Padraig Marrey - 3rd Overall

GF time around Westport is mad, been a postman I get asked the usual, will you win, how the form, who are the contenders etc is.
The papers had reports of an English pro adventure racer called Bruce Duncan and that he would show us amateurs a thing or two... That’s a red rag to a bull.

I knew from early in the year that even though I had won GF in 2010 the focus for 2011 would be the Reek 24hr world record challenge, get that in the legs and I would be super for GF.
The first few days after the WR attempt the body felt  good, did a 20k Time Trial beating  descent opposition, thought to myself that I had recovered fast,  sadly that’s where it ended, for the next four weekends I raced, guys I usually leave for dead were  all finishing ahead of me.

I could go all day but just couldn’t hurt myself or  push the pedal down  enough to be competitive,  my friends were telling me to rest but I thought differently, I just kept plugging away.
Did the Ballyhoura Blitz on the August Bank holiday and felt the legs were finally beginning to feel normal again not flying but normal.
Did 2 weeks of perfect training and thought hey I am back.

Race day
Did the usual tried and tested things like eating 2.5hrs before the start, the normal warm up, the usual stretches etc. I felt nervous but didn’t show it.
I know MSAI guide had me down as hard to beat but Paul Mahon knew that I had problems, my previous results coming in to the race were nill and that’s never good for moral, nether the less I had a title to defend and I approached it with vigour.

Spotted all the pre race favourites except Peter O Farrell, Peter loves this race, never worse than 2nd and  won it 3 times. He knows the course and most of all he knows himself and his strengths. On the Reek he can just dance away from the opposition and all the other pre race favourites knew that as well.
Race starts and Tom O Dowd who has been having a storming season so far took of on a flier of a run with 4 others going with him, I didn’t panic as I knew Niall Somers would be the most dangerous if he got a lead so kept him in range without going too deep, when I finally reeled in Tom with Niall barely ahead,  I said presto exactly where I need to be.

8k into the run and there are 4 of us together, Tom, Niall, Peter Cromie who is a good biker and myself, no Peter O Farrel at this stage.
Got on to the road section  4k from the Kayak and felt that the run pace had dropped considerable,  no one wanted to show their hand and I felt this would suit me so I held fire as well (mistake number 1).
Got to the Kayak in 4th and paddled across, My paddling was a bit below par as had done little all year, thought it wouldn’t make a difference ...it did.

Off the kayak and on to the bog section, Tom had passed me on the kayak and had at least 30 seconds lead, I needed to be with him for the bike section after Delphi and pushed as hard as I could but nothing there, the doubt started to creep in.
Niall Somers and Bruce Duncan the English pro adventure racer had shot ahead of me and had 20 seconds with Tom a further 20 seconds ahead.

Just on the way in to Delphi and my worst nightmare appeared it was Peter...
Out on the bike Peter asked me to work with him and  at this stage I had no choice, Tom, Bruce and Niall were ahead and working together , don’t work and Peter and myself are doomed  to the minor placing ..work and we stand some chance.

I felt strong on the flats and drags but on the climb of Shreffrey all the lights on the dash were flashing, doubt filled my thoughts and then BANG !! double spasm of both calf muscles... had to stop pedalling and saw Peter ride of.

Gathered my thought and gave myself a good Bollicking and fired up the engines again and got the desired result... over the top and made a kamikaze descent and suddenly Peter was back in view but the other 3 were out of sight.

Caught Peter and went straight past more or less to show him I was back and stronger than him, Peter clawed back and gave no in clinging to how he was going.

We could see that Bruce had been dropped and seemed to be struggling, we worked to catch him and Peter put in a right dirty dig as we approached Bruce, he responded well and joined on to our train. That dig showed me how strong Peter was.

Up front Tom had dropped Niall which I felt was a big mistake by him, had I been with him or Niall I would have combined to open up a big as lead as possible and then take my chance on the Reek.
On to the off road section and Bruce was struggling straight away. Peter drove on and at this stage I decided to be cagy and sat on, no point dragging Peter up to Tom and Niall then get dropped myself.

On to the really rough off road section and I decided to try my hand and went as fast as possible over this section catching Niall with Tom in view, maybe not going bad after all.
On the approach to Transition 2 Croagh Patrick Peter and Niall came cruising by me leading into T2.. not good for the confidence.

Croagh Patrick
Tom O Dowd had a lead of about 40 sec, Niall, Peter and me altogether with Bruce only a handful of seconds behind.
Tom went for the straight up approach with Peter and Niall following, I went straight up on to the path as felt my legs weren’t up to the severity or steepness of that route.
Got to the pile of stones at the bottom of the cone and the guys were barely ahead of me, Niall was suffering and Tom was in Peter’s range.

I knew if I wanted to win I had to pull something special out of the bag, climbed as hard as I could and was still over a minute behind Peter and Tom at the summit, Peter looked fresh, Tom had all the signs of pain on his face.
On the descent I thought of 2010 and just let go, my legs opened up and I started to fly, by the bottom of the cone the guys lead was halved, I pushed harder and suddenly I was running parallel to Tom with Peter only 200m in front.

Had I pulled a Houdini, I was the same position in 2010 with my usual strong biking leg to come when all the lights on the dash turned into a disco,  I had went to hard and scrambled in collect my bike, Tom had 10 sec on me with Peter about 30sec.
If you were a betting person you would have put the house on me to catch and pass the 2 lads!! It wasn’t there the legs were flooded with lactic acid and nearly cramping, Dr Oliver Whyte asked me how do you feel, I didn’t answer but I say the expression on my face said what he needed to know.

On the Skelp I was struggling with Tom and Peter moving further and further away, crawled to the top and did another lunatic descent down the rough rocky track.
It was now or never, I was travelling at 40kph and bouncing all over the place, one mistake and I was shredded meat.. to my surprise I still couldn’t see the 2 leaders but was travelling that fast was afraid to look properly.. on the road past Gannon’s garage could see Tom about 300m in front maybe Peter wasn’t far ahead either so pushed all out only catching Tom with 2k to go, the wind went completely out of me when looking across the quay could see Peter on the way down By the Quay which looked like a minute lead to the last Transition at that stage the race was over as a contest.. led Tom around the pond and into Transition for the last 800m run..
Tom wanted 2nd more than me and sprinted along the sea shore all I could do was watch.. was beaten by stronger men on the day and was happy with my lot.

Peter has some record in this event and really pushes himself each year to win, If Tom improves another little bit he will be super hard to beat in the future. Looking over the top 20 there are alot of young guys coming through so can only imagine what next year will be like.

Thanks to my sponsors Marrey bikes and Planet X and to all my training partners over the past few months for pushing me hard
Well done to Killary adventure for putting on a great show and hope to see you all again in 2012.