Galtymore Co Tipperary Ireland July 2012

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Pat Barry

Galtymore (1340 metres climb 12.60 Km distance)

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.

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)

 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.

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?)

Kinder Trog June 2012

 Great day out. Started with meeting IainR from the forum and Sara to show him the last Km of the Trog route so a nice little run and chat. Lots of banter with the large Pennine turnout and comments about me not usually being out on Sundays (I am only too aware of that) This time I did not pull my calf coming off Latern Pike so a great run over the early stages. Heading to Chunel Junction there were two runner just behind me and they never stopped chatting to each other. Do not know what Language it was, not Welsh something Eastern European I reckon, I hope they enjoyed a British Fell Race - they seem to be enjoying it at that early stage anyway! Across the road at Chunel Junction where I got a great pace maker along the flags where I slowly drew in and passed a fellow Pennine Runner Mike.

Then up onto Kinder. I have to admit I am not good on Kinder, I struggle with all of the rocks, I am just not light enough on my feet to skip over them and I got retaken again my Mike. Just before Kinder downfall Rob Taylor went past me like steam train, amazing speed for a pensioner :)(infact for anybody). Weird at Kinder Low end, I was completely alone not a soul to be seen anywhere. I knew the way so just kept going in the correct direction to pick up the flaggs. Passed a comment to the poor sod at the junction of the two flagged paths about pulling the bum job. His understatement of a reply “It is not great”

Misty Conditions on the plateau for the Kinder Trog.

Down to (this year going the correct side of the hill) Edale cross to meet a large group of mountain rescuers stood there. I was just crossing the track when there was a chorus of Oooooooohhhhhhhhh. I assume somebody behind me had a crash!

Down the trod to the Sett and then that climb! I had a look over my shoulder to see a long possession behind me so I was not as alone as I felt on Kinder. Half way up the climb from the Sett that mountain rescue man was just a bit too enthusiastic. Lots of comments about me being chased by two good looking women. Being faithfull I managed to run away from them! Then that bog trot to South Head. Those flag stones from Edale Cross are getting ominously close. I suppose they will go to South Head eventually so we will loose out on dragging our mudclaws out of the mud. Across the road at  Peep-O-Day and my game of Leap Frog continued as I cought Mike again again on the start of the climb up to Big Stone, he commented at the end that he was developing a problem with his hip.

I had set a target of 2:40 and at big stone I was just over 2:25 so I had my work cut out. Major sprint down from big stone, along the track through the gate and straight down the hill. I passed a few people to get to the finish in 2:39:15 to give me 77th out of 169 finishers. Top half so happy with that!

I done the race two years ago in 2:55 so very happy with the 15 minutes knocked off my time. My family were meant to be on the course to cheer us on but a misunderstanding with time meant they saw me go through the bus station as they got out of the car!!

I like the Kinder Trog, so overall a great day out!

Say "Hi" to the camera at Edale Cross

Slightly less Novice View of the Edale Skyline! March 2012

The day was promising to be fantastic, sun in the sky by the time we set off to get to the start. Coming up to the turn off to Mam Nic before dropping down into Edale there was an amazing cloud inversion, with the Hope valley being buried under a layer of cloud while the top of the hills were in glorious sunshine. The start was as it always is, a kit check, general banter, nervousness and a repack of the bag as the perfect weather meant the waterproofs requirement was lifted.

With the lessons learned from the Trigger I just had to put them in place again. The Edale Skyline race description said 22 miles and Dave Ward suggested to me a 4 hr target which I was a bit shocked about, but it was a target. This would necessitate 11 minute miles.
Bad start the phone would not get a satellite lock and I was there mucking about with it while the rest of the field was storming towards Ringing Rodger. So in dead last place (yep that is me in very last place, in the photo, trying to stick my phone into its little holder) I was finally off on my skyline aventure.

Startng from the back!

Obviously I am a fast walker as I must have overtaken 1/4 of the field by the time I got to the top of Ringing Rodger then off on the easy bit to Win Hill. Passed various penniners and got over taken by others (Ron, et al) Couple of miles into the race my pace maker was not talking to me so I had to stop to check it out, turning the volume up makes all the difference! Rob Taylor went by just before Win Hill. He passed on the useful hint to just take it easy, very true Rob that is exactly what I intend on doing. I felt privileged to have been in front of somebody of that calibre for so long. The little out and back on Win Hill gave the opportunity for a quick hello to Tim and others. Then the long decent to the road by which time I was below the required 11 min/mile average. The climb up Lose hill put paid to that. Last year I ran/walked this climb. On the Pennine Rely I ran the whole lot but today I walked 95% of it. (take it easy Rob said). I enjoyed the cow bells and I was even happier to know that they did not mean that I was just starting the last lap:). On the approach to Mam Nick, Mark had the courtesy to shout before snapping so I had the chance to get my head up and smile!
Got chatting to a lady on the last section of the walk to Mam Tor. When I saw what seemed like hundreds of people up on the Mam Tor summit I suggest we can not be seen walking through that lot so heads up, smile and run until we were past the crowds.

A plan is born!

Over the top and she disappeared off in front of me as I kept too far to the right on the decent and felt like I was running over big moguls. Crossing Mam Nick, despite my conscious decision to keep things under control I was still 10 minutes faster than last year. I am about 10Kg lighter so it shows the effect weight has. The phone had me at 11:30 min/mile so I was well down on my target. But in my stupid optimism I decided that there is less climbing from now on so I may make some of this time up. The "old hands" say that this is where the Edale Skyline really starts. The going does get considerably more difficult form this point on.
The long slow climb then the first of the short cuts.  I rejoined the main field but had to stop to transfer some chocolate bars from my rucksack into my pockets. At this stage a Pennine runner in yellow shorts (who is he) passed me. He had over taken me earlier in the race so it clearly showed the advantage of that route. A lightly built lady who I recognized from much earlier in the race when she overtook me before Win Hill also overtook me while I was stopped. It is a slog to Brown Knoll but keeping your head up and seeing what the runners ahead of you are having to do to avoid the softer bits really pays off. On a number of occasions I was able to drift to the right or left of the muddy trod in plenty of time to avoid particular soft sections. I was starting to suffer a bit here and decided I needed to get some food into me. Now there is a scam I had two posh gels that cost £1 each and a pack of Aldi Mars bar copies (Titan bars – somebody at Aldi knows their Greek Gods or is it Roman:) – I don’t) They are less than 15 pence each, about 2/3 the size of a mars bar and have more calories than the gels!!
Passed Jacobs Ladder and the food I had earlier was paying off now I felt perfectly OK so decided to go for the contour. On Thursday night I ran from Hayfield up to Edale Cross then done the contour to Pym chair. By staying very high on this contour there is a very good trod which I picked up and got around it pretty OK. When I started it I could see a runner ahead of me doing the contour. He was just passing Noe Stool but I caught him by Pym Chair. I asked him if he thought it was worth it (he did not)?. I have not done any timings so I can not say if it saves any time but at least (unlike last year) it probably did not cost me any time. Got to the edge foot path before Pym Chair and went straight across. I done this for the first time on Thursday night and got drawn towards the rocks by Crowden Tower. Today I done the opposite I went too straight and my satellite plot showed a definite hard turn when I joined the grough. I probably should not have joined it for another 50 metres to the right. Going along it a darkpeaker appeared out of nowhere and I ended up doing most of the rest of the race fairly close to him. He had the worst breathing I have ever heard, he was telling me that years of smoking followed by 4 years of running is the cause! I must say the cut around the back of the wool packs is one of the most enjoyable sections of the race.
Back onto the main path to rejoin my fellow skyline runners and got to Grindlow Knoll very quickly. On the Trigger this was pretty much the end, not so today, plus my timings were going in the wrong direction with each mile my average pace was slipping more and more. I was now heading towards 12 minute mile. Bit disappointed with this as it meant I as looking at close on 4:30 which would only be 10 minutes faster that last year's Edale Skyline result. After Grindlow a slightly build lady caught up with me. This was not lost on either of us I commented that she needs to work on her lines as she is clearly a faster runner than me (this is the third time she passed me) but she is missing all of the quicker lines. She slowly drew away from me and I caught up with another runner. He had 4:10 Skyline result from last year and was on for a similar time. This was a surprise to me as I thought I was looking at closer to 4:30. It was quite obvious that the race cannot be 22 miles. This gave me some hope for a significant reduction on last year’s time. Geoff’s little hint on Thursday to find the trod after the stream crossing proved very useful as a lot of people were missing it.
There is something very strange about the landscape in this area as Ringing Rodger just does not seem to get any closer especially when the out crop of rocks you decide is Ringing Rodger is not it. Keep pushing I continue to overtake people as I have done since Brown Knoll and eventually the real Ringing Rodger appears. Some better lines along this trod allows me to overtake a couple of people and still feeling “Okish” just go for it on the decent, through the gate and there is a lady half way between me and the finish.

It's all over - Finished the Edale Skyline for the second time!

Can I catch her? flat out down through the field I catch her 30 meters from the line. To come home in 12:03 min/mile. My phone gave the distance as 20.77 miles giving me a time of 4:10:20. 35 minutes faster than last year so very happy with that.
Very interesting to see the results with such a large group of Pennine finishers crowded into the half hour between 3:45 and 4:15, felt good to be part of it.

A Novice’s view of “The Trigger” Jan 2012

Marsden to Edale "The Trigger" Fell Race
I have been a member of Pennine for a couple of years now but I have done very few races, so I am still very much a novice. I have only done about 6 fell races the first of which was actually the last Tanky’s Trog (last ever?). I went into it with a dodgy left knee and ended up taking 5:35 to do it. My inexperience showed itself in last years Edale Skyline when I went off like a race horse at the beginning and was wrecked by Win Hill. I then hit the wall before the wool packs I had a painful few miles to the end and eventually came home in 4:45.
I was determined to do better in The Trigger. Back in the autumn I made a great purchase when getting an Android phone and putting the free RunKeeper app on it. With this app I knew I was doing about 12 minute miles on my long training runs so with the rougher ground and more climbing over the course of The Trigger  I thought 12 to 13 minute mile would be a realistic target. The day finally arrived and Alan’s great write (Earth Stood Hard as Iron) up describes it beautifully.

The very cold conditions for The Trigger

After standing around in the freezing Marsden morning for too long we were off and after (what felt like) 100 meters my phone announced to me that I had done a mile in less than 10 minutes. After another 200 meters I had done the next mile in 9:30. What was I doing? I can’t keep this up so I slapped on the brakes and every slight hill up past the reservoirs I walked. I was a bit embarrassed every time the phone in my pocked started to announce the time distance and min/mile pace. But it helped get my pace down to something that I could sustain for the duration of the race. Looking back over my shoulder at Wessenden Res I could see that I was probably only about 20 places from last place, but I was comfortable and I could tell from the breathing of the people around me they were working harder. So totally uneventful run to the A635 and the Wessenden Head Road (to Meltham), which is known locally as the 'Isle of Skye' (after a former hotel) then along the flags  to  Black Hill I had a bonus as some of my idle time on YouTube paid off. I watched a short video of the stream crossing of Dean Clough from a previous year's Tanky's Trog and quite a few guys done a sneaky cut off the path to leap frog the queue of people crossing, when I realised where I was I done the same and overtook quite a few people, including Elaine. I reached the summit of Black Hill at 12:14 minute mile – perfect.

Black Hill trig -Soldier's Lump The first summit cairn on "The Trigger"

 Then the long decent to Crowden, this was so hard on Tanky’s as my left knee could not handle the rough ground, but on Sunday I loved it. At one stage a lady was pulling a very muddy leg out of a hole so I though that maybe I will avoid that line! Once again we had another stream crossing at Crowden Little Brook, I decided to make my brand now Inov8s do some work and went straight down the extremely steep grassy bank and crossed the stream a little higher that the queue of people on the foot path. One of the WoodHead guys complemented me on my “faster” line so with my swelled head firmly on my shoulders I shot past him. Next stop Crowden and the accent of Bleaklow.  I was a bit apprehensive about this as I had been up there twice before, both in extremely poor conditions and it would be true to say that I did not find a good “line” from there to the top of Bleaklow. But as it turned out there were loads of people heading that way. That was an interesting little scramble up that buttress to get up.

 Frozen Trigger Landscape (http://www.raygreenphotography.co.uk)

A very funny situation once we got onto the plateau, there was a couple of women heading on a compass bearing across to Wildboar with this queue of blokes following them, because they were navigating they were going a bit slower and I ended up overtaking them so I was leading heading towards the summit and promptly went a “sub-optimal” route, very inconsiderate of them to not run faster. My runkeeper app show a nice little arc between the wildboar clough path and the summit cairn that should have been a straight line probably cost me 3 or 4 minutes. I gladly took a few Jelly Babies from the WoodHead man and the phone now had my average speed at 13:40 min/mile, that is all right because I have a long quick section now until I start climbing Kinder. As Alan said navigation was not a problem, I did not know that trod (notice the spelling Geoff!) to Hern Stones was even there, it was a great run over to the check point and I got to show off a bit as well as I weaved my way though this big group of kids (I can be sad sometimes!).

Bleaklow B29 Crash Site

Higher Shelf Stones Trig The second Trig point on "The Trigger"

Run past the B29 Crash Site and onto Higher Shelf Stones. It is from this point on that "The Trigger" seriously diverges from The Tanky's Trog route. Ian Winterburn's advice came into play as I followed his recommended line down to Crooked Clough and then the little climb back up to the pennine way.
Straight across the road at Snake Top then 2 miles of track doing just over 10 min miles down to Withing Clough. I could see all of these blokes over to my right struggling to work their way from the flags as I was galloping down the slight slope. I met up with a bloke who judged from my speed that I must know what I was doing so he tagged along with me as we headed down to the trod in Withing Clough. Alan described what happen next I overtook him and Mark near the base of final steep climb on the Trigger then some strange foreigner started hollering at me from near the top of the climb. I did not find the climb particular difficult it is just long and steep and it takes as long as it takes. Alan make some time back on me on the short crossing to the final Trig Point at Kinder West as the grough I decided to follow veered slightly to the north of where I wanted to go so I had to do a hard left turn when I saw the Kinder West 50 metres off to my left.

Kinder West Trig - the final checkpoint on "The Trigger"

Once again thanks to Ian Winterburn, by this stage runners were pretty thin on the ground so nobody to follow any more but I knew the route along the river kinder and which side grough to take so I got to Crowden Tower OK. The river and the groughs were incredibly icy which made for a slow crossing. Is that the best way or is it possible to cut over towards Grindslow earlier? I have only been to Grindslow once before on the Edale Skyline and on that day I was beyond caring where I was so I was lucky to catch up with a couple of blokes that took me on a lovely trod around the side of Grindslow  Knoll to pick up that horribly rocky path. I was pretty tired at this stage but nothing like the Edale skyline where I was thinking to myself “why am I doing this, I am not enjoying it”. On Sunday I had enough left in the tank to knock off the last two miles down to the race finish in Edale at a bit over 10 min miles. What a feeling galloping though the lovely soft field near the bottom of decent then the mercifully short road section at the end to finish "The Trigger" in 4:50, which averaged at 13:07 minute miles for the 22 miles. When before the race I was thinking 12 minute to 13 minutes per mile would be doable I was very happy to have come home so close to my intended target.
My GPS plot shows a ridiculous semi circle around Grindslow so I need to have a look at the “straighter” line down from there. I was shocked to see that Hano and Stephen (much better runners than me) had only just got home. With the winner in 3:13 I guessed that I would be about position 100 which I was pretty happy with. It was with total shock that I found that I had finished 70th,
Overall an amazing day and extremely happy with how I was able to manage the pace. The conditions made a massive difference to my time. My lack of knowledge of the route would have been a big issue it the visibility had been worse. So I suppose I have an artificially good time! Couple of things I learned having three gels is very easy. Trying to chomp through two frozen Mars bars is far from easy and it felt like more trouble that it was worth!
Do a bit more Trigger reccing and back again next year to do battle with The Trigger again

Me in 3rd place in the photo rounding Grindslow Knoll - nearly at the end now.

Training Run comments 2012

Dec 17th. 2012.
Wet "un" tonight. Poured down with rain for the first 20 minutes and the whole time I was up high the visibility was about 3 metres. With it having rained all day there was torrents of water everywhere. Thankfully it was a very mild night so getting wet feet and legs did not matter at all. Very difficult underfoot so a slow time. Just under 2 hours for the 16 Km run. It is a regular route and usually I would do it in 1:45. Tried to focus on landing on my front foot rather than the heels. Successfully done that, but hurting the calf muscles - must be doing something wrong.

16 Km "Mellor Run"

Dec 13th. 2012.
Bitterly cold night tonight with Pennine, sub zero temperatures and blowing a gale on the tops. Ended up in a group of 4, including Wardy three fast lad and me! Actually once we got going it was not a bad night except for the wind in the exposed sections.
Had a look at some photos from the Stockport 10 and there is one of me about 500 metres from the end. I am in the process to doing a beautiful heel strike, which I am disgusted about as I through I was not too bad on the running style front. Photographic evidence from Run the Line and Stockport 10 would seem to contradict that! Last night I was paying attention to trying to land on my toes.  It seemed to work except today my calf muscles are sore - just cannot win!

Dec 6th. 2012.
About 15 out last night with Pennine Fell Runners, with four of us doing the long run. It was pretty horrible conditions leaving the car park. On my suggestion we headed over towards Cowen Edge as it is a bit lower and more decent tracks with the weather being the way it is. Helen was apologizing for the noise her tungsten studs were making on the road but as the run went on the the other three of us were doing some auditions for Swan Lake while Helen was loving running through the ice. It was pretty much sleeting snow and rain of varying degrees of intensity for the whole night. It should have been 3 hrs but called it quits at two. Enjoyable run though.
Quite happy to call it quits at 2 hrs as I have the Stockport 10 on Sunday.

My Android phone is really getting annoying now with it being so slow to get a satellite lock for RunKeeper. According to it, we done abut 5 miles last night it was more like 10 to 11 miles.

Dec 1st 2012
Out at 6 am for a fell/trail run on my own. The regular 17 miler up around Mellor, Latern Pike. Conditions not too bad leaving the house. Up to Cobden Cross and visibility was about 5 meters with the head torch - real pea-soup conditions. Ice made it treacherous underfoot and then it poured down with rain pretty much like that for the first couple of hours. But as the dawn arrived the weather improved meaning that I finished the last hour in glorious sunshine. About 3:25 to do the 17 miles 3:00 would be a more typical time.

Nov 20th 2012
On my third (or fourth one if I count the one that did not arrive in the post) Fenix HP 11. Been a bit unlucky with this light with two faulty ones. When it works it is an amazing light. Done quite a few runs with this one now and very happy with it.