"On Christmas night 1591 Red Hugh O'Donnell escaped from Dublin Castle with Henry and Art O’Neill, sons of Shane O’Neill. They had been imprisoned by the British forces, and made for Glenmalure, County Wicklow, in bitter winter weather to seek refuge with Fiach MacHugh O’Byrne. Art O’Neill died from exposure during their journey. Red Hugh survived and later made his way to his father’s castle at Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. There, physicians amputated his two great toes (frostbite)."
"Life is brought down to the basics, if you are warm, regular, healthy, not thirsty or hungry, then you are not on a mountain"......Chris Darwin.
On Friday night last the men in blue were out in force to retrace the steps of those famous sons of Eireann. Many intrepid adventure seekers set out from the Castle, once a bastion of the invading forces, now home to the Garda Traffic Corp and the Garda Museum. A comprehensive report will follow in time from some of those who participated, once they thaw out. Thankfully on this occasion no toes were lost but many a man questioned his sanity as he battled with the elements, the mountains and his own lingering doubts during the quest. The destination was Glenmalure, the task enormous but not insurmountable and more importantly conquered.
AGS were to the forefront throughout the race and we had three in the top six. Adrian Tucker and Paul Tierney finished joint 3rd in 8 hours and 40 seconds with Kevin Grogan 6th in 8:22:13. Others who completed this arduous trek were in no particular order, Ronan Hartnett, Dave McCoy, Dave Swan, Paul Carroll, Tom Smithers, Declan Conlon, Donal Gleeson, Dermot Nolan, Brian Lydon and Paul O'Reilly.
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