There are three events taking place: the junior and senior World Championship races on Friday 15th and the World Long Distance race on Saturday 16th . The courses are based around the K42  Adventure Marathon course and take in some stunning highlights of the Province of Neuquen in Patagonia.

The juniors will race over a route of 6.6k with 393 metres of ascent. The course will initially take them north into the forest with a steep and technical climb. When it reaches the highest point of the race (1246 metres) the runners turn south and begin a steep descent. They will then have to contend with a stream crossing (with ropes), before a fast, runnable descent on a wide path all the way down to the finish.

The seniors World Mountain Running Championships will take place over a 14k course with 754 metres of ascent. They will start in the streets of Villa La Angostura and head north along a dirt track and into the forest. The first 2.5k are quite flat, but then it starts to climb up through the forest and becomes steep and technical. This is followed by a section of technical descent, before the runners head to the Inacayal Waterfall, then start to descend again on a faster path. This takes them down to the street which heads to the finish line.

World Longs

The World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships takes place the next day and the course is 41.5k with 2,184m of ascent. Again, it starts in the streets of Villa La Angostura and then starts a climb on forest tracks. It climbs steadily until around 7k, then there’s a long, fast descent.

The middle section is generally flatter, but with some technical sections and a creek crossing, then the big climb begins just after 20k. This long climb will take the runners up to the summit of Cerro Bayo at 1785 metres, where they will be in snow. They will then begin a long and fast descent, mainly on dirt tracks, back down to Villa La Angostura.

Countries who will take part include the USA, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, France and Spain, who have all featured heavily in this year’s World Cup. So competition will be fierce. 

The courses look fantastic and varied and should test any runner. The championships are going to be really exciting and we look forward to bringing you all the news as it happens live from Patagonia. Follow our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for updates.

Photo: Robbie Britton

Women’s senior race

The 2019 World Cup winner, Sarah McCormack, will be running for Ireland. After a very successful season, where she won the Snowdon Race and was second at the MaXi Race, Drei Zinnen and Smarna Gora, she must be one of the favourites. She will face strong competition from many women.

Firstly, the World Cup winner from 2017 and 2018 (second this year), Lucy Murigi, proved that she will be a contender, winning Smarna Gora a few weeks ago in a thrilling race with McCormack. The Kenyan team will not feature at the Champs.

Sarah Tunstall of GB will also be a strong contender, having finished third in the world championships in 2017 and having won Grossglockner and Drei Zinnen this year and finished fourth at the European Championships earlier this year. Her compatriot Emmie Collinge must also be one to watch. She was second in the world championships in 2015 and won the European Mountain Running Championships the following year.

Other women to watch include Italy’s Elisa Sortini and Alice Gaggi, France’s Elise Poncet and Grayson Murphy. Collegiate stand-out Murphy is an excellent road runner who has recently returned to the trails and was the clear winner of the US trial. Her excellent leg speed could be a huge factor in the mountain race.

Photo: Alex Donald

Men’s senior race

The men’s World Cup winner, Andrew Douglas, will also be in Villa La Angostura, and will be among the favourites, having had an incredible 2019 season. Joe Gray won the US trials and as 2016 world champion and 17-time national champion, he must also be one to watch.

GB’s Jacob Adkin, this year’s European Champion, is a favourite to be up there. Watch out for young Adkin starting sensibly and finishing with his trademark blazing strength. Anyone new to the champs could well learn from Jacob, as if you’re ahead of him in the first few kilometres and not expecting to podium, then you’re going too fast.

The Italian team is strong as ever with Xavier Chevrier, Luca Cagnati and Casare Maestri among others who could well feature in the top 10. Fast Running’s man in Italy, Francesco Nicola, believes his team can challenge for the gold medal and we think he’s right.

The French team is a very experienced one with Julien Rancon and Alexandre Fine. The Kenyan team contains Robert Panin Surum and Timothy Kimutai Kirui, who, as ever, could very well feature or not trouble the front at all. It seems the latter was correct as the Kenyan team will not feature.

Ireland’s Zak Hannah, who finished sixth in the World Cup this year, will also be a strong competitor, and will be looking to build on his strong top 20 position from the European Championships earlier this year, as will Slovenia’s Timotej Becan, who finished fifth in the Mountain Running World Cup.

Other runners to watch include Hans-Peter Innerhofer of Austria and any number of strong Czech, German and South American athletes.

Women’s long distance race

Over the longer distance the women’s race should also be really exciting. One of the most interesting athletes to watch will be Laura Dahlmeier of Germany, who has famously swapped an incredibly successful career as a biathlete for mountain running.

France’s Blandin L’hirondel won this year’s Trail World Championships, so it will be interesting to see how that translates to mountain running. Judith Wyder of Switzerland should also be up at the front, having had a hugely successful season in Skyrunning.

Her compatriot Maude Mathys will also be a strong contender [Although we should add that the Swiss mountain running star has previously been reprimanded for anti-doping rules violations – Editor].

Spain are fielding a very strong team, with Sheila Aviles (who was 3rd at this year’s Trail World Championships) and Azara Garcia de los Salmones (4th at the Trail World Championships, 2nd at this year’s OCC), among others expected to feature.

Ireland’s Nicola Duncan will be relishing the fast, runnable climbing and could well feature well this weekend. The ultra distance athlete has been racing well in recent weeks over the trails and has been focusing on this event for the Autumn.

Several runner to watch include Italy’s Sylvia Rampazzo and GB’s Charlotte Morgan, both former champions, Adeline Roche of France, who’s best performance to date remains her 2017 World Trail Champs win and Kellie Emmerson of Australia, who is more of a longer distance specialist but could surprise many in the final kilometres.

Men’s long distance race

The men’s long distance race has had a couple of big names pull out – Luis Alberto Hernando of Spain and GB’s Tom Evans [although as Evans was strong enough to finish third in the Milton Keynes Cross last weekend it is disappointing to hear he won’t be representing his country – Editor]  – but it still has plenty of incredible athletes.

The 2019 World Trail Champion Jonathan Albon from GB will be among the favourites, as will Italy’s Francesco Puppi. But it’s perhaps the US team which has aroused the most interest. Jim Walmsley, Hayden Hawks and Mario Mendoza are strongly expected to feature in the race.

Hayden Hawks especially has some of the best leg speed in the event with a 13:54 5k PB and great experience over the longer ultra distance events. The show down between Hawks and Walmsley could make for real entertaining watching, but Fast Running is backing Hawks to come out on top in the US battle, but the fierce competition could put the team atop the podium if Mendoza runs well.

Other runners to watch include Switzerland’s Stephan Wenk, and France’s Nicolas Martin, both excellent on the trails and over ultra distance so look for strong finishes.

Ireland’s Paddy O’Leary and Gavin Byrne both broke the Wicklow Round record in 2019 and O’Leary has been in South America for a number of weeks preparing for the race… or just on an extended holiday with some races. We’re not sure. Look for both to run well in their national vests after great seasons so far.

Junior races

The junior races will be hotly contested and the future of mountain running is looking very bright. Among the runners are the British junior Joe Dugdale, who won this year’s European championships, and Joslin Blair of the US, who won the 2018 WMRA International U18 Mountain Running Championships.

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The post Strong British & Irish athletes at WMRA Champs appeared first on Fast Running.

In Chicago, Fionnuala McCormack finished 5^th woman in 2 hrs 26 mins 47 secs, knocking almost four minutes off her previous best of 2:30.38 run in Boston earlier this year. That time is comfortably inside the Tokyo 2020 qualifying standard of 2:29:30 and means that McCormack, now aged 35, is on target to compete at her fourth Olympic Games next summer.

It also puts her third on the all-time list of Irish-born athletes led by Catherina McKiernan whose Irish record of 2:22.23 dates back 21 years to Amsterdam in 1998. Second on the list is Mayo-born Sinead Diver who ran a time of 2:24.11 in London last April; Diver runs for Australia. Only four Irish women have ever gone under 2 hrs 30 mins for the marathon.

Photo: Robbie Britton

Irish success in the mountains

At the final World Cup race on the Smarna Gora in Slovenia, Sarah McCormack finished second behind defending champion Lucy Murigi from Kenya with less than a minute in it.

McCormack, who is based at Ambleside in the Lake District, had already done enough to lift the World Cup trophy after a super consistent season, where she ran six of the seven World Cup races. She finished second at the opening round in Annecy and at the Drei Zinnen in Italy as well as in Slovenia and took a big win at Snowdon, a race she had won twice before. She also picked up good points for a fourth at the savagely steep Grossglockner in Austria and for 13^th in the 31km Sierre-Zinal in Switzerland.

In the men’s race, Zak Hanna of Newcastle AC finished ninth which put him 5^th overall in the World Cup rankings. He made the top ten in the four races he ran, with his best result coming at Snowdon where he finished fourth.

Both athletes will represent Ireland at the World Mountain Running Championships taking place in Villa La Angostura, Patagonia, Argentina at the end of next month.

Photo: Kirsten Kortebein

Trail running overseas

Nicole Duncan, building up towards the World Mountain Running Long Distance Championships in Patagonia the November, was the comfortable winner at the Pentland Skyline race in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Running for the race organisers Carnethy RC, the former road marathoner clocked 3:10:51 to win the 26.6km race with 1890m of climbing. Tom Owens, running for Shettleston Harriers, was the men’s winner in 2:25:29.

US-based ultra trail runner Paddy O’Leary, who started a trio of Wicklow Round records earlier this year, was the winner of the THF Endurance Challenge Chile 50km. Also building up towards the World Longs in Argentina this November, the 2:20 marathoner is travelling and adventuring in South America before the champs and looks in fine form.

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Lindie Naughton is a journalist and writer based in Dublin who joined the athletics club at her college many many years ago and has never quite escaped. You’ll normally find her jogging around some orienteering course somewhere – or down at the Irishtown track coaching kiddies!

The post A good weekend to be called McCormack – Irish weekend round-up appeared first on Fast Running.

Dublin based Gavin Byrne has represented his country at the IAU World trail champs and won Irish ultras such as the 200km Kerry Way Ultra and the Glendalough Clover in the past, but had made the Wicklow Round his focus for the start of 2019.

The Round, which takes in 26 summits in the Wicklow Mountains just south of Dublin, was first completed in a time of 22:58:30 by Moire O’Sullivan in 2009 and the following day Eoin Keith set a record of 17:53:45 that stood until 2018.

It wasn’t until Joe “Stringbean” McConaughey, a US runner who holds the record for the 2190 mile Appalachian Trail of 45 days, 12 hours and 15 minutes, broke the record in May 2018 that people started thinking of sub 17 hours. Stringbean ran 17:09:44.

Three in a row

Then it happened. US-based Irishman Paddy O’Leary, a former international lacrosse player, fancied a crack. The North Face athlete practiced by getting lost in his local California hills and came over in April to run 16:27:20. Eight days later the record was all gone.

Orienteer Shane Lynch ran 16:23:32, taking just under four minutes from the mark. O’Leary had been record holder for just over a week and no talk was of someone running under 16 hours for the round. Lynch did get to hold onto the record for a little while longer than O’Leary, but not by much.

Just under a month later Gavin Byrne smashed it out of the park. Having the pleasure of Byrne’s company for part of my Wicklow Way recce before his attempt, he was quietly confident that he had some good lines, ones that he felt could make the record possible. [Good lines means more direct routes between the 26 mountain tops, as runners can pick their own route as long as they go to every summit].

Throughout the day updates actually came through from O’Leary’s Instagram, the same for Lynch’s run too, as the community aspect of the Round means that everyone is supporting each other. Byrne had an excellent day that just kept going to plan and chipping time away from the splits of the others. His 15:04:30 skipped the sub 16 discussion altogether.

Now Fast Running caught up with Bryne and asked a few questions about his grand day out in the hills.

Fast Running: Well done on your new record on the Wicklow Round, how was it?

Gavin Byrne: It was great! I had a perfect day for almost all of it. Just a little foggy in one section at 8am between Oakwood and Table mountain. After that it cleared up and I had sunny blue skies, cooled down in the evening time nicely which helped me keep pushing right to the end.

Fast Running: Why do you think you were able to take so much time off the previous mark.

GB: I suppose the main reason would be I put a lot of effort into recces, I probably spent 100’s of hours on the route over the last year since Joe (The Stringbean) broke the record, running and walking around the looking for the faintest of deer, sheep or hiking tracks.

So it helped knowing the route so well, that also conditioned my legs and ankles for the rough ground. I’m definitely not as fit or as fast as I could be but that didn’t matter.

FR: So you trained specifically for the round? What else really helped?

GB: Yes I suppose I did. My knowledge of the route helped and not having to take out a map because it was a clear day. I did have a sheet of notes and bearings to get me around. Also having a crew for the first time ever helped, just to fill bottles and hand me whatever I need. They did a top job! Plus at every crossing there was someone new to cheer me on, which was nice.

I’ve never really fuelled correctly during an ultra but this one I did. I mainly used high5 energy drink and energy gummies(both for the first time ever). Breaking the number one rule of using nothing new I suppose. High5 was great! Wouldn’t mind them on my side in future.

Plus used I Clif bloks and Cadbury’s mini rolls and fudge bars. Fueling well definitely helped, normally i just wing it, but not this time.

FR: Were there any low points, how did you get through them?

GB: Strangely enough no there wasn’t, not one!

I’ve had poor runs before but this one was perfect. As the hours went by I just got stronger and stonger. I wasn’t chasing anyones’ splits. I had noted Paddy’s and Shane’s previous record at certain points, but they weren’t targets. I was there to run at my effort level and feel, which worked a treat!

FR: What about the shoes on your feet?

GB: I used an old pair of Salomon Elevate for the first 12 hours then switched to Salomon Sense 6 SG. I had serious foot issues in a 200k trail race in Kerry before after I got soaked feet, so I didnt want that again. I wouldn’t recommend the Elevate for this challenge, they’re too soft! That pair have been retired since the Round.

FR: Any tips for anyone else doing the round?

GB: Picking a nice day helps a lot. I crewed for Paddy O’Leary on the April 13th and the weather was brutal! I don’t know how he finished, it was really cold and extremely windy, don’t think it rained though.

Also remember to just enjoy it. Logistically, it will help a lot to get a few recce’s done. That’s if it’s possible for you. If you’re aiming to break the record or just complete under 24hrs, knowing the ground and having an idea of where you’re going can really help.

Happy to help someone out if I can with questions or whatever.

FR: How are you feeling after the challenge?

GB: No serious issues in anyway, I was walking normal enough the next day.

Just the usual fatigue after an ultra, tight muscles and out of breath after a light 300m jog, not sleeping properly and waking at random hours. Knocked out an easy 10 miler on Thursday after it, felt rough at the start but okish at the end.

FR: Anything you’d do differently if you went again?

GB: I hate saying it but no. I feel everything went to plan on the day.

FR: Whats next?

GB: Well the big one is the TDS in August. That will be my first time in the Alps so can’t wait see how I fair out over there.

I’m down to run the Wicklow Way this weekend but I’ll see how I am nearer the day. [Turns out Gavin will be starting this weekend, so hopefully I’ll hear all about the Round there – Robbie]

FR: Last question, do you reckon sub 15 is posssible?

GB: Definitely! I’m no where near the fastest mountain runner around, I just put the work in for this event, everything went perfect and I got the result. I think I could probably run a sub 15 if everything went as well as it did again. Kind of hoping someone runs 15.01, so if I go back again the target will be sub 15.

Gavin can be followed on Instagram and Strava and hopefully will be running the Wicklow Way next weekend so I can ask him a wee bit more about his Wicklow Round record. If you know anyone at High5 then tell them to get in touch. 

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The post Good lines on the Wicklow Round – Gavin Byrne interview appeared first on Fast Running.

Paddy O’Leary set a stunning new record of 16 hours 27 minutes 20 seconds for the Wicklow Round on Saturday (April 13).

His time broke the 2018 17:09:44 mark set by Joe “Stringbean” McConaughey, who last year went quicker than the 10 year old record of 17:53:45 set by Eoin Keith in May 2009.

The Wicklow Round, created in 2007 by mountain running veteran Joe Lalor, is a looped course covering 26 peaks totalling over 100km with over 6,000m climb. Navigation is by map and compass only.

“A competitor must have sufficient resources and skills to survive in a mountain environment for the duration of the attempt,” states the rules.

The aim is to run the lot in under 24 hours. After feedback from runners, a slightly shorter course knocked 18-20km off the original course, was first run in 2009. It starts and finishes at the Sally Gap and takes in all the big hills of Wicklow, most notably Lugnaquilla.

Before this weekend, a total of 21 attempts, some run by pairs and trios, had succeeded in breaking 24 hours on the current course. Joe “Stringbean” McConaughey is one of only three individuals to have finished in under 20 hours; the others being Adrian Hennessy who made it in June 2016 and Eoin Keith’s long standing record.

Such is the spirit of the mountain running community in Ireland McConaughey was actually supported throughout by previous record holder Keith when he broke the record and O’Leary seems to have made a point of meeting and getting involved with the local running scene as well.

“What an amazing adventure around the Wicklow Mountains,” said O’Leary afterwards on social media. “The conditions made for an interesting day, socked in with 50m visibility fog for the first nine summits, and a howling wind all day long that always seemed to be in my face (except for the last 2k of sprinting to the finish thankfully).

“I’ll have many great memories to share. Though the highlight was the consistent support and cheers from my crew, my friends and family, the IMRA community and the greater running community all day long.”

RELATED: The Irish runner you may not know with Olympics dreams

Karina Jonina is the women’s record holder having run 22:37:43 in May 2017 when she broke Moire O’Sullivan’s 2009 record.

There were four successful “rounds” in 2009 and then a gap until 2012 when just one attempt succeeded. There were two in 2013 and then another gap until 2015 when there were five successful attempts, followed by four in 2016, one in 2017 and four in 2018. That included a winter “round” last December by Paul O’Callaghan, who already has a summer round to his credit from 2016.

O’Leary, an ex-Irish international lacrosse player, with sporting roots in Wexford GAA has enjoyed considerable success since taking up trail running after a move to the USA.

He was top Irish finisher at the World Trail Championships in Spain last year and, on the roads, knocked off a 2 hrs 20 mins marathon. The Wicklow Round, he was hoping his first 18 years of “traipsing through the bogs of Bree searching for stray heifers” would stand to him on the day. They did!

Eoin Keith meanwhile was at the other end of the earth a week earlier for the UTMB Ushuaia Fin del Mundo, Argentina, with races from 35km to 130km in distance taking place between April 5-7.

Keith got a late entry for the 130km ultra on April 6 and was aiming for a podium finish in the M50 category. He duly finished second M50 and eighth overall in 17 hours 31 mins 16 secs. Winner was Jason Schlarb of the USA in 15:26.35.

Roads

Hiko Tonosa of Dundrum South Dublin AC and Catherina Mullan from Metro St Brigid’s AC took the men and women’s titles at the National 10km Championships held in conjunction with the Great Ireland Run in Dublin’s Phoenix Park on Sunday (April 14).

Photo: Lindie Naughton

Tonosa and national cross country champion Kevin Dooney proved the class of the field in the men’s race, battling it out all the way to the line in bitterly cold conditions.

In the end, Tonosa had the edge winning by three seconds in a time of 30:41 with Dooney clocking 30:44.

Finishing third and first M45 was Declan Reed of City of Derry Spartans in 31:07. Conán McCaughey of North Belfast Harriers and Peter Arthur of Liffey Valley AC finished fourth and fifth and Peter Arthur of City of Derry Spartans sixth.

Mullen won the women’s title in 34:52 with Barbara Cleary of Donore Harriers second and first W45 in 35:17 and Grace Lynch of Iveragh AC third in 35:32.

In the master categories, Mayo AC’s Colette Tuohy was first W50, with her club mate PaulineMoran first W60. Winning the W55 age group was Niamh O’Sullivan of An Riocht AC.

In the men’s master categories, Dermot Hayes of Dundrum AC was first M50, Paul Cowhie of Civil Service AC first M55, and Johnny Feery of Tullamore Harriers first M60.

Best of the women’s senior teams were Mullingar Harriers, with Metro St Brigid’s second and Rathfarnham WSAF third. City of Derry Spartans took the men’s senior title ahead of North Belfast Harriers and Raheny Shamrock.

In the well-supported master categories, Donore Harriers proved best of the over 35 women, followed by Mayo AC and Le Cheile AC; best W50 team was Mayo AC, who have dominated this category for a number of years.

Rathfarnham WSAF not only had a clear win in the M35 age group, ahead of Newbridge AC and Sportsworld AC, but also won the M50 category, with Civil Service AC second and Mullingar Harriers third.

Winners of the Dromina 10 Mile in Co Cork on Sunday were Rory O’Connor of North Cork AC in 53:55 and Linda Byrne of Dundrum South Dublin AC in 63:23.

Donore Harriers’ Sinead Lambe ran 18:25 at the Malahide parkrun to record the fastest women’s time across Ireland on Saturday, while English runner Jon-Jo Doherty was the quickest man after running 16:20 at the Buncrana event in County Donegal.

The parkrun top 10 can be found here.

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The post Paddy O’Leary smashes Wicklow Round record – weekend round-up appeared first on Fast Running.

He may be better versed hurtling over the trails, but after his 2:20:42 performance at the California International Marathon (CIM), Paddy O’Leary will now give some serious thought to targeting the marathon standard for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games.

The prospect of competing internationally in dual running disciplines is only one of the talking points in the relatively unknown Irish ultra runner’s story.

A novice to the sport, O’Leary only started running seriously three years ago and jumped straight into the trails, mountains and ultra running.

Intriguingly, his participation in December’s CIM was not planned, and only happened as a result of a devastating Camp Fire that wreaked havoc across northern California.

In the months prior, O’Leary had been training specifically for a 50 mile ultra trail race with 10,000ft of climbing, but, due to the poor air quality caused by the fires, that race was cancelled.

He was left with a predicament. Accept his season was over and have a break before regrouping for 2019, or find a race to at least put the work from training to good use. His legs did need a run-out, right?

So who is Paddy O’Leary?

The 30 year-old was born and raised in Wexford, Ireland. Growing up, like most Irish teenagers, he played a lot of team sports, primarily Gaelic football, before excelling in lacrosse at University College Dublin.

After relocating to American shores in late 2013 to take up a research position at the University of California, San Francisco, he jokingly says he “fell in with a bad crowd” of ultra and trail runners.

“The people I run with are all mountain, trail and ultra runners, and I felt very drawn to that side of running when I moved out to America,” he tells Fast Running. “In San Francisco we have an unbelievable playground in our backyard with some of the best trails across the country.

“That just opened my eyes to the ground you can cover with your own two feet and I was hooked after that.”

Running on the mountains and trails was a fun pastime during his first couple of years stateside.

However, that would soon change.

By 2015, the incremental signs of improvement were enough to awaken O’Leary’s love for competitive sport once more, and he felt called to get serious about training and racing.

Over the next couple of years, that competitive streak saw O’Leary compete and challenge the front end of various 100km and 50 miler races. The progress he made in those short couple of years did not go unnoticed and at the start of 2018 he made his Irish debut at the Trail Running World Championships.

Photo: K. Kortebein

A change of plans

Jump forward to autumn, and the talented ultra runner aimed to close out this year’s racing at The North Face Endurance Challenge in Marin Headlands, California on November 17.

However, after months of training for the 50 mile trail race, his plans were thwarted at the last moment due to the fires in northern California.

“I had already been tapering at the start of November for the 50 miler, but then the race was cancelled,” he explains. “I still wanted to run a race, and a good friend of mine, Tim Tollefson, who is an ultra runner for Hoka, connected me with the elite coordinators of the CIM.

“It was kind of tricky to get a place because this was the US Championships, but I managed to get a spot.

“I then had two weeks to get ready for the road marathon, but because the smoke was still pretty bad, I did two or three big tempo workouts on a treadmill, which was kind of soul sucking.

“Thankfully the smoke began to clear up a week and a half before the race and I managed one big run outside and a couple of speed sessions.”

So after months preparing – both physically and mentally – for an ultra trail race, O’Leary got ready – in what little time he had – for a road marathon.

Race day came and in his own words he “wanted to push my limits and risk having a bit of carnage at the end”. It paid off, and, having never specifically trained for a road race, O’Leary now has a 2:20:42 marathon best.

It took a huge 10 minute off his debut 2:30:34 at the 2017 Boston Marathon. Again, this was something he did not specially train for as he was in the midst of mountain training.

“My time at the CIM was a big surprise of course, although I did approach the race with cautious optimism of running a fast time, even though I was training for the longer ultra race,” he says. “I felt I had a time like that in me, but I also approached the race with no expectations whatsoever.

“I have done a lot of speed work over the last year and a half. That gave me the confidence to know I was capable of knocking a couple of minutes off my Boston time. I was delighted to take 10 minutes off and get in that 2:20 range.

“Reflecting on the race, I was 140th after one mile and by the finish line I was 68th. I have to be happy with that, it’s just the lack of training caught up with me in the end.”

The CIM itself was won in a time of 2:12:39. However, because the race incorporated the US Championships, a huge depth of talent was in town, and O’Leary’s 2:20:42 performance only saw him finish 68th overall.

In comparison, the same time would have ranked 15th in this year’s London Marathon or 26th in 2017.

It should be noted that the course is point-to-point and has a net downhill, but that does not take anything away from the performance. The CIM is a Boston Marathon and US Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier after all.

The cross country factor

O’Leary credits running in the Bay Area’s cross country circuit as a major contributing factor in the huge strides he has made during his short running career.

“The race I was meant to do, The North Face Endurance Challenge, is a long fast 50 miler, so I used cross country quite a lot to train for it over the autumn,” he says. “I have been running cross country in the US for the last two years, and my speed and mental attitude to racing has vastly improved from that short fast racing.

“After the 50 miler was cancelled and I jumped into the CIM, the quick running in cross country really carried me through the road marathon.”

When asked about the cross country conditions and level of competition he adds: “There is a variety to it. Several of the courses would be fairly flat, but there is also one or two that head up into the hills and would incorporate a good bit of climbing. There is no muck in California though.

“Out of all the post collegiate circuits in the US, the Pacific Association in Northern California would be one of the strongest. You have a lot of former NCAA All American athletes and a lot of Olympic trial qualifiers jumping into the cross country races.

“As an ultra runner it is really fun to hold my own with them. Our team, which is all ultra or trail runners, is strong and we are able to compete, which was great.”

Future plans

O’Leary has one more year as an oncology postdoctoral researcher at UCSF. After that, he would like to take a step back from full-time work and predominantly focus on running for a few years.

“I am thinking about moving back to Europe, likely towards the mountains, so in the Alps regions,” he says. “I would love to do a full season of mountain racing in Europe and also to be closer to home and be more involved with the Irish mountain running scene.”

In terms of his immediate running future, his 2:20 marathon performance – having never trained for a road race – has opened up his eyes to the potential of a dual running career on the trails/mountains and roads.

“It has definitely crossed my mind and giving the next Olympics a shot is something to think about,” he enthuses. “My time ranks me as the 11th fastest in Ireland this year, but I know I would have to get down to the low 2:17 / high 2:16 to be at all eligible for Tokyo 2020.

“However, my time at the CIM has certainly given me a lot of hope and optimism to what I might be capable of after a block of proper training for the roads.”

Now back in Ireland for the Christmas break, O’Leary intends to give a lot of consideration towards planning his 2019 season.

Somewhere at the top of his list is whether or not to dedicate a few months of training solely to road running and target an autumn marathon.

“For 2019 I was always aiming to run my first 100 mile race, specifically the UTMB around Mount Blanc in France/Switzerland,” he explains. “That was my initial plan, but now I am considering taking a step back from the trails later in the year to really try and knock more off my road marathon time.

“If I do run a marathon next year I might aim for New York in November or CIM again in December.

“However, I won’t commit yet, because I could go completely the other direction and stay on the trails for the World Trail Long Distance Championships, which take place in Argentina in November. So that is attracting me too.

“They will be both brilliant to do, but it’s a nice problem to have.”

Whatever he decides over the coming months, it will be his decision, but one thing that is already confirmed, O’Leary’s has a bright future ahead of him on all terrains.

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The post The Irish runner you may not know with Olympics dreams appeared first on Fast Running.