Wicklow men spend 58 hours in subzero conditions to land podium spot
MICHAEL DOWLING AND JOHNNY CONWAY BATTLED HARD FROSTS AND SNOW STORMS TO SHINE IN ONE OF BRITAIN’S TOUGHEST TRAIL RACES, REPORTS JESSICA LAMB
AFTER more than two days and nights of brutal running in Arctic-like conditions, two Wicklow men have finished together, in joint third, in one of Britain’s most gruelling endurance races.
Michael Dowling, whose family run the Glenmalure Lodge, and Johnny Conway, who hails from Moneystown, arrived at the finish of the Montane Winter Spine Challenger North together, having run 160 miles (258km) across the UK’s Pennine Mountains.
Enduring hard frosts, snow storms and treacherously icy conditions, the pair had climbed 5,290m in their challenging journey, descending a further 5,591m as they navigated some of the most difficult trails on the Pennine Way.
It began on Monday, January 15 in the hamlet of Hardraw in North Yorkshire, England at 8am as more than 90 competitors set off in weak sunshine. Just over 44.5 hours later Killarney’s Joe O’Leary won in a new course record that was 16 hours faster than any finisher before him.
Briton Tom Hollins completed seven hours after Joe to be second and after 58 hours, 49 minutes and 58 seconds of racing, Wicklow’s heroes Michael and Johnny crossed the line together at Kirk Yetholm on the Scottish border, then hobbled over to the Border Inn to kiss the stone wall, thus ending their epic challenge.
With Joe, Johnny and Mick joined by a host of other top Irish runners in the line-up, things had begun jovially, Mick joking “that it was like Cheltenham all over again, we were here to take over”, referring to the dominance of Irish-trained racehorses at Britain’s premier jumps racing festival.
However, the jokes fell away as the cold set in and the frozen ground began to make “mincemeat” of their feet.
“It was cold straight off the bat, from the time we landed in Scotland,” said Mick. “We got to the start line with full gear on, but it was minus and right away you are faced with a good climb, an 8k uphill run. Over the 160 miles, 8k is not too much, so we decided just to get warm that we’d run it.”
Johnny and Mick grew up together, with Mick now being coached by Johnny’s wife Laura O’Driscoll, who joined the friends in the race until seriously injuring her hip at Hadrian’s Wall and being forced to stop because she was concerned she now couldn’t move fast enough to keep warm.
Laura and Johnny had been prepared for the conditions after suffering “absolutely miserable” weather when testing the course in November last year.
“When we did it the weather was horrible, in the race we got to see the views,” said Johnny. “It was nice, in a sadistic kind of way. The last section was the Cheviots. We bivvied in a church for an hour before going up and we got up to the top for sunrise and then were coming down for sunset. The sunset was amazing and we got to experience that in one of the most beautiful parts of England.”
That moment was also one of Mick’s highlight – “it was the only time I got out my phone to take a photo” – but for both nothing could top the energy and generosity of the volunteers and mountain rescue teams camped out on the hills for up to seven days to help freezing, tired and hungry runners.
“You start to smile running into checkpoints, because they are immediately smiling when they see you and they aren’t just waiting at the hut, they come out 100 metres and run with you into the hut,” said Mick. “They are all so welcoming. They’d do anything for you. They take your shoes and socks off, fix up your feet, put them back on and even lace up your shoes. You don’t have to do anything.
“At one hut, Greg’s Hut, he’s making chilli noodles, we got them after being in a snow storm. It was about minus 18 with high winds and we were out there for eight hours. After we arrived we had to sit in there for half an hour with noodles and warm tea.”
That snow storm nearly cracked Johnny.
“Coming off Cross Fell it was about minus 15 wind chill and they actually stopped the race after us because of it. I was absolutely freezing and I was tired. I thought, ‘I could just throw in the towel here’. I closed the eyes and had about three minutes sleep and I got through it.”
Cross Fell, 893m above sea level, is the highest point on the course. The storm that came down was so severe that competitors that had not already left checkpoints were held until it passed. But Mick and Johnny were already running.
They had run together in their first ultra-marathon trail running event too, many moons ago, the Art O’Neill Challenge from Dublin Castle to Glenmalure, when Johnny “Googled how to use a compass about a week before”. The last time they entered, they finished joint fifth.
“You can overcome a lot more obstacles with someone there,” said Mick. “The dark, cold nights are fairly lonesome when you are on your own. It’s just a bit warmer running with someone. With this race, we never said we’d run together, but we never said we wouldn’t either. We each had our dark moment, one or two really bad hours, and we’d pull each other through it. Then I’d have a real high and that would lift Johnny.”
The lowest points came when the frozen terrain hurt most.
“It was harder than running on rocks, because even the grass sections were rutted. It made mincemeat of your feet.”
It took robust mental strength to keep walking out of the checkpoints and after this challenge, Johnny now feels he’s ticked that box.
“I wanted to see how far I could push myself mentally and I fell like I’ve ticked that box now,” he said. “I have a habit of turning into a little monster and having hissy fits with anything over 100k. But this was 160 miles and I’ve done that now.”
At the same time that the Challenger North event is running, so is the Montane Winter Spine Race, which is the full 268 miles (429 km) of the Pennine Way. Mick and Johnny were experiencing a Pennine Way race for the first time this week, but many will ask now if they have their eye on the full route.
Mick “would like to go back”, but would not be drawn on whether that meant the full event, while Johnny ruled out next year, but perhaps not the future.