The Curragh, CNOC Summer Series 2

I always get a tingely sensation whenever I run on the curragh. Its partially the knowledge that no matter how fit you are, you can always run harder, that there's absolutely no way of escaping the pain. Added to that today would be the fact that the planner (being Colm 'oh sh*t' Hill) was no doubt trying to give us something special to remember the course by.

And as if this wasn't enough, David 'the healdog' Healy had, from our run the previous week in Donadea, earned the right to start one minute behind me on some of the fastest, and more importantly visable terrain in all of Ireland.

This would be a big problem. when someone can see someone up ahead, they don't need to mapread. In the ideal spirit of orienteering in theory they should run they're own course and ignore everyone else, but when its actually happening out there anyone can tell you this is impossible. In theory, theres no difference between theory and practise, but in practise there is. If your ahead, there's that extra pressure to be right, if your behind, you don't have to mapread (much) to be able to stick with the guy who's now over-reading the map. Just enough to make sure he's not making a mistake. And if the two of them both do it right, it can result in a very fast time, so they'd both be fools to try not use each other, whether by alternating legs or pushing along tracks or whatever. It seems in these situations that traditional orienteering gets waylaid and beaten.

Of course, all this only applies if the fellow behind didn't go out one minute down and your desperate to lose him!! And I knew as I stood there in the roasting sun, this was going to be tough.



So the race began. My first muck up came going to 2, when I ran and punched 24 by mistake, which was en route to 2. As a point of note here, I'm not the only one to have done this, alas a lot of people who did do it didn't notice went on to be disqualified. That why you check your codes people! After I noticed what i'd done I quickly looked for the real number 2, with my mind in a mess though I took a bad route choice. As i was leaving it I glanced behind me, David was on me already!

Oh sh*t!



I decided to go against my usual tactic and try grind Dave down a bit at the start, it would hopefully lead to more mistakes and more possibility to get away towards the end of the course. I flew to number 3, taking a hidden way out on the other side of the earthbank to try and stay out of sight. I knew Dave was right behind me, i'd hoped he might lose a tiny bit of time and let me get ahead enough to not follow me through the myriad of confusing gorse on the next leg.

And confusing it was! I nearly made a balls of it myself, The hatched green was basically open, and only when I saw the dense green could I race on.

Ran in and punced, didn't dare look behind me to see if I'd gained some.



5 was easy, staright to the hill and past it. I nearly missed it when some eejit was crouched down taking a shit or a bearing or something anyway and was blocking the control.

Ah number 6. Beautiful beautiful number 6. See on the map how easy it is to see the route into it? Not on the printed version my friends. Compound to that that there was an extra knoll on the close side you could get into easily led to curse words and frustration, as i had indeed gained a decent bit of time on Healy and had now lost it through no fault of my own. Infuriating I tell you!



I could see from the rest of the course it would be very hard to lose him anywhere but the technical section in Hares park, from control 10 to 14.

But there was a tricky looking 7 to think about now, and Dave was what Annie and Clarabel were to Tomas the Tank Engine, right up my arse and latched on.

The gorse to the right on number 6 was looking a bit thinner than the solid green it was represented by on the map, and in the spirit of losing Healy i went for it to try break the line of sight. I ended up having to slow down after I nearly ran by the track, came in, and what im going to blame on the printing again ended up in a bit of a gorse inlet that wasn't marked on the non internet version. Dave passed me here and i let out a groan, this was going badly.



Number 8 didn't help matter either, i went to go down the track right beside it after Dave went around around the bush on the other side only to discover it was badly overgrown and i'd have to turn round.

I punced and looked up the hill to 9, with Dave about 100m ahead of me. I resolved 2 things i would do here. One, close the gap, even if it ment burning out a bit, i'd recover in the upcoming tricky section. Two, Expend a vast quantity of mental concentration to plan the technical legs with great precision as it was pretty much going to be make or break point.



Up and up I went. By the time i got to 9, Dave had slightly missed it and I was right behind him. I had decided to go straight through the gorse to 10 and come in from the left of it, thinking Dave would go a different way and I'd end up in front. To my dismay he ploughed on straight on my route choice and spiked it, me still in persuit.



An interesting development mentally happened on the way to 11. Dave ran slow, and I passed him and punced first. I took this to be a sign that he hadn't read the controls ahead and was going to let take the reigns. Crap, this was where i'd hoped to have lost him! To test my hyphothsis I slowed down a bit coming downhill out of 11 under the pretense of reading my map, and when he didn't pass me i knew i was right.

This presented a problem. I couldnt lose him later in the course, it was too open. If i could even get a small gap i'd be able to kill myself and Dave would mistake this for fitness and lose moral, and hopefully pace. But I had to get ahead here!

There was only one choice, which I was only able to do since I'd studied the map so hard on the way to 9. I dove for the gorse! Straight through a narrow passageway towards where i knew (hoped) the clearing would be. I came out on the edge of it, turned in to the hidden passageway, and spiked it. Dave had taken a different route choice in, I didn't know where he was, except that he was behind. The adreneline pumped, I had more of this stuff in me at that point in time than EPO in the average tour cyclist!



Full blast to number 13, full blast to 14. I was doing well! No sign of Healy behind me. I misread 14, thought it was in the depression, and overshot. Sh*t! Turned around in a panic, ran back and got it. As I was leaving uphill to 15, Dave passed me in the other direction going into the control, rats he was right behind me again! Mission failed. I was more disgusted than if someone had told me that he had hidden his armpit hair in that ham and cheese roll I just ate.
He later told me that he was about to overshoot that one, and if it hadn't been for me he wouldn't have gotten it.

I had had a bit of a physical break in the technical area, and was feeling strong, so I blasted my way up the hill through the forest to 15, in a last last ditch effort to make up some ground. I'd read it good, came around from the right, and hit it. Hopefully Dave would run straight and get caught in the gorse and have to run around. (I find out later he got straight through it >.< )





Full pelt to 16. I daren't look behind. I see my sister Niamh up ahead going into the gorse, but strange, she's not going into where I thought the control was. I look furiousally at my map, i have about 5 seconds before my options run out. I decide to go to my original spot, and low and behold there it is. I jog slowly out, looking confused, and around to the other side of the bush, hoping that Dave has seen Naimh running the other way, me looking lost, and hopefully running into the wrong place. As soon as im out of sight on the other side of the gorse im sprinting. I really really need to have a large gap that Dave can't close on the way to 17. I run hard, dig deep, give it everything I have. I read ahead and hope that I can recover on the few downhill legs coming up, otherwise its game over. I don't look back. (Niamh later says Dave was about 300m behind me for the duration of that leg.)



Hit 17, hit 18, hit 19, all easy. 20 looks interesting, you can't get into itfrom head on, or is perhaps the map closed in again. I play it safe and go around (Dave get straight through, again :/ ), and im sloggin up the hill to 21. Im beginning to wonder at this point if iv'e managed to beat back Dave a bit, I havn't seen him for a while. Coming out of 21 however, I see him ont he other side of a gorse bush! He right up me again! But he hasn't seen me, and I run. Hard. As hard as I can. No prisoners at this point. I can see route choice to 23 could be important. I decide to go round the hill to try keep a high speed up.I hit 22 and blast off.



Im not sure which way Dave decides to go but i lose him. Coming up the hill out of 23 again there still no sign of him running down into it! Oh my God! I could have actually clawed a bit of desperate time back! Concentrate Seamus!



With renewed energy and hope I blast up the hill, fly to 24 (the one i got at the start) and tank on. I've put wings on at this point, im dying. As fast as I can but it still dosn't seem fast enough. When I don't see him as I come out of 25 I decide its possible to beat him, and flake it even harder. I'd be passing F1 cars at this speed.




I didn't know there was so my levels of pushing it again and again, so many walls to break, but boy did I learn that today. I scream across the plains.

I see Conor Short ahead of me, and I pass him in a suprisingly short time. (lol)

As i come into 29, the second last control, I see Dave just entering the last loop. Holy Shit it going to be close!

Going down to 30 I have to slow down. I've reached the last level. Nothing left to give. I stumble blindly into it and to the finish. Im so wrecked I can't even keep a mental count to see how long Dave is coming in behind me, he has to be in in one minute or less to beat me. He comes in, and I feel it might be over a minute. I might just have this!

We download. Success! Im a mere 28 seconds ahead of Dave overall. The endless agony was worth it.

Thanks for the course Collie!

Results:
1 Seamus O'Boyle 46:52
2 David Healy 47:20
3 Gerard Butler 48:00
4 Ruairi Short 56:01
5 Jonathan Quinn 63:50
6 Senen O'Boyle 64:20

Full results
Splitsbrowser
Routegadget (Map)