Da Cooley Thriller 2012

[Paul]

Whose doing the thriller this year..? 50km of fun and pain  Its on in just over a week on sat 18th Aug

http://www.runireland.com/events/da-cooley-thriller-xc-mtb-marathon

[RobK]

I'm signed up. really enjoyed it last year.

[Chopper]

If i have a bike ill do it

[Paul]

Anymore doing da cooley..?

Anyone who hasnt done it before, its well worth heading up for the adventure.....no harm downloading the gps file for your Garmin as people have been known to get lost up there..! 

Also there are usually a couple of feed stations, so bring your spare bottles and stick them in container at the sign-on and they will be brought up to the feed station for you....make sure you mark/label your bottles with your name.

[James]

I'm going, this could be my last chance to race in a national champs jersey:-)   I presume you can enter on the day?

no harm downloading the gps file for your Garmin as people have been known to get lost up there..! 

This is an understatement!!!!!  I haven't done the Thriller which is marked better but I've got lost at least once every time I've raced up there.  The open nature of the terrain makes it easy to miss turns when your racing hard.  Paul you'll be fine because you race slowly:-)

[Paul]

I've got lost at least once every time I've raced up there

Your legendary sense of direction may have played a part in this 

[James]

Slag me off will ya... your lucky I can never find your house!

[Paul]

The weather looks good for tomorrow....pretty hot it seems.!

Anyone know where the Foy center is and where the parking is.?

[RoseG]

Foy center is up a little past the church on the opposite side of the road....i think! Well thats where it started from last year anyway! Parking is just along the road side. Just as you drive into Carlingford take the little one way street on your left hand side and follow this around to the left and then straight up the hill, you'll see the church on your right hand side.

Good luck to everyone that's heading up.......enjoy the spin 

[Colt Seavers]

See you all there in the morning

[Paul]

You must be all to tired or tramuatised to write anything...lol. Well, that was a tough day at the office yesterday..!! Great weather but very difficult course conditions, the muck and bog just made the 1700mts of climbing that bit harder and leg draining..!! Organising was as you would expect, great craic before and after, good food and cake, showers, even if they were a bit Baltic.!! I think you need to be in the top 10 for a hot shower... Course marking is always a bit dodgy up there and as a few people got lost or took short cuts and were disqualified, i think that end of things needs to be improved.! Again results can be dodgy also..

As for the club, we had a great turnout....About 25 up for the race and good craic throughout..! We had 5 on the podium yesterday.. James, Craig, Domnick, Adam and Cora. Well done folks.!  
Special mention to Adam & Cora.! Adam at 12 years old (i think) completing the 21km short course in 2nd place which was a great result..! And also Cora, coming in 3rd on the short course in her first event..! Well done.!  

Actually, i think everyone who completed it deserves a medal as it was the toughest Cooley thriller to date..! So well done all..!  

Some images of the day, pay particular attention to John Kelly for his spectular dismount and to Ian for collecting more goober points..!!  



A rare fall from McLuskey


Dave getting stuck in the mud




Prob photo of the day, ex IMBRC'er Kev Stanley


Big Jack powers into the mud..!




Duffer and Anto try not to laugh..!  




9.9 for John Kelly  




Photos courtesy of Mark Lacey at Pixels Promotions

[DaveyD]

Great job by all who got on the podium, actually all who finished!
Tough day alright, that cramp inducing schlomp was nearly bringing tears to my eyes. Never happier to see that last climb.
I'd love to go on a rant about the signage as I managed to loose glen as he and someone from epic took a wrong turn, which by the way had a sign directing them!!!!! but 3 meters on had another sign pointing another way! But I'll say no more, as in fact there was a little more effort put in to markings this year than other years. I wont mention too much about it being the most expensive race either at €30, I could be overreacting but was there cash prizes for the winners?

Anyway well done to everyone, I was happy enough with my finishing time considering the conditions and lack of water! Where was that 2nd feed stop again? the windy gap!! Oh yeah that would be 40K ish to those that are not locals, 10k with no water hurt my soul! for some silly reason I thought it was around 30-35k.

Well done Cuchulain cc, legenday race
Roll on next year
where I'll do Support!!

[craig_s]

Well done to all the IMBRCer's who got on the podium fair play to you all. 

Just to set the record straight I didn't take 3rd in Masters or the prize as I went wrong somewhere on the course so told Johnny McCabe I should be down as DNF. Only realised something was wrong when I finished ahead of people I hadn't past out.
Don't want to start giving out about the marking of the course too much, but If you’re paying €30 for a race a few extra markers at the critical areas is not too much to ask for.

[Glen]

Yeah, got to agree lads, route marking was a bit poor in places, I took a wrong turn an had to backtrack a couple of km to get back on route too. Thought they should've had marshals around the route checking numbers and recording times to ensure places we're recorded correctly. An that second feed station was like an oasis in the desert, by the time I got there I was totally dehydrated, seen people drinking outta streams on the mountain coz they were that thirsty.All in though it was a great event and the chuchulainn lads did a good job, savage amount of organisation needed for an event like that. Unbelievable amount of climbing and seen some amount of people snotting themselves on those mucky single track sections, myself included . Will defo give it a go again next year....once the weathers a bit drier beforehand though.

[Ian]

Well that was pure torture, don't know what was worse the climbs or having to listen to Aidan for over 6 hours straight
Could not get any grip in that schlomp and was so tired I was falling even more often then I usually do. Me and Aidan took a wrong turn by missing a marker and had to back track to get back on course, very annoying Tied up with Tom and Sean for the 2nd half and all of us did nothing but moan like a gang of oul'ones for 3 hours.
Ran outta water about 10k before the feedstation and felt like giving up when I seen how far we'd to go to get there. The final descent was brilliant and almost made up for all the earlier pain.

Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it for me and I probably shouldn't admit to this but what happened me next will probably win me the title of goober of the year. On the M1 driving at 120km/hr my lovely bike flew off the roof of my car and after a couple of nasty bounces landed in the central median of the motorway Had the clamp locked but the jaws worked loose and the bike said bye bye. Thank jaysus there wasn't a car behind me as I would have been on the 9'oclock news last night for causing a massive pile up. Good oul Aidan braved the traffic and ran across the motorway to pull it out of the bushes and luckily enough there wasn't too much damage

I'll get my coat....