WHEN the going gets tough, the tough get going and keeping the required social distance and adhering to HSE and Sport Ireland Covid-19 guidelines was the order of the weekend during the annual Kerry Way Ultra Marathon.
A huge test of endurance and willpower, it involved a 200km non-stop endurance race, over 40 hours, traversing the MacGillycuddy Reeks and Iveragh Peninsula’s ancient trails.
There were three races in total in the form of the 200km Kerry Way Ultra, the Kerry Way UltraLite, from Sneem to Killarney, and a new Kerry Way UltraNite from Waterville to Killarney.
The not-for-profit race director is Eileen Daly and together with support crews and volunteers, they circumnavigated the Iveragh Peninsula’s by-roads and butter roads to support athletes from 5.00am on Friday to late on Saturday night. The racers were GPS tracked on the Kerry Way route, making locating their whereabouts on the Kerry Way more manageable.
Gavin Byrne raced home first in an amazing time of 23:37.17 followed by Keith Lane on 24:01.51.
The first lady home, for the second year in a row, was Aoife Mundow in an amazing time of 25:26.49, knocking off almost five hours from the record she set last year.
Winner of the Kerry Way UltraNight was Robert Janowski in a time of 9:10.53 and Claire McCann was the first lady home in a blistering time of 9:51.28.
Winner of the Kerry Way UltraLite was John Keogh in 5:03.50 and in the ladies’ race it was specialist ultra-runner Laura O’Driscoll in a time of 5:48.05.
Race Director, Eileen Daly, said because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was feared that the race might not even go ahead but, because of its remoteness and ease of social distancing, it could proceed.
“We were able to meet all the criteria set out by National Park and Wildlife Services and Kerry County Council. We are always indebted to the kindness of the Kerry Way landowners and South Kerry Development Partnership,” she said.
The marathons reached a phenomenal virtual online audience who engaged with the event through a live tracking option on Facebook.
Pictures: Valerie O’Sullivan. Click on individual images for details
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