Sunday 10 July 2011

IAU World Trail Championships - Connemara, Ireland - Quick Update

Hi

Just a very quick update on yesterday's IAU World Trail Championships that took place in Connemara, Ireland.  The race website http://www.runconnemara.com/ is currently down, (now back up and working fine), however the race results can be found on the following link:  Race Results


The race was absolutely awesome, a real experience running in a Great Britain vest, as displayed in the photo above, taken by the Irish Team Manager Tony Brennan, shortly after the start of the first climb up Diamond Hill, where, when this photo was taken, I was in sixth place! 

Yes, I adopted my usual strategy, "Run as fast as you can , while you can" and was actually leading the race for a wee while, and reached the start of the first tough climb after 5 km in 3rd place.  As you can probably imagine, quite an exciting experience!  I then settled down into a more realistic pace, and just enjoyed the very demanding boggy and mountainous course.  I ended up finishing in 15th place overall, out of a total field of 131 starters.  I was the first Great Britain team member to finish in a time of 7:10:42.  Other male team finishers were Julian Rendall 7:16:50 (16th), Allen Smalls 7:39:47 (29th), and Craig Stewart 7:47:00 (35th).  Unfortunately Andrew James (Highland Fling winner) had to pull out due to a hamstring injury, aggravated as a result of an extremely boggy and slippery course.

The British Womens team was led home by a fantastic 3rd Place by Lucy Colquhoun in a time of 7:57:20, followed by Adele Salt 9:36:40 (18th), and Heather Foundling-Hawker 10:38:24 (24th),  Also, unfortunately Karen Rushton had to pull out.

Overall an amazing experience.  Race report to follow later this week.

Stuart
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11 comments:

  1. Andy Cole10 July 2011 at 21:50

    Well done Stuart on coming home first for GB - certainly justified your selection!!

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  2. Ken Maclaren10 July 2011 at 22:48

    Well done Stu - Ali had a great weekend too to go 9:52 for 13th overall and top of her age group in challenge roth. me i swam 50x100m to celebrate my 50th

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  3. Tony B11 July 2011 at 01:49

    Hi Stuart - you feature in some of the photos I took in Connemara - full set here http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonybren/sets/72157627039473371/ My favourite has to be this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonybren/5923749055/in/set-72157627039473371 - Is that a disco dance move??? Well done on a great performance.
    Tony,

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  4. John Kynaston11 July 2011 at 07:58

    Congratulations Stuart.

    I'm looking forward to your race report!

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  5. Thomas11 July 2011 at 11:46

    Well done Stuart. A very impressive result! Your race preparation (mentally but also physically) must have been spot on.

    You provide a lot of details regarding the mental aspect of race preparation in your blog but I would die for getting some more 'physical' insight in your training: In particular training distance, peaking, sharpening and tapering etc.

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  6. UltraStu12 July 2011 at 13:40

    Hi Andy, Ken, Tony, John, Thomas

    Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. Race report still on its way, but I have added one of Tony Brennan's awesome photos from the race to this post as a stop gap until the report is written.

    Thanks Tony for the great photos. Perhaps I should have cut out the disco dance moves and maybe I could have finished higher up!

    With regards to the physical training Thomas, the secret is in the integration of the two! (i.e. the physical with the mental). A good topic for a blog post, most likely August.

    Stuart

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  7. Jeff12 July 2011 at 16:04

    As I returned to Letterfrack to collect my car Sunday afternoon at the leisurely time of around 12:30pm I couldn't help but spare a thought for all you guys getting on the bus at the crazy hour you were!

    Hope the trip home was less intense than the race.

    Jeff

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  8. Jerry Smallwood12 July 2011 at 23:42

    Brilliant Stuart, I was watching the results as they came in at the weekend and was so pleased to see you do so well. Have a good recovery.

    Jerry

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  9. Nick12 July 2011 at 23:43

    Well done Stu; what a great result. I love your pride at running in a GB vest. You'll do for me.

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  10. Anonymous14 July 2011 at 12:07

    Wow Stuart, what a fantastic result. Sorry to hear about Andrew's injury. PS you look great in the vest hope you can wear it some more!
    Dave Jelley

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  11. Anonymous4 October 2011 at 20:11

    What a great run you must be mad, but then we always thought you were.
    Came across the race by chance on Eurosport and then saw you being interviewed.
    I will put a copy of your report in the Overton Harriers newsletter so that the oldies who remember you can see what you are up to now.
    Well done and best of luck for the future.
    Steve McNair

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