Landrover G4 Selections
Landrover G4 Challenge 
Well. Back again after what has been a crazy few weeks. Ahh the ups and downs of competition! The Landrover G4 Challenge was great! It was freezing cold all weekend, -8 degrees on Sunday night, but I must say, the Irish group were so friendly and we had a lot of fun together.
However, it was very difficult to know what the criteria for being selected was, and I think the eventual selected were just as surprised as everyone else! But I had been warned about this before. I felt as though my physical performance was good, I felt good all weekend, I had just come back from a foot injury and was happy that I could actually run. The first day was great, we were busy all weekend with initiative tasks, physical challenges (think ‘Strong Man’ competitions) which were short anaerobic bursts (very different to the usual 2-5 hour training sessions I normally do) and off-road driving. I felt confident and knew that my performance was one of the best. I beat all the girls and a lot of the guys on the mountain biking section, and I felt I did pretty good on the night navigation too! Ironically I was grouped with Caitríona Jennings, I had spent years rowing internationally with her sister, Sinead. We really got along great and she is as competitive as her sister! We pushed each other a lot. The other two guys on our team were great too and we really worked great together on the team tests.
The off-road driving was amazing. I never thought I’d be given keys to a brand new HSE Landrover and given full responsibility for driving it through and up, and over anything in its path. We even learned how to winch! Which for me, was one of the highlights.
So, I was disappointed I didn’t get through, but I also realised that it wasn’t meant to be, and it isn’t a reflection of my physical strength/endurance or teamwork. I have a lot of plans anyway for 2009 and now I can concentrate on those.
So! On to the next challenge! Which is…The Art O’Neill Challenge on the 9th of January. Gearóid Towey has taken this one under his wing and with my help and Vanessa Lawrenson also. A challenge in aid of the Stuart Mangan Appeal, it involves a 52km hike/ultra run, you decide, from Dublin Castle all the way to Grenane in Co. Wicklow. At least it will provide a focus for Christmas training which will be spent in Kerry on bikes and running.
Febuary and I’m debating on the Trail Blanche. There is a nice group of Irish runners going and I’d like to try my hand at the 52km run.
Long term ,I hope to get an entry into the Jeantex Trans Alpes Mountain Biking Race, we are working on it! I would love to do a long international bike race next summer. As it transpires I may be spending the next year in Switzerland anyway, for work, so it may transpire I’ll be familiarizing myself and my bike with the Swiss Alpes on a very regular basis!
Bring it on!
