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Displaying items by tag: The Race

#Kayaking - It's been two years since David Burns and Maghnus Collins completed their epic 16,000-mile, 292-day Silk Roads to Shanghai adventure by foot, bike, raft and kayak.

They became in the process the first people to navigate Asia's longest river, the Yangtze, from source to sea by kayak.

In the meantime, they've kept their ambitions closer to home, but no less adventurous – starting a gruelling 24-hour challenge in the rugged landscape of Donegal simply called The Race.

As SportsJoe.ie reports, The Race is no ordinary race. Think a triathlon – running, cycling and swimming – but swap out the swimming for kayaking, add on an extra discipline (in thus case climbing) and cap it off with a full marathon run through the night.

All in all, competitors must cover a distance of 250km within 24 hours. And amazingly, there are some who can do that with hours to spare.

Take Canadian athlete Ben Wells, who set the record of 15 hours and 22 minutes in last year's race, and believes that even that time can be beaten in this year's even scheduled for next weekend, 7-8 March.

But for most of those taking part, only 10% "will be aiming to win it," says Burns. "The rest will be testing themselves against the course.

"The camaraderie was massive last year - everybody was willing the next person on, giving encouragement. We're expecting the same this year."

SportsJoe.ie has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Kayaking

About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation 

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour

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