Aran Lynham, member of Glendalough AC and Laragh local, is taking on a 100 km version of our course for charity. This will be Aran’s first foray into ultra running and the 100 km distance (why start easy!) and 10 members of local sports clubs including Laragh GFC and Glendalough AC will assist as pacers/company throughout.
As part of his training he ran 5 km warmup plus our marathon race on the 18th of May finishing a very credible 22nd in 3:40.
Aran will begin at the exact marathon start line at 5 am on Saturday morning (the 8th of June) aiming to complete a 12 hour schedule crossing the official finish line at the Brockagh Centre in Laragh around 5 in the afternoon.
The expanded route
The ‘expanded’ Lap of the Gap follows the marathon course to Sally Gap before continuing towards the Blessington Lakes via Kippure Bridge. Crossing the reservoir near Doran’s Pit, Aran’s journey will take him north-east past Kilbride into Glenasmole and past the Bohernabreena Reservoir.
The next part of the journey takes him through Featherbed forest and the tough climb past Glencree and the two Lough Brays back up to Sally Gap. From here he rejoins our marathon course and follows it the remaining 19.6 km back to the Brockagh Centre in Laragh (and yes – he will hit that School Lane climb with 99.6 km in his legs!).
The full route features 100.2 km worth of distance – 60 km longer than our marathon and with another 1164 m worth of climbing.
The extended route features some significant new climbs such as the nearly 8 km of net uphill out of Kilbride to near Blackhill followed by a rapid 7 km descent into Glenasmole. After some respite in this valley, a nearly 10 km of net uphill follows to The Featherbeds – the fabled start and end point of the Wicklow Rounds. Another 3 km descent to Lower Lough Bray provides the final break on the extension before another 2 km climb takes Aran to the Liffey Head Bridge.
From here-on in the course is net downhill (yes – you DESCEND to Sallygap in this route!) – but all the late kickers our marathoners experience will be waiting for Aran in the final part including Hill 16 (after 84 km not 16 miles this time!) and the vaunted Oldbridge Bank at 94 km.
SCHEDULE
Aran will hope to arrive at Sallygap around 7:15 am and in Blessington around a quarter past 9 before being up at Featherbeds at quarter past 1 and returning to Sallygap shortly before 3 pm. All going well he’ll have just over 2 hours to complete the return down to Laragh.
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