gaining another place with 100 points versus the prospect of walking for nearly another hour when we weren't in the mood. My feet were quite blistered at this point as well and I was glad to be off them. So we called it a day with 90 mins to go. Other teams were more enthusiastic than us, proclaiming "we're not finished" as they ran past the finish point in search of that control.
All in all, a great first 12 hours with over 50km of terrain covered and the southern part of the map cleared of 400 and 500 pointers (with the exception of the youth hostel control). Had we kept the pace, we would have done very well placing wise I reckon. A poor second day, brought on by fatigue, staying too long at the event centre and probably being over conservative with not straying too far from the event centre for fear of losing points from the first day meant losing quite a few places on people but c'est la vie. If they did 12 hour Rogaines, it would be perfect, though it seemed we barely had enough numbers for the 6 and the 24.
Big thanks to the organising crew who were on hand at the finish with plenty of burgers to help us refuel. A massive undertaking as well to set up an event area half the size of Co. Wicklow for the event.
