Moire O’Sullivan is a well-known figure on the Irish Mountain Running Circuit. She was Ireland’s 2007 and 2008 Mountain Running Champion and has won the Irish 24 hour Rogaine Championships twice with Andrew McCarthy as well as the Mourne Mountain Marathon mixed elite class. In 2009, Moire became the first person ever to complete the Wicklow Round, a hundred kilometre circuit of the Wicklow Mountains to be completed within twenty four hours. When not running, Moire works for a development consultant. As part of her work, she has travelled to some of the world’s poorest areas and worst conflict zones. She currently lives in Nepal.

What has been your favourite race/run so far?
It has to be the Mourne Mountain Marathon that takes place in Northern Ireland’s Mourne Mountains every September.
It’s a marathon, but not as you’d know it. Rather it’s a two day event where teams of two run 20-30 kilometres a day over mountains trying to find grid references given at the start of the race. You carry everything you need (tent, sleeping bag, food, map etc.) to survive for 48 hours. It’s a great weekend of mountain running, orienteering, and camping all rolled into one.
The best part is the overnight camp at the end of day one. All the teams come off the mountain and pitch tents together in one field. You then sit around catching up with friends over rehydrated dinner, swapping stories, explaining routes, and comparing blisters.

What race would you like to run?
I’d love to do the Bob Graham Round one day. It’s not so much a race but a mountain running challenge.
In 1932, Bob Graham set out to visit as many summits as possible in the UK’s Lake District within 24 hours. In the end, he bagged forty two peaks, climbing over 8,200 metres and covering over 100 kilometres in the process. Today completing his route in under 24 hours is known as the Bob Graham Round.
I did the Wicklow Round last year, the Irish equivalent of the Bob Graham. On my second attempt, I became the first person ever to complete the course. The Wicklow Mountains are beautiful, though perhaps a bit too full of wet Irish bog for my liking. So I’d like to try the repeat this same sort of challenge but around the stunning and awe inspiring Lake District peaks instead.

City road or remote trail?
Remote trail, the remoter the better.
Not only do the remote trails lead you to incredibly beautiful places, but when you meet other people on them, there’s a kind of kinship there that you’d never find on the city streets.
Remote trails also teach you things that cities can never do. They pull you from the hustle and bustle of real life and give you the space to reflect and discover who you really are.

Crowded major events or quiet local ones?
Definitely quiet local ones.
For years I raced with the Irish Mountain Running Association (IMRA), a group who meet weekly to run up various mountains in Ireland. The biggest events pull out to 200 on Wednesday summer nights to race around Dublin’s hills and to meet afterwards in the local pub for a pint. But then there are the weekend races that IMRA organises that only attract a few dozen. But these are the races that I like best, taking in mountains like Carrounthil (Ireland’s highest), Lugnacoille and Croagh Patrick in the west.

One more reason to go running?
Running makes me want to write. I want to tell others about all the amazing people I’ve met and the beautiful places I’ve been thanks to this sport.
It even made me to write a book about mountain running in Ireland and about the Wicklow Round. Now all I got to do is find me a publisher…

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