- Russ Ladkin, Team CamRacers

 

 

When a small team of event organizers and racers decided it was time Ireland had its own expedition-length adventure race, they chose to call it The Turas, meaning journey. Impressed by their commitment and vision, it was accepted into the World Series in its first year. Last week, 18 teams representing 11 countries battled it out each on their own journeys of discovery across South West Ireland chasing a share of the Euro 100,000 prize fund and a place in the World Championships.  The course that was delivered and the organization behind it showed that the World Series status was well deserved.

 

 

 

The 500km+ course visited every major peninsula of South-West Ireland

 

 

Expedition adventure races involve an extended race over several days usually without scheduled stops. Mixed teams of four navigate through a course of many disciplines. Transition points are designated where boxes packed by the team are delivered. This can comprise of food, clothes, bikes, boats or other equipment. Sleep also becomes a key factor. Beyond this framework, each event moulds its own format and challenges. For Team CamRacers, I was captaining three experienced athletes, all new to expedition races.

 

 

 

Team CamRacers: Maria, Russ, Tarquin, Tim

 

 

The Turas chose to use all five major peninsulas of the South West  in a journey of over 500 km. In Dingle, the race formalities, kit checks and transition box packing was performed, prior to a prologue. This was a mini-expedition in its own right. From the seafront we cycled up 600m elevation on a 25 km route up Slievanea Mountain with a rapid cross country descent to a transition back at sea level before a 10km trek over the 952m Brandon Mountain and a 12km sea paddle past spectacular cliffs and sightings of Fungie the famous Dingle dolphin. We came in happy with 11^th place.

 

 

 

 

Spectacular hillside downhill MTB in the prologue

 

 

The race restarted from Schull with a 30km sea kayak in two person sea kayaks. The ambitious route to Clear Island was amended to give more shelter from the strong winds but there was no avoiding the stretch along Long Island against wind and tide. Some teams portaged early to avoid the confused swell around Castle point and gained places. We stuck with it but capsized in the choppy conditions. The combination of a slow self-rescue, proximity to rocks and cold teammates caused two of our team to be pulled out by the rescue boat. This made us unranked within the race but we rejoined the course as a team at the orienteering stage. For the rest of the teams, they had a portage across The Mizen peninsula and a further short paddle from Dunmanus Bay to Kilcrohane. As the weather worsened, later teams were bussed around this part.

 

 

At Kilcrohane, there was a change of pace to a technical 12km orienteering course made more difficult for the later teams out in the dark. Everyone was cycling through the night though for 100km on minor roads towards Gougane Barra in the rain.  Here, as at every transition, we were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd managing the transition and coming to see the race. I have never seen so many people involved in one race and before the end, local communities were already starting to talk about further developing adventure activity infrastructure. We took our first short sleep here, just over 24 hours into the race. The Gougane Barra Hotel opened their doors to dripping wet racers, feeding them and showing them to rooms to sleep. In this atmosphere it was impossible to give up.

 

 

 

 

Across the rugged hills of County Kerry after the weather clears

 

 

Rejuvenated, we set out on the first of the two long treks, in the worst weather of the race - wind, rain and poor visibility for 50 km along the ridges of the Beara peninsula. It was tough underfoot with virtually no paths or tracks and man-eating boulders covered in heather and bracken. Several of the slower teams, including ourselves missed a cut off time and were diverted to a shorter course, missing some of the following stages. Meanwhile the full course teams struggled cramps and cold water to work together across a 2000m swim, before coming to a halt, awaiting daylight at 05:00am Thursday for the coastal rowing stage. The clock didn’t stop so the only advantage in arriving early was to get more sleep. It was rumoured Orion Health(NZ) found a B&B while Wilsa Helly Hansen(France), Salomon Crested Butte(USA), Lundhags(Sweden), Sport 2000 Lafuma(France), Aberdeen Asset Management(UK) and Sport New Zealand(NZ) camped out. For these teams the real race began at dawn.

 

 

 

A 2km sea swim after limited sleep tested teams stamina

 

 

The seven teams set out in coastal rowing boats, a discipline unique to the Turas, in the hands of experienced local coxes. Landing at The Sneem Hotel, they assembled their bikes for a 70km ride. Orion and Wilsa Helly Hansen gained minutes from having constructed large bike boxes that could take a bike almost in one piece.

 

 

 

Coastal Rowing was a new discipline to most

 

 

The cycle finished at Portmagee followed by a 12km trek around Valencia Island. By early afternoon, Orion, Wilsa and Sport 2000 had carved a 15 minute lead. An 8km paddle around the old Fort and across Valencia Harbour into Cahersiveen caused none of the earlier weather related problems and then teams were once more in the MTB saddles. The race logistics were faultless. Everything arrived in the right places on time.

 

 

 

Snatching a 20 minute powernap on the hill

 

 

At each transition, written amendments to the course were presented and the team captain signed to acknowledge them. At this transition at the start of the ride, it was explained that the zip wire in the final trek had been cancelled and moved to a new location. This grid reference when plotted was on the next cycle stage, but this was not explicitly stated. Two teams, Sport 2000 and Adventure Sport NZ failed to grasp this. After a tough ride up to Teermoyle Mountain at 760m, Sport 2000 arrived first at transition in Black Valley to be told they had missed the zipline. After such earth shattering news however both they and Adventure Sport NZ picked themselves up and cycled back along a 30km loop to the zipline in order to stay on the course.

 

 

As we rejoined the route, our first sight of the leaders was them cycling back to the zipline. Orion, Wilsa and Salomon Crested Butte took the lead in canadian canoes along lakes and rivers, a small weir and across the main Lough Leane. This was a beautiful night paddle ending at the lights of Dunloe Castle for a spot of archery before starting the final 30km trek over the highest peaks of Macgillycuddy’s Reeks including a 50m jumar and abseil and spectacular and often scrambly ridges.

 

 

 

The final stage over Macgillycuddy’s Reeks

 

 

With over an hours lead at the start of the trek, Orion would be hard to beat and they made no mistakes. The top three places remained in order but Lundhags made up an hour to overtake Sport 2000 Lafuma in the final kilometres to take 4^th place. Only 6 teams finished the full course, but almost all of the rest completed the shorter version. This is testament to the teams’ perseverance and the way in which the race logistics supported the slower teams. Everyone was safely finished by Friday night with time to rest and enjoy the feast and celebrations on the Saturday Solstice Party.

 

 

Full Course Results

 

Orion Health, New Zealand                      77:33

 

Wilsa Helly Hansen, France                      79:41

 

Salomon Crested Butte, USA                   81:19

 

Lundhags, Sweden                                 82:27

 

Sport2000-Vibram-Lafuma, France           83:02

 

Aberdeen Asset Management, UK            85:03

 

 

At the prize giving, the top three teams received specially made medals and the news that since Orion had already won a place at the World Champs (1^st XPD Australia) and also Wilsa Helly Hansen (1^st Bimbache, Spain), Salomon Crested Butte were being awarded the free entry to this years World Championships in Brazil. Not something they were expecting at all!

 

 

The long list of thanks reflected the sheer number of communities that the organization involved in the race. The organization have learnt a lot from this first event but are not content with just repeating it. Expect a new area and fresh challenges next year, building towards a potential World Championships event in 2010 spanning most of the country including Northern Ireland. With such a warm welcome, good organization and stunning but rugged scenery this event can only go from strength to strength.  As for this CamRacers team, as the blisters start to heal, we are all keen to do more and next time we’ll be aiming to tough it out on the full course.

 

 

Photos from The Turas, Valerie O’Sullivan and Tarquin Cooper.