European Adventure Race Finals
Village Life at the University of Limerick
Rob Howard / 29.07.2015
The Beast of Ballyhoura race swung into action this morning at Kilmurry Village on the outskirts of the vast University of Limerick Campus.
All the of the teams arrived yesterday and today is a day for preparation and administration, and maybe a bit of relaxation ahead of tomorrow’s start – if the teams are organised enough.
The ‘village’ is one of the University halls of residence, built with its own courtyards and facilities, including a village hall, complete with clock tower, which is where the race office is based and registration began from 09.00 this morning. With so many teams to process each has their own time slot for registration and then for the ropes skills test just outside the hall.
At registration teams collected their white race bibs and Sportident cards, signed the disclaimer on the dotted line, filled in a medical questionnaire and had their photo taken by race photographer Valerie O’Sullivan. The ropes test was out in the car park and was a simple check to ensure everyone had the prescribed equipment and knew what to do with it.
Fortunately the torrential showers of yesterday have passed over, so no one is getting soaked as they move around the village or make their way down to the PESS hall on the main campus, which is where the gear and bike store is set up. The letters stand for Physical Education and Sports Sciences, and from the village the racers walk past all weather sports pitches and courts which are part of the impressive set up here.
The University plays a national role in Irish sports provision and development, and has a huge range of facilities, so its an ideal place to base the race. Quite a few of the Irish racers have studied here and are returning to memories of their university days, and the race will conclude here as well. With each team having their own ‘house’ complete with communal areas, and everything needed within walking distance it’s a perfect location to set the race up, and makes life easier and more relaxed for all involved.
The sports hall in the PESS building has ample room for each team’s compound where they can store their gear and set up their bike boxes. These purpose made Correx boxes are supplied flat packed by the race and most teams built them up last night after they arrived, but as of mid-morning there were still 4 teams who hadn’t done so or checked in at the hall ... they are the ones who won’t get much relaxation later today!
This afternoon the race briefing will take place in the Jean Monnet Theatre on the main campus and this is when teams will get the full maps and route books. They already have the course outline with disciplines and distances of each of the 17 stages so they can pack their gear bags and boxes, but that packing won’t be finalised until after they’ve studied the maps in detail tonight. (You can see the full race outline on our Facebook page.)
Tonight there is a welcome dinner at the Sports Pavillion and then the final deadlines for dropping of bike boxes and a final Q&A session with the team captains at 20.30. The coaches for the start leave at 05.30 so teams will have an early start, and the race itself will start at 08.00 tomorrow morning.
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