Yesterday was Spook Day, the first event was a 30 km long race in Ballyhoura using mostly the official trails. I haven't really done a race since 2010 so this half marathon length was a really good distance for getting back into it, longer than an NPS but shorther than a marathon. After a few KMs I started going well and at around 20kms Id got away from the few bunches I was in and was cruising. The Halloween spirits decided to have some fun though and gave me a flat! Always a great feeling to watch the people you've got ahead of catch up with you and pass you as your pumping your wheel on the side of the track! I got back on and caught up but then it went flat again... and again. I finally got it sorted and just motored on. Enjoyable race overall!
James, predicatable as he is, won the race. Oisin Boydell came second. The motorbike rider leading the race commented that he couldn't keep with James through the race! Dave O'Brien and Jim Haide also raced but Im not sure how they did. Better than me I hope.
At 6 o'clock we had the 11km night race. This was a good bit of craic-- out in the forest on Halloween night. It was handicapped based on your result in the main race. I missed the start and my place in the grid though so I had to go off last with James and Oisin. I managed to catch a few people before the end though. There were lots of nice little spooks through the night race, people jumping out with masks, spooky sound effects in the forest and even a crazy guy with a chansaw! This time Oisin won and James came second. It felt like a fast race.
The long day race and a night race together made for a good day out and a good training session. I think my only complaint would be that some of the race etiquette of some of the riders was "ghoulish" to say the least.
