They think it's all over - It is now!!!

Did they all finish? Of course they did... It was Dutch Superstar Jenni de Groot that took the tape followed closely by Cathal Bracken clocking 3.15 for the last 20 miles. Just 7 seconds divided them after 345 miles of running. Jenni's partner Anneke who cycled the whole of the route was there to cross the line with her.

ULTRA-runner Extraordinaire, Vicky Luffrum, picked up the pace and all of our emotions as she crossed the line in floods of tears... Hers and Ours!

We'll have an event round up tomorrow but we just wanted to let you know that everyone finished the stage today.

For all of you who have been watching in we thank you for your interest and glad that you've been part of our M2M Ultra Event.

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Last Day of M2M

For this of you with insomnia this morning, 'Well Hello' from our sleeperbus in Carrus just 20 miles from Malin Head. We've already set Vicky off on her way just before 3am... (no I am not punching her in the picture, it's there to show the time). And we are marked out on the route all the way to Golean, only 10km from the finish.

Just over an hour ago Vicky had covered 3.8 miles so she looks set to get to Mizen Head sometime just after 9am, so Lorraine and Pete... if you are watching please get to the finish in good time to see Vicky's triumphant arrival.

The rest of the guys will be heading off at 7am and on a no-stop-strategy to the finish and hopefully will be there around 10am.

We'll be taking lots of pictures at the finish and will try and post these later as we have to travel to Rosslare during the day to catch the ferry back to God's Country.

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Vicky reaches the party bus:-)

Hip hip hooray for Vicky:-) She has finished the final long day with buckets of time to spare thanks to her pure guts and determination getting up at 02:30 this morning... what an absolute star:-) She finished in 14hrs and 32 mins.

Rory walked a few miles with her through Bantry and then she had a really lovely surprise as Pete, her brother, appeared and walked the final few miles with her to the finish. He will be cheering her on all the way to Mizen Head tomorrow morning so I have a feeling it is going to be a very emotional finish for all....

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Just Vicky to come in, Cathal and Jenni are here!

Just 6hrs 15mins for Jenni and Cathal today as the last 35 miler of the event was quite firmly put to bed. Following the Jenni running back to Cathal in a very Cathy Heathcliff type way... is was plain sailing for the dynamic duo as they breezed thru Bantry and on to the finish at Darrus.

For those of you following Vicky, she is just less than three miles from the finish now and has been joined on the route by her brother Pete out on the road into the finish. It will be a great way for her to finish the day off and a real spur on for her to get to the end of a very long day.

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Anneke, Jenni and Cathal are nearly home

Well we had a slight delay getting to our runners for the final CP as we had to track down somewhere to stay for the night. We are plugged in at the wonderful Sheeps Head pub where they have been wonderfully helpful (thanks a million Pat)... so we will be going for a well earned beer there later on...

The delay meant the first 3 were only a couple of miles from the finish so didn't want to stop... Rory is currently walking through Bantry with Vicky where I will pick him up the other side. She has 7 miles to go to our stop tonight, so an eta of around 18:30. Much more sociable than the late one last night...

More soon...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

See the Sea!

Well it's taken over 9.5 days but we have finally caught our first sight of the sea! It's quite a feeling I can tell you and it brings back memories of my GWR run last year...

We have just given our runners their 3rd CP of the day. Anneke arrived first where Rory showed her the Kealkill Stone Circle (see pic!)...

Next were Jenni and Cathal who came through together followed by Vicky just 5 minutes later. So Vicky got a whole 10 miles further than yesterday before the others reached her... with only 12.4 miles to go the end is now very clearly in sight for all of them:-)

The final CP of the day is in 6 miles time and then we are all looking forward to putting our feet up after a rather long day (I can hear Rocky snoring in the back!)... showers are sorted, now we just need to find some electricity...;-)

By the way, please support Mimi Anderson who will be going for the Guinness World Record on this route, starting tomorrow morning... hopefully our route marking will help;-) From all of us at ULTRArace, GOOD LUCK:-))

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

News from Day 10

Where to start?!

Well whilst we have been out of reception there has plenty to report about J Firstly, Anneke the Birthday Girl is having an awesome day out in Ireland’s stunning, if a little mountainous, countryside. She gave us all a brandy flavoured chocolate bar before setting out this morning and she is riding a balloon decaled bike complete with gigantic Birthday Girl badge… all very fetching!

Next – Vicky… we have just passed her at the 19.5 mile point and she is MUCH chirpier than yesterday. Unfortunately there is a wet drizzle in the air now so the views aren’t quite as phenomenal as they could be, and the sea is blurred from sight, but that is not marring the spirits of any of our runners today.

Cathal – well he is having a slightly harder time of things today with his ACS feeling quite painful on the downhills (lucky there is a lot of uphill today!). He hasn’t been running with Jenni today as he has been forced to slow down his pace. Nonetheless he is still very positive and relishing the fact that he is now over halfway through the day…

And last but not least there is the lovely Jenni… she looks fresh as a daisy today and the only thing that is dampening her spirits is the fact that she isn’t running with Cathal… she feels really bad for running on ahead. So much so in fact that she has just started running backwards to find Cathal so she can finish the rest of the trip with him. What a truly lovely lady she is…

So in summary, everyone is G-R-E-A-T, now we just need to get hold of the nice young man who is letting us use his GAA Club for our stopover this evening!!!

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Misty Mountain Hop...

This is a song by Led Zeppelin for those amongst you that weren't aware like me (I know, I'm a philistine!)...

We have just passed Vicky at 13.4 miles on top 'o the world... she has already been offered a cup of tea en route(twice)! This surely has to be one of the most beautiful (and lumpy!) roads in Ireland... She is feeling much happier about getting an earl(ier) start in this morning as she said she felt destroyed when Cathal, Jenni and Anneke passed her around the 12 mile mark yesterday...

And she has the lure of a birthday meal to keep on going... so a quick Fanta Orange and packet of crisps and she was on her way... she has even treated herself to some haribo... one a mile... that's not gonna pile on the pounds Vicky;-)

Well done and more from Vicky in a couple of hours time...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Morning on Anneke's BIRTHDAY:-))

Well it's all balloons and banners this morning as it is a very special 60th Birthday today for Anneke... there is a lovely sunset on the horizon and everyone is very happy this morning.

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY ANNEKE!! or... Gelukkige 60ste Verjaardag Anneke!!

Sadly Vicky isn't here to share breakfast with us this morning as she was up at 02:30 for a 03:30 start to make sure she doesn't miss the birthday festivities this evening... we will be heading out in a moment to give her her first checkpoint of the day... she managed 2.5 miles in the first hour as we passed her on our way back from route marking and seemed in good spirits...

So it's the last long day of the M2M (35 miles) before a 20.43 miler tomorrow and the FINISH! A VERY suitable day for a 60th birthday I'd say:-)

More when we see Vicky...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Vicky's here!!!

Well folks, she's made it... WOW, what a f'kin big effort that was too. We can quite easily say now that she's the toughest runner that we've ever had on one of our multi-day events. If you ever think of giving up on something in the future... think of Vicky on the M2M Ultra and just keep on going.

Her little face at the end today was a picture... Well done Vicky! That's nine done and it's a 3.30am start!!!!

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

6.6 miles to go for our Vicky...

Well our Vicky has just over six miles to complete one of the toughest days of her life... and my word has she stuck at it today. Her ankle looks really hurty and you guys at the Aspire Fitness Gym in Cardiff, I reckon Vicky's your toughest member... she's a real fighter and hopefully you are willing her on just as much as we are!

8pm should see her here in the heart of Macroom... we are going to cover the last couple of miles in with her as it will be getting dark by then and we want her here safe and sound so she can get out on the road to do it all again tomorrow... how nice of us eh?

Thing is, there's only 55 miles to do from here and we can keep her going round the clock now if we need to so she makes to the finish.

That's going to be SOME achievement and some celebration I can tell you...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Back to the bus...

Jenni and Cathal have made it home for the day... they have had a scenic day out on the roads and Jenni said it is her favourite day so far... Cathal probably didn't have quite such an enjoyable day as his shins are getting more painful now. That said, Jenni managed to keep up his spirits and they both arrived back at the bus about an hour ago...

Anneke has already started her birthday celebrations with a Polish beer which seemed to go down a treat:-)

We are off out now to give Vicky her third checkpoint of the day... hopefully beyond the marathon point...

More from there...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Where's our Tea Mrs McCarthy?

Well the locals are very interested in our M2M Ultra... or more so they are thinking who are those strange people in that White Van in our village... apparently there have been quite a few break-ins in these parts recently and we must look dodgy.

She still hasn't come out with a cup of tea or a full Irish Breakfast but Mrs McCathy's son Anthony who came out to ask us 'What the feck we were doing' might get us one yet... we've got a couple of hours here so here's hoping!

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Kanturk Complete and onto them there Mountains

Well it's a few hours into the day and we've already been thru Kanturk and we are off towards Banteer right now. Oh how the miles are passing and it's probably a good job too as the dreaded ACS is biting slightly on Cathal's right shin and Vicky is going to be battling thru a very long day out on the roads.

Oh Jenni, well she's just clipping along just like day one really and hopefully her sister Dieneke in Leeuwarden is very proud of her little sister.

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Vicky is through CP1

Vicky remains upbeat this morning even though it has taken her a little longer to warm up today... she came through the 8 mile point at 09:30... she picked up her favourite sandwiches (Brie and Cranberry and Tuna - not all in the same sandwich I hasten to add!) and was immediately on her way.

Next is Kanturk and then she is in for a real treat in the beautiful mountains before Macroom where we stop this evening.... apparently uphill is actually more comfortable... that's just as well:-))

More when Anneke, Jenni and Cathal get here...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Top 'O the Morning

It's now 08:25 and we are about to set off to find Vicster out on the open road for her first checkpoint of the day... we have all just had a very nice scrambled egg on toast breakfast courtesy of Master Chef Ann.

Cathal, Jenni and Anneke are getting set for the penultimate 'long' day on the road (Saturday is a trot at just over 20 miles:-) They all look remarkably fresh and unscathed... not even any issues accomplishing the bus stairs! Tomorrow is a rather important birthday on the bus for Anneke so we will be celebrating in style after the last long day out:-))

So more when we reach Vicky... she has been up and over a hilly section this morning so it has probably been a particularly tough start to the day for her...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Which shoes?

It's been a right fashion parade this morning as Vicky prepares for today's attack on the 34.9 miles from Dromina (Drum-minor as the locals say) to Macroom. Shoes on - Shoes off - Shoes on Again...Eventually she's back in some New Balance shoes as the old right trotter is a getting a bit more swollen now.

She's looking forward to getting out on the road this morning as she's used to night running back in Cardiff...

It's a lot whole lot quieter here as there's only a few sheep to chat to out here in the first 9 miles.

She's off in a minute and more then...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Vicky gets a big welcome home:-)

Vicky has just got back to the bus to applause and cheers all round... she made it in 11:56:01... and is remarkably chirpy:-) She even made it back in time for tea...

WELL DONE VICKY:-)))))

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Six hours exactly...

Well it took Cathal and Jenni six hours exactly to run the 34.7 miles from Murroe to Dromina today. And they made it look far too easy as well. Their running and pacing is metronomic in it's timing and their running style is very, very economical. They really are model ULTRA-runners.

No doubt their running partnership is helping them more than ever now with each of them taking turns to hit the front and take on the elements, navigating and oncoming traffic!

Poor Vicky has just herself to manage and keep amused... then again she hasn't got to put up with the wind up front :-) (You know what I mean Cathal). Never mind though as she will be here soon and we have the cold water bucket waiting for her ankles... (how nice we are eh?) and a nice Spag Bol to refuel on.

More after supper...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.

Full Steam Ahead...

Cathal and Jenni will just about be at the finish right now (1526hrs) and we are in Charlesville right now on our way back from seeing Vicky at the last checkpoint of the day. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Abbey at Bruff and are all looking forward to some cosy showers at Dromina GAA.

There have been some very long tough roads out there today and Cathal for one said that he would be glad to finish and get his feet up.

We envisage Vicky getting to the finish at around 6pm and if we get any signal in Dromina (doubtful as we saw an Austin Allegro just now) we will give you the end of play stats.

More then...

www.ultrarace.co.uk home of The M2M Ultra - Ireland's Toughest Footrace.