Galtymore or Galteemore (Irish: Cnoc Mór na nGaibhlte, meaning "big hill of the Galtys") is a 919 m (3015 ft) mountain on the border between counties Limerick and Tipperary. It is the highest of the Galty Mountains and the 14th highest peak in Ireland. The prize for the highest peak is taken by Carrauntoohil in the Macgillycuddy's Reeks range in County Kerry, at 1,038 metres (3,406 ft).
Straight out and back race route.
I have had my eye on this IMRA Mountain Race (IMRA Race Details) for a number of years but it always occurred before the Stockport schools broke up which did not allow me to get back to Tipperary for it. This year however there was a week in between so I informed my wife we were off to Tipperary that weekend.
I tried to reckie the route up Galtymore on a very misting morning last Christmas but the maze of little roads defeated me until I found what I thought was the correct road with a hill where it should be so off I went into the mist. Climbed Cush OK and dropped off the back into the coll between Cush and Galtee Beag still OK but it went pretty wrong after that, why was that lake there and why was I on a ridge that did not seem to make sense on my postage stamp sized map. I just gave up trying to get to the Galteemore sumit and headed directly south to hit a road about a mile from the car so an interesting couple of hours but overall not a very successful outing. Roll on eight months and this time I had my brother so back to the Christmas start point and an hour before the race nobody around. Strange I know there are small fields in Irish races but this is ridiculous my certainty that we were in the correct place was starting to get a bit shaky. Back to the slightly less small road and counting farm entrances suggested we were not not in the correct place, so micro navigating from the car, counting yet more farm entrances brought us to a little hand written sign and arrow “Hill Race” that looks promising. It also explained a lot from Christmas while I thought I was climbing “Cush”, I was in fact climbing Slieve Cushnabinnia, which, in my defence, does have a very similar profile.
Galty More from Galty Beag
IMRA insurance requires all runners to be members so up to registration with my IMRA application form. For one off races in cases like mine they wave the race entry fee so I just had to pay the 10 Euro to join IMRA. It was a mild after noon low cloud base (below 600 metres) so I could wear my Pennine top with pride and not buried below a waterproof. I felt I was in the presence of royalty when Paul Tierney (sub 18 hr. Bob Graham this year and two 3rd place finishes in the Lake Land 100 recognised the Pennine Fell Runners top from the FRA forums and came over to say hello. This was the final of five races in the IMRA Irish Championship so there was some serious individuals around.
The foot path, that follows the very top of the cliff, is Okish for going uphill but I would not fancy running down it as a bad trip to the left would leave very little room to save yourself.
Around the summit and start the return leg. This was the only decent that I would consider myself fast on. The ground was stunted grass and small stones that were just setting on a layer of water. I have great confidence in my Mud-Claws that are made for these conditions. I just shot down a line I had identified on the way up (well away from the cliff) and overtook loads of people who were struggling with grip. The only problem was my line dumped me into knee deep peat in the coll at the bottom that I had to dig myself out of. I accidentally discovered a secret line up to the summit of Galty Beag the the leaders must have taken as there were some mud claw tracks heading down it. The summit of Galty Beag is a short narrow ridge. The natural line off it is to follow the gentle descent east along the line of the ridge. The North and South are both steep drops. Loretto and another bloke hesitated just after the summit but I knew the line was directly south so turn left and hurdle myself down the steep slope. Eventually break out of the mist and a mixed blessing, a faint trod can be seen across the col so the line can be fine tuned but that trod leads to this massive climb up to the summit of Cush, I have absolutely no memory of descending that much on the outward leg. Loretto overtook me yet again on the decent (she is just faster on the down hills) across the col where a foot into a bottomless pit resulted in a lovely face plant. Back on my feet and I had a target I was a faster climber than Loretto so I caught and passed her but I had to keep pushing to get as far ahead as possible because of her faster descending. Across the summit and passed a couple of blokes who were really struggling on the extremely steep decent due to wearing what looked like road shoes. Knowing there were 3 people not far behind me I had a 3 km sprint to the finish. Over the style and I choose to go down the route the majority of the field used on the accent, big mistake
Clean Runners waiting for the "Off"!
The usual pre race safety pep talk then 49 hardy souls set off to the long haul to Galtee summit. Soon after the start the field split into two with about 10 of us following a fence line on a rough track the remainder of the field were 10 metres to our right. I was wondering if I had taken a bad line here but nothing to be done about it now, just remember this for the return as the race was a straight out and back over the summits of Cush, Galty Beag and Galty More. Over the stile and a soft flat section before the steep gradient of Cush.
Cush.
The first serious climb of the day was upon us and we were soon reduced to a walk. This is the first of five climbs today so no killing myself so early. The mid-packers were still fairly close together and I was climbing with a lady, (Loretto Duggan) who would go on to be the ladies winner and Munster champoin. Eventually the first serious climb was over and we had the “short” descent, where Loretto overtook me to the col between Cush and Galty Beag. This was a slog as it was soft and grufs that Kinder would have been proud of! Cross the coll and this wall of Grass and rock appears out of the mist. I can’t say I did not know this was coming so head down and begin the long slog up. Thankfully I had read some old race reports so I knew about the “step”. Approaching it, it looks like the top but it is only an insultingly brief reprieve before the climbing gets worse. Eventually we reach the summit of Galty Beag where the summit marshal shouts words of encouragement from this hideaway behind a rock. Then the badly eroded descent to the quagmire that is the col between Galty Beag ‘agus’ More. Galty More is very much a hill of two halves on the north side it could be in the Pennines but the south side is a vertical cliff straight down to a corrie lake. |
| Cliffs above Lough Curra, with Galtymore on the skyline (mountainviews.ie) |
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| Summit Cross on Galteemore (by John Finn) |
Around the summit and start the return leg. This was the only decent that I would consider myself fast on. The ground was stunted grass and small stones that were just setting on a layer of water. I have great confidence in my Mud-Claws that are made for these conditions. I just shot down a line I had identified on the way up (well away from the cliff) and overtook loads of people who were struggling with grip. The only problem was my line dumped me into knee deep peat in the coll at the bottom that I had to dig myself out of. I accidentally discovered a secret line up to the summit of Galty Beag the the leaders must have taken as there were some mud claw tracks heading down it. The summit of Galty Beag is a short narrow ridge. The natural line off it is to follow the gentle descent east along the line of the ridge. The North and South are both steep drops. Loretto and another bloke hesitated just after the summit but I knew the line was directly south so turn left and hurdle myself down the steep slope. Eventually break out of the mist and a mixed blessing, a faint trod can be seen across the col so the line can be fine tuned but that trod leads to this massive climb up to the summit of Cush, I have absolutely no memory of descending that much on the outward leg. Loretto overtook me yet again on the decent (she is just faster on the down hills) across the col where a foot into a bottomless pit resulted in a lovely face plant. Back on my feet and I had a target I was a faster climber than Loretto so I caught and passed her but I had to keep pushing to get as far ahead as possible because of her faster descending. Across the summit and passed a couple of blokes who were really struggling on the extremely steep decent due to wearing what looked like road shoes. Knowing there were 3 people not far behind me I had a 3 km sprint to the finish. Over the style and I choose to go down the route the majority of the field used on the accent, big mistake
Final Decent
it was a trod about 6 inches wide and a foot deep it was horrible. I was so slow in it and I could hear foot steps and breathing getting closer to be overtaken by Loretto and another bloke 50 metres from the line.
Muddy Finishers and the Ladies winner
The winner was Brian Furey in 89:40 (he was 20th at Snowdon) I came in 2hr 6 minutes in 22 place out of the 49 starters, which I was very happy with. Off to the pub then for a great feast of sandwiches and biscuits washed down by a couple of pints of Guinness.
I have to give a special thanks to the organisers. The difficulty of the race was shown by the number of DNFs and they had to go looking for the lady who ended up spending 5.5 hrs on the hill goes to show the responsibility the organisers take upon themselves, so a very big thank you to Tom Blackburn Et al.
Pennine top in an Irish Race (A First?)
