Entry closed for 2012!
April 1st 2012
Maam Cross, Co Galway
Not long until April 1st!
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I can't say enough good things about the organisers and the brilliant people who manned the aid stations, thanks indeed for one of the best and most memorable days ever. Looking forward to 2008! (after another day or two sitting down)
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Just have to let you know, what a great day we had today. Well done. Really enjoyed the marathon well organised. Even the weather how did you do it. It was a great day.
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Thanks for a great day on Sunday, really enjoyable and very well organized. Overall the organisers did one hell of a job in organising this great event and as far as I'm concerned it was a fantastic day and I'll definitely be back.
Ultra Marathon Course Record
Tue, 20/04/2010David Kirkland smashes Connemara Ultra Course Record
In the buildup to the 2010 Connemara Ultra Marathon, David Kirkland from Kielder in the UK, ran a personal best of 2 hours and 23 minutes in a marathon in Italy. Speaking before the race he mentioned his disappointment with the time as he was directed the wrong way on more than one occasion during the race. David's focus through winter training was to break the Ultra Marathon Course Record. His splits tell the story... 1:19:08; 1:19:42; 1:24:39 for a 4:03:29 finish and a NEW COURSE RECORD.
His comment after the race - 'it was a wonderful day, from the camaraderie on the bus to the start, the race itself, to the very welcome and tasty refreshments at the end! It was wonderful to breath in such clean air, much better than big city marathons run in traffic fumes. The scenery was almost too distracting! Two special moments for me were running through the full and half marathon starts en route and receiving such amazing support from the other runners, interrupting their own pre-race preparations to encourage me on my way - it was a big help and I'd thank them all personally if I could!'. We hope David returns to take on the battle again next year and be the first person to break the 4 hour barrier.
While David was focused on the record Dennis Walmsley, also from the UK, was in hot pursuit. Denis raised the bar in 2004 running a blistering pace to set the Ultra Marathon Course Record at 4 hours and 10 minutes. He was in full training at the time for the World 100K Championships and hadn't really targeted Connemara. This year however, Dennis was fully trained, rested and ready to give the record another crack. Running the first 26.2 miles in an incredible 2 hours and 43 minutes the record looked to be in sight but the last 13 miles slowly took their toll. Dennis stuck to the task and held on to 2nd place just 3 minutes ahead of last year's Ultra Marathon Champion, Vasilly Neumerzhitskiy - What a race!
Photo by: Daniel Kowalczyk
