The Great Valentine´s Wellie Race up the Alps this last weekend.

The long and the short and the wellie of it all is that we had a GREAT day last Sunday up the Alps in our wellies.

Yes, the Great Valentine´s Wellie Race up the Alps on Sunday 15th of February was an unprecedented success.















....And I bet you we have the Wellie Race with the Best View in the whole world!
  - See if you can beat this view you lot in Castlecomer or Canada or Bondi Beach or where ever!

Mary and Martina check out the trail and enjoy the view....



While die Mutter adds  finishing touches to the route signage.   Accompanied  by her minder: Käter.

The youngest runners wait patiently.




For ´das big Race´







You will note there are more people in the picture above, than in the picture below at the starting post.

That´s  because after checking footwear, it was found several of the potential participants were wearing footwear that could not scientifically speaking, be described as Wellies.

How low people will go for a bag of Taytos.  Disgusting I say!  (Still for Taytos, I can understand.)

And they' re off!

Coming up the straight.....

                                                                                                        Eyes on the prize!

Naturally wellie racers never get support, but on account of 2 1/2 yr old Rafael came all the way from Italy and was more than a bit under the weather, what with a high temperature and all,  he was given a ´special dispensation´ to hold his Mammy´s hand.  (Naturally Mammy had to go and run the race route again in order to be eligible for her bag a´ Taytos.)







Coming around the last bend and things are getting exciting...



Coming into the last stretch, it looks like Irish-Swiss Mary is going to be the winner...


























But Italian Olivia beat her at the winning post. An unexpected and very exciting end!

The first threee adults home arrived together in solidarity.



- And a tad less energetic than the children let it be noted!
In fairness to them, the weather had already changed for the worst by the time the adults raced, making the track more challenging.
To explain for those not au fait  with the nuances of wellie racing in the snow:  This sport is only for the very fit and  the very brave, indeed some might say foolhardy.   With every foot drop, you don´t know whether you foot lands on a patch of ice covered by snow, or your wellie lands in a foot of snow..... so it is a balancing act all the way.

Bad enough to maneuver  this course in the sun shine, but in a blizzard of rain and snow combined a real challenge indeed..

And there was n´t the Swiss Calvary on hand to greet them.  (In fancy dress, I know not why, but the Swiss do things their way. And let us not laugh, they don´t get to be the best (or baddest?) bankers in the world not doing things ´their way`.)

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

And THE HEROES are....

...Ann and Guido, the dairy farmers from Moos.  (Yep, no joke here. Dairy farmers from Moos.)   Ann and Guido very graciously hosted the wellie racers on their farm - and fed us all too.  Thank you both, you gave us all the chance to have a great day!

                       A cross section of the wellie racers, the wanna be racers, and all and sundry 
recuperating after the big race.

                                                                                                                                                                                 Holy God she really loved hearing herself talk.  We thought she´d never stop!   - And the cows to be milked in an hour......

A nice presentation to Ann .....

... and Guido

And if YOU don´t have a clue about SUGRU - you should; a rubber glue that works below freezing and above boiling point.  So it surely is the ideal Valentine´s gift for all the fixer uppers in your life.

 AND more, it was invented by a Kilkenny woman - so you know it has to be good!
- Sugru can be purchased just about  every where except Samoan Islands and Burkina Faso, but they are working on that.  To find a stockist near you check out:  the http://sugru.com/ or http://sugru.de/

So after that back to the wellie race...

Well after the race, and the presentations, next up on the agenda was The Walls of Limerick.  But...... the Walls fell down!

Last year the representatives from Bangladesh, Canada and China did a tremendous job holding The Walls up.  Without  their support this year, the Swiss themselves could n´t  get a hold of the ol ´ a haon, dó, trí - istach,  haon, dó trí amach, trasna.... arís... 
What can  I say, Bobsleigh, Biathlon are what the Swiss do best... (Oh, did I say banking?)

So instead the adults stayed inside and had another punch and the kids went out and played in the snow.

With Fraulein Freda looking on...              

Pondering a great race, a great day, and the county flags.  (How many hurling clubs do they have in Switzerland anyway?)

Now this picture requires some explanation:  Your man on the ground was one of many Swiss people that arrived WAY after the wellie race was over.  - There was a cultural misunderstanding here; many of the locals thought Wellie Racing was like Biathlon or Ski-Jumping or what ever it is they do here in Switzerland, whereby one participant sets off after the other 10 minutes apart.

Some of the late comers got into a right hissy fit ´cos they could get no Taytos.  Well they had n´t raced why should they!
So Ann the peaceable woman that she is, had the idea that we could have another race for all the late comers.

So we did.  Your man there won but fell at the finishing line. There was some worry about a broken leg. But all was well in the end.  More importantly he got his bag a´ Taytos!

Before ending I would like to offer my special thanks to  Katie Hassett founder of Championship Wellies  http://www.championshipwellies.ie/

Being all about Wellies and Champions herself, Katie gave us great support.  As you might be more hurling fans yourself, you might need to be reminded, Katie is wife of Liam Hassett, holder of 3 All Ireland Medals with Kerry and All Ireland Winning Captain in 1997.    

Addendum: 

Several local newspapers in Switzerland wrote about the Wellie Race, including the Weiler Zeitung.  They wrote, in German of course: ´Wellie Racing is a sport beloved by all in Ireland.  It is second only to hurling and far surpassing Gaelic football, rugby, soccar or cricket as the sport favoured by the Irish`   And who would I be to say  anything otherwise...