The Wicklow Round is a long-distance hill running challenge in the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland.[1] The route follows a prescribed 100-kilometre circuit of 26 mountains, which must be completed in a fixed order, that total over 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) of elevation; there is some flexibility on route-choices between peaks.[2] Rounds completed outside of a cut-off time of 24-hours are not generally recorded.[1][3] Irish ultra-runner Joe Lalor is credited with the creation of the Round.[4][5]
The first person to complete the Round was Moire O’Sullivan, in a time of 22:58:30 on 29 May 2008; O'Sullivan went on to write a book about her experience on the Round called Mud, Sweat, and Tears.[6][7][8] Eoin Keith set a new record of 17:53:45 on 30 May 2009, which stood for nine years until it was beaten by U.S. runner, and Appalachian Trail record holder, Joe McConaughy, in a time of 17:09:44 on 6 May 2018.[2][9] Several other runners have set records for the fastest Round.[1][4] Between April and May 2019, the men's record was broken across three consecutive attempts, by Paddy O'Leary, Shane Lynch and Gavin Byrne. These attempts were featured in the short documentary film, "Coming Home - Ag Teacht Abhaile".
^"Outsider Awards 2018: Most Devoted Individual". December 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2019. Joe Lalor (65) has given a lifetime of service to Ireland's trail running community. The secretary of IMRA for six years, the creator of the Wicklow Way Relay, the Wicklow Way Round and the Nav Challenge Series, active volunteer and fundraiser for Mountain Meitheal, Joe deserves a huge round of applause!{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
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