CONNEMARA ULTRAMARATHON IN IRELAND: 1 april 2012

                                                           www.connemarathon.com

This is my first race of 2012. Once a year I plan a race together with a friend and Marathon runner Marc De Keyser. This year our choice fell on Connemara. As I am among the lucky few 2400 trailrunners selected for the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, I can use some extra miles. Marc just ended second on the 100K in Antarctica and felt like running some more. So we decided to do the ultramarathon of 63,7 Km. We took the plane for Dublin 2 days earlier, witch left us some time to visit the countryside and taste the local atmosphere. Galway seemed to be the ideal spot for excursions south into The Burren en a dazling walk upon the Cliffs of Moher. As we ran a race through Connemara National Park and didn't really took the time to stop and take some pictures, we returned there by car on monday and discovered Cliffden with the spectaculaire skyroad up north. In evenings we went for Pub-food, Guinness, another Guinness, more Guinness,..., and had a great time with a Belgian cook and his Irish girlfriend who worked with Marc in Antarctica last winter. I've always considered it a cliché when they say that Irish people love to go out and are great company. This cliché,..., is true !

The Cliffs of Moher

The Burren

Pulnabroune Dolmen

Connemara Ultra Marathon

I Hit the Ultra wall in Connemara

My first race of the year was a good one. Over 220 ultrarunners at the start, I finished 14th in 5hrs9min16sec. The winner was Giorgio Calcaterra (World Champion on the 100K) in an amazing 3hrs56min56sec, being the first here to have broken the 4 hours barrier in Connemara on that distance. Marc ended up 26th in 5hrs29min. The whole event with marathon and semi-marathon counted 3000 runners. Never before I 've had so many people encouraging me, as after 21K, I started to pick up marathon runners and after 42K the half a marathon runners. Very fine experience and a very good reason to celebrate in the evening and return home on tuesday exhausted, but very satisfied.

                                                Connemara lake Inagh

Connemara: Kylemore Abbey

Along the Skyroad above Clifden