Granite Peaks Races – The Director’s Cut

Well…it happened…

After weeks and weeks of rainy, high wind weekends the sun shone over the Mourne Mountains, and their magnetic charm drew runners from all corners of the Island to take part in the inaugural Granite peaks races. The 25k for those wishing for a new experience and the ultra for those experienced and looking for a new challenge. Like the website said, “Experience the mysterious & mythical Mourne Mountains landscape as you race across its granite peaks.” Runners from far South, out West and down the East coast joined Northern racers in a day that shone brightly upon them all. We applaud the day; we applaud the racers, and I applaud the organisation that brought this event to life.

Of course there can only ever be one ‘First’; The Granite Peaks Races. And now others will follow (and I do hope that they do) but remember this Granite Peaks is the first true mountain runners ultra in the Mournes, brought to you by NIMRA and we aim high for quality and standards in the mountain running community. I planned for 100 between the two races and many people in the lead up cautioned me that upwards of 70 was a good number for an inaugural event but a last-minute surge of interest brought 130 of you to the starting lines on that Saturday. An excellent outcome. But it meant a few of you didn’t get your mug. But don’t worry we are working on that, and the remainder will get their mugs in due course. (Something to look forward to).

As current NIMRA Chair and the Race Director, naturally I have a bias, and when I say the Granite peaks races are the best that Ireland has to offer, I do mean it. But I’m not blind to criticism nor indifferent to its sincerity so I asked the racers. Since I want you all to believe that granite peaks are the best this country has to offer and with your help that is what it will become. If we got so many things right, we also got a few not quite right, and thank you to all who responded to the post-race survey. All your comments will be considered with respect and the necessary changes enacted ahead of next year’s Granite peaks Races.

Graciously and cautiously, I promised good weather on the day but Wow, was it great, perhaps even better than could have been anticipated but that meant you all needed more water out there than we delivered and my apologies for that. There is only so much you can carry, and we will ensure that next year more marshals with more water will be stationed around the route. In fact, some strategic positions will have marshals, where none sited were this year.

Now I want to end this short view from the RD on a positive note with some thank you messages.

My thanks to racers and their family support, the organising team, volunteer marshals, sponsors, Primal Tracking and to Patricia, whose ideas and positivity from the inception, helped to make these races a great success.

See you all and many more next year.

Ciarán

Race Director

For links to the results visit: https://granitepeaksultra.com/runners-guidebook