Written by Stephen McAllister

200km distance, 9 check points, 20,000 feet of climb across mountains, fells, woodland, trail, bog and the occasional bit of road or runnable
trail, a Master Class of Trail Running.

Having heard about the Kerry Way Race since last year I had set out this as one of my highlights for the year and it didn't disappoint, it was through and through the most enjoyable race I've taken part in.

This race is self sufficient, meaning preparation is key. You have 9 checkpoints along the way each with a drop bag (if you remembered to pack one) and a few options to snatch some food in the shops during daylight or chance the Fish & Chips in the evening.

My plan was simple, pack an equal amount of food + drink in each bag with a combination of energy bars, gels, sweets and oats/slow release energy. Plus I made sure I had spare socks, clothes etc in each bag in case the weather turned. I packed much more than I needed but felt its better to go in and have than get stuck at night without any food. Plus anything that you didn't need you could just throw in the bag and collect at the end of the race. While they had water to spare the race couldn't guarantee water so on the safe side its wise to pack a few bottles throughout.

For training I focused on getting in the miles and working on the trail up in the woods. This race has a bit of every trail so you need to be a solid all rounder to do well. My weak point and one area which its hard to replicate is training on the rocks and the technical descents. A fair amount of the course is hard trail and a lot of technical running similar to the Lakelands especially quite early on and also on the closing stages of the race.

To the start about 40 brave souls took up the gauntlet this year and with no clear favourite this was very much an open race. With a 6am start on the Friday, we set off still in darkness. My plan, just go with the flow and wait till day light before checking where I actuallywas or what lied ahead on the route. After the first hour I was told if your trying to follow the route by map “Your Screwed” and insteadjust look for the Kerry Way sign posts and trail markers, which to be fair were pretty solid for most of the trail, although just relying on trail signs for a day and a half starts to mess with your head if you
haven't seen a sign in awhile or thought you missed one.

Having prepared to experience all 4 seasons, you'd couldn't have picked better weather for running and almost felt spoilt as we just had good weather for the whole weekend. Each checkpoint was a good 19km (ish) distance apart so you had a fair amount of ground to cover and a whole lot of climb.
Going through the black valleys, my sugar levels just tanked, I felt nauseous and couldn't get into any rhythm and had trouble adjusting to technical running. I quickly watched Mark & Paul put on their best mountain goat impressions and bounce through the valleys. By the time I'd reached the next checkpoint all the lads I was with had pushed on ahead and I just went back to plan B, take it easy, drop back and just enjoy the weekend and run within myself rather than push it.

The views throughout were just stunning, each climb you'd felt an injustice if you didn't take a stop to admire the land. After then leaving the valleys, getting some sugar in the system and settling into a gentle pace the route from Glengar to Glenbeigh was easy going with a few more runnable sections and a change to softer trail to run on. Although a few folk missed a couple of crucial turns to banking in some extra bonus mileage.

On arrival to Foilmore we were warned that next section to Waterville would be interesting. A two part journey into purgatory. Banding together with two lads, Billy & Darren the first section was a long trek across a fell where false ridges where ever present. After a dozen climbs and 2.5hours on the fell we realised we had only covered 8km and had another monster of a fell to cross. After a lot of swearing we started the second climb. With the second climb came nightfall and reminiscing about times on The Fellsmen without a second set of eyes you could easily lose track on the fell and go miles off course. Especially as you couldn't trust the fence line as a safety net for this climb.

Coming into Waterville I was forewarned of the Charlie Chaplin Statue but still after 100km in the bag its a odd sight to see. Next up heading into Caherdaniel, we felt revigerouted and with a few more runnable sections was able to start making some progress into the night although tiredness and fatigue were starting to play tricks on us.

Arriving at Caherdaniel, my stomach dropped and a tactical pit stop in the bushes was almost fatal as my legs almost gave way. To settle my body I took a cocktail of imodium, ibuprofen and pro-plus, while this sorted my body out for the next hour I felt like I was on an ACID trip with my head going every way but Sunday and unable to think straight.

At first I though I was losing the plot when the ground around you started to move and hundreds of eyes were watching you. Only did I realised there were sheep every where. While it was a grand ride I needed to focus so I knocked but x2 gels and got back into the race to coast into the next checkpoint at Sneem.

Given a bike escort into the checkpoint we were once again picking up the pace and it was now just a case of ticking off the mileage and taking it in our stride. With dawn only a couple of hours away a second wind would soon kick in and a finish was all the more likely. The course became much more friendly and while we didn't make use of the more runnable sections it provided a great rest bite for what was to come.

After leaving Templenoe the route to Kenmare was simply a frustration as you would loop round and round, across numerous hills before coming into town at which point the sun had come into full swing. With a mix of soft trail, a fair amount of road it would have been a great spot to eat up the mileage, however we opted for the cautious option knowing that the last section was a 30km stint.

Arriving in Kenmare we had the chance to see the end of a triathlon taking part and could focus on one last push to home. The route, a monster of a climb up a road hill and then along a ridge back towards the start. From there just a long technical run back off the hills towards Killarney. At this point we split up and just went for broke knowing the finish was in the bag and just had to push on.

Coming into Killarney a lad from Israel caught up with me and asked if it was alright to finish ahead of me on the line, seeing as he had his flag at the ready it seemed no bother to me. I had a comfortable finish just under 36 hours, went off to get some food from the chip shop only to find out they hadn't stopped my tracker so I lost a couple of spots by the time I got back. Early on I decided I was going to hang back and enjoy the ride rather than race it and enjoyed every moment of the race through and through knowing I had much more left in the tank if need be to go hell for leather.

A great bonus the following day was a lunch buffet at the Malton in Killarney, where you could catch up with all the other runners, share war stories and get some food back in you before setting off. It made for a much more friendly feel as you all felt as one team. Although if I went through what Mark Bissett had to I'd have taken a firing squad (bonus miles, no head torch for sections and being frog marched back into the forest for night running, a true machine)

In short I highly recommend the Kerry Way Ultra, has a wide range of trail, great support and the Irish know how to look after their runners. The only thing I will say is you will also be a master on the stair master by the end of the race. Instead of gates the Irish give you 100's of stairs to climb across and the on the last section on the ridge you have to jump from rock to rock and I mean jump or just fall in the stream.