Connemarathon 2010 - All welcome

[El Gordo]

A few people have expressed an interest in next year's Connemarathon. I'm up for it, so time for a dedicated thread.

There's nothing like early preparation (advice I need to heed in other areas of life :o), but particularly with this race, as it's in a relatively remote place, and needs some forward planning.

First of all, some info...

http://www.connemarathon.com/

When: Sunday 11th April 2010
Where: Connemara, West of Ireland
What: Half marathon, marathon, ultra marathon on tarmac roads. (Half seems the popular option at this stage)
Why: Astonishingly beautiful part of Ireland; Guinness; camaraderie
Who: So far, Sweder, Seafront Plodder, me, Anlu, Katy have expressed an interest, but everyone is welcome
How much: Race entry was 70 euros last time, covering
• Bus transfers to and from Galway, Oughterard and Clifden
• Race entry
• Water and aid stations every three miles
• T-shirt / medal
• Pasta, Soup, tea and coffee served after the race.
+ cost of flights and shared vehicle hire + hotel(s) + Guinness expenditure
How long: Depends on plan, but personally I wouldn't mind an Almeria-type format i.e. flying out Saturday, race Sunday, a bit more activity Monday, returning Tuesday or Wednesday. I won't need persuading to extend my stay if others are up for it.

Discussions are at an early stage, but at present there are broadly two possible itineraries (and more if someone wants to suggest others):
• Fly to Galway City, probably stay in Galway City for post-race rehydration and depart from there
• Fly to Galway or Knock. Base camp to be decided. After race, drive to (or back to) Westport, possibly staying there, and climbing Croagh Patrick (a tough 2 or 3 hours walk but with fantastic views)

My preference is for the latter, however, the logistics are harder, and I appreciate that not everyone will want/be able to spend enough time to do much general tourism. I'm at the mercy of the democratic process, and will accept the wishes of the majority.

So I'm signed up for the idea. Who else?

[Antonio247]

I´d love to go next year, EG. I´m for the second option as well. I´d like to climb Croagh Patrick and do some tourism in the west of Ireland.

[El Gordo]

That's great, anlu. Are you able to take a couple of days off around then?

[Sweder]

No shock to hear I'm up for this. Ambivalent on itinerary as it's too soon to know what else is going on. Mrs S likely to want in & to favour option 2. Best ask her I s'pose . . .

[Antonio247]

That's great, anlu. Are you able to take a couple of days off around then?

Yes, EG. I can take off a few not paid days. I´d love to go. I´m looking forward to visiting Ireland again.

Saludos desde Almería

Antonio

[El Gordo]

No shock to hear I'm up for this. Ambivalent on itinerary as it's too soon to know what else is going on. Mrs S likely to want in & to favour option 2. Best ask her I s'pose . . .

Yeah, I'll see if M is up for it.

[ladyrunner]

I'm definately thinking about this one as well as Almeria. I believe that the Connemara is in school hoildays so it would make it alot easier for me to get a couple of days off work.

Julie

[El Gordo]

I'm definately thinking about this one as well as Almeria. I believe that the Connemara is in school hoildays so it would make it alot easier for me to get a couple of days off work.

Julie

Hurrah!

Just in case you missed it, I'll repost the photo of Croagh Patrick. The plan is to climb it the day after the race.

[Sweder]

I have a Cloggie friend on the hook for this one - I'm sending her a link to this area of the site to whet her appetite further. Not sure if you saw my remote post re; climbing Croagh Patrick barefoot . . .

[El Gordo]

I have a Cloggie friend on the hook for this one - I'm sending her a link to this area of the site to whet her appetite further. Not sure if you saw my remote post re; climbing Croagh Patrick barefoot . . .

Me? Aye, I answered it.

[ladyrunner]

Definately the mountain climb option takes my fancy - especially if OS style maps are involved.

[Antonio247]

These are some pictures from a Spaniard who took part at Connemara marathon this year. He says that he liked the scenery, Guinness and Ireland a lot. I think that more Spaniards will take part in it next year.

http://picasaweb.google.es/jcarlosmenaiv...raIrlanda#

[Gillybean831]

Would also love to do this!!
The Half then LONG walk, with shoes, thank-you
Will have to train better than i did for three forts!!!!
didn't do too fantastic, and i fell at mile 7
still had a good time, met some lovely people on the course
and bumped into a friend id not seen for years!!!

[El Gordo]

Maybe I'm being premature, but I'd like to start talking about arrangements for this event.

Three main reasons --

1. I'm going to Ireland in a couple of weeks, and thought it would be a good opportunity to do some reconnaisance.
2. Accommodation opportunities are limited, so we don't want to leave it too late. It's already difficult finding any decent hotels for a reason able price.
3. The race sells out well in advance usually

I probably know this area better than most people here, but does anyone want to throw in any thoughts/preferences?

The big question is where we should stay.

In order to answer this, you really need to either go to the race website (connemarathon.com) and try to make sense of the options -- or you agree to being led by the nose by me. I don't mind doing some nose-leading, but only if you agree not to complain about where you are led. If you think you might object, please do some research and tell me what your thoughts/preferences are. As mentioned, quite a lot of accommodation seems to be already unavailable. Not surprising perhaps. This is a rural area and there are 3,200 race entrants -- so you can work it out for yourselves.

If Katy is reading this -- can you offer any thoughts/advice?

The official advice is to stay in Galway City, Oughterard or Clifden. The complication is the idea to climb Croagh Patrick (near Westport) on the Monday. If we want to do this, we need to decide whether to drive up there and back on the Monday (approx 60-80 mins each way, depending on where you start), or to split the accommodation between Galway etc and Westport, or even to stay the whole time in Westport, commuting to the race. Galway is a good place for the craic though no doubt there is a fair bit available in Westport -- I've not explored the nightlife much there, but can check it out when I'm there shortly.

Hotels in Ireland are pricey so we may well have to settle for B and B. Ireland is full of them, usually reasonably priced and always with major breakfast experiences thrown in.

Finally, regarding travel arrangements, despite the earlier suggestion about flying to Galway, it might be best for us all to meet in Dublin on Friday or Saturday, then drive up together in a hired minibus to Connemara on the Saturday (about 3 hours). If we met on the Friday, we could manage a mild 'social' with a full day to recover before the race. It's also an easier place to get to.

Anyway, please do a bit of research into flights, and into the race, and either give up in despair, or throw your tuppence in as I'd like to start booking.

EG

[Sweder]

Nose-leading is fine by me. There will be significantly less of us now that Brighton has announced a full marathon that same weekend. Several potential Connemanians from this area recently declared their intent to run the inaugural BM.

With that in mind it may be useful to see who's still up for the craic - an idea of numbers will definitely help guide the planning. I for one remain committed to the trip.

[El Gordo]

It's beginning to look like this is an A team outing then. It's unfortunate to lose anyone but on the other hand, it will ease the accommodation problem. So let's do a roll-call. Who else is fairly sure they'll be attending? SP? Anlu? If you could indicate likelihood of partners, it would be useful.

I realise it's a long way ahead, but no one's going to worry too much if you change your mind before the date. It will give me some rough idea on accommodation when I see what's available.

[ladyrunner]

Sorry guys, I entered the BM not realising that this was the same weekend!! However, I'm very much looking forward to Almeria as a warm-up for a Marathon.

[suzieq]

I am seriously thinking of it - not to run the marathon, only the half. I've been to Ireland once before and absolutely loved it!


Suzie

[El Gordo]

Would be fab to see you there, Suzie. It really is a wonderful country to visit. We're planning on halves too. [Please enter irresistible joke about Guinness at this point].

And incidentally, the Guinness is just perfect -- as you'd expect. Molly's, eat yer heart out....

[Seafront Plodder]

No great surprise either that I'm very likely to go.

At this early stage, I intend to do the Almeria/Connemara double but will need a tad more training than last time. Tearing up the streets of Almeria in the 10K on the back of 1 training run the week before wasn't ideal.