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Ireland's Newest Adventure Race

MONDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2010


Cork, Ireland - There’s a quiet revolution happening on the roads, mountains, lakes and rivers of Ireland....... a running adventure race to suit every level and standard of fitness. This running phenomena which has taken Ireland by storm in the past 2/3 years is unprecedented. Previously, Ireland based marathon runners had a handful of marathons to choose from within the island of Ireland including the Dublin, Cork and Belfast marathons. With marathon organisers reporting phenomenal increases in participant numbers, every Irish city now boasts its own marathon and many town and country regions also; including the continental Europeans’ favourite Connemarathon - www.connemarathon.com. Half marathons have cropped up everywhere too and there’s even the Athlone ¾ (marathon) - athlone3quarter.com

Triathlon Ireland (www.triathlonireland.com) has exploded in popularity boasting double digit growth since 2007. In the past five years, they have grown from humble beginnings of 30 events and less than 600 members to a now impressive131 events annually with almost 5,000 members.

Adventure races are now the popular multi discipline sport of choice. Westport hosts the infamous GaelForce West adventure race (www.gaelforceevents.com/west) with 3,000 registered entrants (it started with 700 in the 2007 inaugural event) for what is now claimed to be the world’s largest one day adventure race of its kind.

Ireland’s newest adventure race to come on stream is MonsterMAC www.monstermac.ie. Says Paul Mahon of Multi Sport Adventure Ireland – one of the race organisers: “this exciting adventure race boasts a challenging variety of trail running, road biking, mountain hiking and a unique kayaking around a crannog lake (whats that you might well ask!!!) as well as an option to dash or dunk to the finish line.” The opportunity to kayak in a lake incorporating an island with crannog structure is a first in the adventure race arena and one that many adventure race enthusiasts are looking forward to next year.

Coming as it does at the relatively early part of 2011, MonsterMAC’s EXPERT distance will offer the experienced athletes an ideal warm up opportunity for the bigger challenges later in the summer (i.e. 64km incorporating a peak of 644m above sea level). The shorter SPORT distance (i.e. 35km on and off road) offers beginners with an excellent opportunity to complete their first adventure race incorporating running, biking and kayaking in the unique Millstreet Country Park.

This inaugural race event, hosted in this yet underexplored backdrop, will be the first time such an adventure has been hosted in this scenic unspoilt mountain region of North Cork, a short distance outside the country town of Millstreet.

Source: www.prlog.org

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