WILD ATLANTIC WAY WORLD RECORD 2021
Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, from North to South.
The race in Joe's words
The first few months of 2021 were spent in lock-down. Another year of racing was uncertain which meant we had to go back to our 2020 strategy of ‘controlling the controllables’ and making our own race.
Our philosophy of Reaching Further remained our guiding principle, which is how we came up with establishing a new World Record in Ireland, a race again time that was double the distance of our longest record to date.
The Wild Atlantic Way is an iconic route, which hugs the rugged and exposed West coast of Ireland. The climbing profile is severe and totals 3 Everest’s. It’s directionally a conundrum with large sections turning backwards or inwards on itself.
I am no stranger to racing in Ireland so expected the familiar obstacles of wind, rain and exposure coupled with unrelenting, steep climbing. I didn’t expect the mental impact of the directional challenges however, so when I made the first attempt on May 6th I got a rude awakening.
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