Art O'Neil
- Date
- Location
- Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
- Distances
- The AON Challenge — 62k
- The AON Pursuit — 25k
It’s the dead of night in mid-January, and you’re standing outside Dublin Castle with a headtorch and that quiet buzz of excitement. This is where the Art O'Neill Challenge kicks off every year, following in the footsteps of a desperate escape from 1592. Back then, Art O'Neill, his brother Henry, and Red Hugh O'Donnell broke free from imprisonment in the Castle on a freezing winter night. They were heading south into the Wicklow Mountains. Art didn't make it, but their story lives on in this event. The modern challenge is a proper test – 62km from the streets of Dublin out through South Dublin, past Stone Cross, and then onto the open mountain via Art’s Cross before finishing in Glenmalure. The first half is mostly road to get the legs going, but the real work comes when you leave the lights behind and tackle the hills in the dark and cold. Bogs, climbs, whatever the Wicklow weather throws at you – it’s all part of it.
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