The last thing we saw before being cryogenically frozen to preserve our good looks and ebbing fitness. I have to say, that wedge was pretty painful - Doc could have cleaned the sand off it first!
Adios! We will be back, someday soon - don't wait up.
Oof! Ivan Park and the boys and girls from Causeway Coast Adventure Racing put on a tough show on Saturday - GREAT crack though, and soon the pain of our lungs spewing onto the trail made us forget about the rain!
Tango and Cash were set upon by the snarling pack on the hill-top during the run, the noble pair scuppering their chances of another win by hanging around to make sure nobody got lost on the hill ;-)
Ended up fourth, but would have won it if Ivan had stuck to his original plan of forgetting to adjust for starting times - confound it! Mac and Paul were WAY fitter and faster than anyone else in the race, and would have finished the whole thing in about 3 hours, except some interesting navigation meant they covered twice as much ground as the rest of us!! Sorry, guys, haha!! :-)
The international field was further spiced up by old Tango and Cash compatriots Stevie "McMoab is My Church" Holden, and Jonny "McMoab is Stevie's Church" Gray, who made up their own finish line, and came splashing impressively into the car park through the river. Like a couple of big pike!
Plenty of action photographs, the highlights of which showed Tango using his latest hydration system during the middle bike section, and Cash frantically making his way across the ravine to try and get away from Steve Curry, who spent overly long making sure that harness was nice and tight round the butt-cheeks!
Dubbed the "Pet Shop Boys of Irish adventure racing", Ivan Park and Steve Curry proceeded to wow a baying audience at the after-race party. Performing their Kenny Rogers-inspired anthem "The Count of the Cowardly", their rhythmic, pulsating hip-hop cleverly weaving a timely Hallowe'en Dracula reference with the pair's first teenage fumblings in the dark as terrified fledgling adventure racers. Needless to say there wasn't a dry eye in the house!
Looking forward to the next one, guys!
Loads more photos of the race here, at Sleepmonsters (see the links over on the left to get the photos)
Tango and Cash, fresh (kinda) from their recent adventure racing success in August, are competing in the adventure race in Banagher on 21 October.
Planning to take more of a pastoral, mentoring role at the start of the race in the interests of encouragement to other competitors, it is the intention to go easy and hope everyone else falls foul of anthrax towards the end, leaving the path clear for back to back victories.
A tough old day that sorted the sheep from the goats, hosted by the good people from Not the Sunday Run. On One was well represented, as Tango and Cash were in full fig for the TV cameras.
The Summary data below removes any possibility of adding drama, but suffice to say we went up some, round a heathery bit, through some muck, up some more stuff, over rocks, down a slippy steep bit with big rocky things, more muck, heather, rocks, up, down around and back again.
Phew! 13 started, 5 finished. Hard going.
Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s) 6:51:24
Moving Time (h:m:s) 4:41:22
Distance (mi ) 33.30
Moving Speed (mph) 7.1 avg.
Elevation Gain (ft) +7,317 / -7,330
Now fully recovered from his throat surgery, Tango joined Cash in the saddle last night, as they made their long-awaited tag-team return to the streets and by-ways of Antrim town.
Now begins the long hard road towards La Ruta de los Conquistadores, 2007.
Hot on the heels of his withdrawal from the Mourne Marathon, Tango backed up sharply to pull out of the Stanes trip on 30 September.
Regardless, a posse left our shores bound for Kirroughtree, and a wonderful day was had by all.
We discussed the largest office block in North Down and the associated cafe, tumbled over the smallest of obstacles, and generally worked up an appetite for a Chinese on the way home (or a coffee for some of the laydies, ahem!).
No-one dared darken the doors of Stevie's church, the mighty McMoab.
Tango had to sit out the 2006 Mourne Mountain Marathon due to his tonsil operation the previous week, and so it came to pass that Cash teamed up with experienced mountain man Phil McGavock for the event.
Sitting 17th in the B class after the first day, and poised for a strike at a podium finish for the event, the brave pair had to settle for 25th in the end, after being attacked by crocodiles on Slievelamagan, shot with poison arrows by Amazons on Butter Mountain, and mauled by hungry grizzlies near the finish in Tollymore.
A superb event, and Hello Magazine were there too to do a feature on us.
On One publishes the recent Tango and Cash successes on their web site, massively boosting company sales globally.
Some say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and so it was that Tango & Cash had intended to enter this year's Mourne Mountain Marathon.
Tango's protein-rich meat diet has caused damage to his throat, and his tonsils are to be removed on the weekend in question. So I am currently looking for a partner for the event - anything legal considered.
Don't worry about our navigation skills. They are shown to great effect here in a picture from last year's event, as we use all our guile and experience to locate the Finish line.
We came, we tried, we conquered! A big thank you to Causeway Coast Adventure Racing, for putting on such a great event on 26 August, as a warm-up for the Irish Adventure Racing Series.
It featured running, mountain-biking, canoeing, orienteering and all sorts of other highjinx, and attracted a truly international field (depending on your politics regarding the 6 counties).
We will NEVER stop thanking Brant Richards from On One for our Inbred 456 bikes - I think these were the difference in the end. Well, that, and the fact that we were told by our wives that we better be home early to mind the kids!
Check out Davy trying to stay with me running up the side of Binevenagh.
Two of Northern Ireland's "top" mountainbikers are going to have to work together... even if it kills them. 400 miles and 65,000 vertical climbing feet, from Germany to Italy. How hard can it be?...
