Congratulations to Graham Bush who became the first runner to complete the original Wicklow Round below 24 hours. The original round was thought to be 18-20 km longer than the current version and after one failed attempt (by Tony Kiernan, Aisling Coppinger, Gary Morelee and one other (whose name escapes us just now) in biblical conditions, Tony and Gary returned to finish the route in 33 hours 56 minutes.
It was deemed to long and difficult for the purpose it had and replaced with the current round (generally 106-116 km depending on route choice) leaving out the long Eastern sojourn to Croghanmoira – the peak stricken from the round (a sad loss as it is one of Wicklow’s better peaks).
Having already completed the current incarnation of the Round and with times having plummeted for the existing version (with Gavin Byrne having run it now at 15:04 – 9 hours below the time limit), Graham started Saturday morning to bring the original under 24 hours. This process has been helped by the shortcuts becoming not just increasingly known but also increasingly well worn
Moving well throughout the day in fair conditions and with strong route choices Graham never looked in danger of slipping below schedule and finished in 23:07. Congratulations on this terrifc performance Graham and we are certain others will now have the gra for taking on ‘The Original’.
Glendalough AC 