10 Things I Think About Running

10 Things I Think About The Bere Island 5 Mile

1. Return to West Cork

I think that it is amazing that races in West Cork aren’t as popular as races in East Cork. There really isn’t much difference between Bere Island and Ballycotton, the hills are a bit bigger and the views are a bit more spectacular that’s about it. I don’t understand it. Everyone should come to West Cork.

2. Catch that Ferry

I think that the race in Bere Island is unusual in that you have two opportunities to be late. The first opportunity for lateness is to miss the ferry from the pontoon. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 1:30, we got there at 1:28. Rhona was quicker at getting Billy onto the ferry than I was at stuffing magic shoes and a selection of clothes into a bag before being the last man on the ferry.

3. Photo, Photo

I think that boats are my least favourite form of transport, I love planes and trains but boats scare me. I’m not very scared of them I just don’t trust them. I was a less than enthusiastic participant in a photo which involved Graham getting everyone on the boat to one end of the boat for a photo which seemed like something that would result in a Netflix documentary called “Race to Bere Island”.

4. Kenmare via Belfast

I think that it is nice not to have to register until the day of the race. On the walk up to the village I had an eye out for anyone who could make the humongous hill even more horrible. When I got to the hall I spotted Tommy from Kenmare back from Belfast. I sent Rhona in with the entry fee to register while I figured out how to beat a man who was going to be significantly quicker on the horrible hill.

5. Where’s My Singlet?

I think that it was inevitable that something would have gotten forgotten in the rush from the car to the boat. To forget your singlet is bad but to only have longsleeve t-shirts as an alternative is a major problem. Everyone knows that you can’t race in a longsleeve. After warming up which hardened my conviction that racing in a long sleeve was impossible I asked if anyone had a spare singlet. I was offered an Eagle one but I’m not Jeremy O’Donovan so I couldn’t, then Carol found a Beara AC training t-shirt which fitted perfectly so I took that.

6. Beara A.C

I think that it would be nice to run for a club like Beara A.C. The colours are very nice and the name is very clearly Irish which is better than Leevale which often gets confused with being from London which is very annoying. The t-shirt was very comfortable, I barely noticed the difference, I even got to have a photo with my new team mates before the start.

7. Strava KOM

I think that there should be a separate prize in the race for the first person to the top of the humongous horrible hill. At the start the three Kenmare lads took off in front. I was happy out to let them lead it out, the less photos of me in the race in the wrong club colours the less likely I was to fall foul of some AAI rule requiring a six month ban from racing which would be as bad as getting a stress fracture. Once we began the ascent of the humongous hill it was down to me and Tommy to duel it out on the hairpins like Pogacar and Vingegaard in the Tour. Tommy took the King of the Mountains prize on Strava opening a 50m gap over the top which I was happy enough to concede knowing what lay ahead. I grabbed a newspaper from the side of the road and stuffed it down my t-shirt to prepare for the descent.

8. The Descent

I think that that descent off the horrible hill is one of the best descents in a race. It is that perfect gradient where you can take full advantage of gravity, there is one section with a sweeping right hand bend that feels like being on a bike it’s so fast. I used my weight and height advantage to sweep past Tommy and put as much of a gap into him as I could before the gravity ran out. It was very good fun.

9. Momentum

I think that the best part of the course is the last three miles of the race. They are super fast with a nice surface and some nice views. I spent the last three miles worried that Tommy was going to catch me so I gave it everything I had. The last mile is particularly fun with its tiny little ups and downs. Right until the line I was convinced that a red Kenmare singlet was going to come flying by but it didn’t and my red t-shirt was first across the line.

10. The Pub

I think that it is a pity that the race only involves spending two hours on Bere Island. I did my warm down along the ParkRun course where I met lots of Civil Defence people out training. There was no wind so it was particularly pleasant. Then we all went back to the pub for tea, Erdinger, orange juice and excellent prize giving before hoping on the boat back to the car and my Leevale singlet which had remained in the boot. I had to bring the Maillot Rouge back with me to wash it. I’ll return it in Eyeries hopefully.