European Adventure Race Finals
The Beast of Ballyhoura 2015 is Over
Rob Howard / 02.08.2015
The 2015 Beast of Ballyhoura finished this morning in the main square of the town of Kilfinnane, with teams crossing the line after a 12km trail run down from the Ballyhoura Bike Trails. The race was started 9 years ago to help promote the trails and began as a small local race, so it was a fitting place to finish the AR European Championships in which teams from 16 nations took part.
On the 3rd and final night of the race teams moved around the final stages of the course and right at the back were Fenix Multisport adidas (CZ), who went up onto the Galtee hills in the night. In the end however they had taken on too much and slept too little and the team then withdrew with their supporters collecting them.
It was difficult to find the correct route into the Ballyhoura Trails, and once teams were there they had some decisions to make. How many of the 4 bike trail loops to complete, and whether to tackle a short orienteering course, before making the final trail run to the finish.
For most the decisions were not too hard – they were too tired and too exhausted and just wanted to get to the finish line!
Among the earliest finishers were Halti Adventure who have been at the top of the leaderboard for much of the race, but they finished a little down and disappointed knowing they’d made a poor choice which resulted in them finishing with hours to spare – time in which they could have gained more points. Even so this young team, three of who are on their first race over 24 hours, have put in a great performance here.
Their main rivals adidas TERREX took time out at the bike trails to look at the leaderboard which was on display and make their choices. Those watching were amazed at how quickly they worked through it (given how little sleep they’ve had) and the team were confident of how much they needed to do to be sure of the win, deciding to complete two bike loops before heading out on the trail run.
They got down to the finish at 07.56, so were in plenty of time and Nick Gracie was confident enough to congratulate them on being 2 time European champions, though Stu Lynch still seemed a little more cautious. The team had enjoyed riding the boardwalks on the Ballyhoura Trails, though Gracie did manage to fall off completely! Luckily he didn’t hurt himself.
Others too said how much they’d enjoyed the trails. Alistair Morris of Team Ellis Brigham said, “We rode all the trails and they were fantastic. So much work must have gone into them and they flowed so nicely. I’d say they were the best I’ve been on.”
It was very wet during the night and early morning and the final trail run proved hard, not just a jog to the finish. It took teams into some bogs above the town, which some of them felt was a bit unnecessary at the end of a 72 hour race! Team Pure Adventure of S. Africa said, “Whose sense of humour was that last 12km!” The team had been so tired on the way down they stopped and slept in a horse box!
Not surprisingly the teams were all exhausted and some didn’t seem able to take in what they’d achieved. Team Adventure Race Squad Extreme, novices to adventure racing, looked a little bemused on the finish and said, “It’s just hard to take in.” They’d even managed to lose Frank Nash on the way into town!
Ken Keohan of Beast Mode Adventure Racing said, “It’s done! We’ll think about it later!” He then downed his bottle of Howling Gale beer in one go. (All the finishers got a beer from 8 Degrees Brewing.)
Finbar McGurran of Team Get No Sleep said, “72 hours is a difficult race length to deal with and 90 minutes sleep is not enough!” Sessell Elmstom of Team Yeti was another who suffered badly at the end of the race and her team had to leave the mountain bike trails altogether and get to the finish line as best they could. The Danish team have had a strong race and will be high in the rankings, but it wasn’t quite the finish they’d planned for.
Some teams had time credits so it was hard to tell if everyone was on time, but for the most part they seemed to be and SWECO were last across the line at 10.33. (They had several hours of time credits so were not late.)
And so the race was over, but teams won’t get the official results until the prize giving tonight. All of the timing cards have to be checked and their routes studied as some teams rode on forbidden roads. So for now the leaderboard is a guide to how teams did, and we will get the final rankings when the race officially closed later tonight.
SleepMonsters
