🧠 Why The Beast?
After five or six shorter adventure races — the longest being 10 hours — it was time to step things up. With Adventure Racing Ireland reviving “The Beast,” the timing felt right for my first 24-hour challenge.
👫 Building a Team… and a Backup Plan
The original plan was a four-person team. But two teammates were sidelined with injuries. Finding replacements for a 24-hour “sufferfest” wasn’t easy — so it came down to just the two of us: myself and Mick O’Shea.
Team name? The Train Station Gang 🚉
🚗 Start Line Jitters in Carlow
We arrived in Carlow early Friday. The place was buzzing — seasoned racers everywhere, big gear bags, serious setups. We had… a box 📦. But we made it work, sorted our kit, and turned to the maps.
🗺️ Plotting the Course
It was my first time linking multiple maps. Thankfully a recent session with Paddy and Brian gave me the skills I needed. Our plan: grab bonus checkpoints early and stick to mandatory ones through the night.
Night navigation was a big unknown.
🏃♂️ Urban Orienteering & 🚣 Kayak Chaos
We kicked off at 4pm with an orienteering sprint through Carlow and a jog along the Barrow Way to TA1 — where our 24km kayak leg awaited 😬.
I hadn’t trained for this, and with tennis elbow flaring up, I was nervous. But we found a rhythm. Despite weirs, locks, and a literal tree falling into the river 10m ahead of us 🌳, we made it through in just under 4 hours.
🚴♂️ Back on the Bikes
Dry clothes, refuel, and back on the bikes — our happy place. We collected checkpoints and climbed to Brandon Hill (600m-ish), where the weather turned wild 🌧️. With a bit of help from another team, we found the summit CP and rolled on.
🧭 Night Orienteering: “Feckin’ Difficult”
At TA4 we tackled the night orienteering stage. The controls were fiendishly placed 😵💫. After lots of searching and a bit of teaching from fellow racer Jimmy Nylan (legend 🙌), we found the CPs and moved on.
We skipped bonus checkpoints to avoid missing the TA5 cutoff. A smart call — some experienced teams got caught here.
⛰️ The Blackstairs Trek
Next: 20km across the Blackstairs mountains. This leg was tough but manageable in daylight. After 4 steady hours we made it to TA6. That was the first time I really believed we’d finish.
🏄♂️ Surprise Special Task
TA7 was… paddleboarding. Not what we wanted to see at hour 20 😩. But we stayed upright, got the CP, and moved on.
🧗 Bonus Bullying & Big Finish
With time to spare, I strongly encouraged Mick to chase two 50-point bonuses. He may say “bullied,” but we got them 😂.
At 23 hours and 5 minutes, we crossed the finish line at Carlow Rugby Club — welcomed with friendly faces and a cold beer 🍻.
🥇 First Male Pair!!
The goal was just to finish. So to find out later, from the comfort of my couch, that we were the first Male Pair team? Unreal 🎉
💭 Final Thoughts
To Mick — thank you. Glute pain and all, you just got on with it 💪. Couldn’t have asked for a better teammate.
To Adventure Racing Ireland — what a race. What a community.
If you’re curious about adventure racing, I can’t recommend it enough. Check out Adventure Racing Ireland’s socials for upcoming events.
