Episode IV: The Beast Bites Back

I knew by the silence what was going through the heads of the rest of the team. It was a big decision. Not one taken lightly by me and with full consideration of what it would mean to Kate, Mike and Warren.


I was the compromise. I was the one stopping the team.
You can read these in any order but the story so far runs like this:
Episode IV: The Beast Bites Back
Episode II: The Protracted Beast
Episode III: The Beastly River

Mike was in pain too. Warren was on his 5th wind and flying, he'd found his groove again and was in the zone. Kate, well Kate, she just does. There is no stopping her.

My feet were in bits. I know now what to do, I didn't then and this was one of the rookie mistakes that persisted in this TriHarder performace.

I made the call. I'm not a quitter though. We'd gone through a rough night, it hadn't ruffled our feathers at all, we were shaking this challenge off, it wasn't easy, no way was it easy. But we were handling it well. You wouldn't think we were rookies (apart from the mistakes) who had only trained together once as a team, we definitley have promise and potential as a team.

Stepping out of the kayaks at M43 in Cahir we still had a long way to go.

We'd a hike (minimum 25km) to and over the Galtee Mountains to collect a number of mandatory CP's before meeting up with our bikes again (M53) and routing back to Castetownroche via another couple of CP's (minimum 45km) including a land based special tasks at M54 & 59.

Due to time pressures we decided to take the nearest M-point and then reroute across the foot of the Galtees to collect the bikes. It would mean penalties for missing the M-points but we wanted to finish in the time given. At this stage our plans and thinking had gone out the window. Our race plan was to complete the mandatory course inside the racetime, incurring no penalties.

With the 'wobblies' thrown at us last night / yesterday we were well off track and shooting from the hip with decisions. We were also missing the detail on the control sheets when looking at routes.

Our lead nav Warren spotted a great shortcut on a grey road which got us a jump on a team just ahead of us. Unfortunately my feet already sore, I suspected a stress issue on the left foot, but with blisters developing rapidly across the base of all my toes due to the coarse road surface, soaked feet (they'd been in and out of the water) had all puffed up and gotten that 'too long in the bath' effect.

We ended up with a long hike which lead meandering across towards the general direction of M53 but I was steadily going backwards.

I was the one who threw it out there. I knew that I was not going to be able to pick up the pace. Warren was chomping to run, Mike was grinning and bearing it, Kate was just Kate.

When we got to Burncourt and realised it had taken 2 hours to trek 5km I asked Mike to call in for a pickup if possible. My thought process was that event though we are a team, the motivation to complete the course was overruling common sense. At this rate we would still be on the back roads of Cork at 10pm tonight, with all of us suffering like dogs. Yes, it's an adventure race, a journey, but not one to take unnecessary risks at.

Call was placed, van was on route and we all sat down to take 5. It was like the air being let out of a balloon.

The van brought us up to M53 where the guys decided to go on with the bikes. I was shifted into a car with Molly who garciously endured my gushing appreciation for the lift which probably sounded like a drunken monologue. It was either I talked or, fell asleep dribbling on her windows.

We passed many teams on the road back to Castletownroche and my first thought were to do with the roads they were on. As it transpired when short coursed, you take the fastest route, not the planned route which we were set on doing. I was desperately hoping the others would realise this!!!

Back at base, I showered, changed, examined my feet, which were in a mess alright, collected the gear, broke down the bike box, sorted the food box (way, way too much food with us!!) and waited for the crew to arrive.

I felt humbled to be in the company of so many people who were accomplished racers and who had all so graciously welcomed the new kids on the block. They were free with advice, gave help and guidance where possible and there were tips a plenty being offered. I chatted with Eoin Keith in the finish area. I thanked him for sharing his self-experimentation with food, it inspired me to try something different, and it works for me. I thanked Ivan for such a wonderful event & promised to be back.

I felt bad though. I was not a finisher. I DNF'd and as a result was responsible for the DNF or short coursing of our team. I hung around the van waiting and praying the guys were not stuck out there. Hoping that they had got the message about the quickest route home.

Every time the trumpet sounded, I hobbled out to have a look at another team coming home. Eventually the trumpet sounded for Team #TriHarder and I was told to get in for the team photo.

Now a week on and the feet are still sore. We've all been chatting and sharing our thoughts and experience over email, the lessons we learned, the mistakes that lead to those lessons, the plans for the future of Team #TriHarder.

The funny thing about this Beast of Ballyhoura event is that it's not over for me, not by a long shot.

If you bear with me I'm going to take you back to the startline and show you why.

Next Episode II -  The Protracted Beast