For my last blog, I want to write about the end-of-year gathering of Mitchells in Galway. I especially want to focus on the last day of the trip when Anna and I ran a 10km race as part of the Lough Cutra Castle Race Series. The weekend from start to finish was amazing, and I rode back on the bus to Belfast overwhelmed with joy and gratitude.
Deireadh seachtaine álainn (A beautiful weekend)
First, let’s recap the end-of-year gathering in Galway. The weekend was full of tasty meals, great conversation, and space for reflection on the year. The highlight for me was our visit to the Cliffs of Moher. Along the way, we stopped for lunch in Doolin, and in the brief interval before hopping back on the bus, we walked into a nearby used bookstore. It had such a phenomenal selection of works of Irish history, literature, and poetry. I bought a few books written by Irish rebels inside prison that I intend to use in my dissertation comparatively analyzing the American Prison Movement and Irish Republican Prison Struggles between 1968 and 1983. We arrived at the Cliffs right before a wave of fog moved in to cover the view. We were able to get some nice photos before the view was obstructed and then spent the rest of the time checking out the museum and walking around the grounds.
Ta an rás… i nGort? (The race is… in Gort?)
At the Mitchell trip to Belfast in February, Anna and I discussed the idea of signing up for long-distance races in Ireland in the spring as the weather improved. A few weeks later, we planned out some possible races. We knew we would be in Galway for the Mitchell gathering at the end of May, so we identified a 10km race in County Galway – the Lough Cutra Castle Race. Perfect, we said at the time. Anna and I could complete the race at the end of the Galway trip before heading back to Dublin and Belfast, respectively. Fast forward to the Galway trip, and we realized that the race location near Gort on the grounds of Lough Cutra Castle was on the outskirts of County Galway near County Clare – some 50km outside of Galway city.
So, come race day, we set out to take the bus from Galway at 9:00am to arrive in Gort by 9:45am. We figured we would be able to call a taxi to take us the remaining 7-8km to Lough Cutra Castle before the race start at 11:00am…. Oh, were we wrong! We arrived in Gort (a village of about 3,000 people), and there were no taxis available. We asked the garda who was directing traffic through the town how we could get to the race start, and he said we would certainly not be able to get a taxi to go up to the castle even if we found one. He offered to try and ask someone to give us a lift if he saw a familiar driver coming through the town. After about 45 minutes of waiting, he hadn’t found someone to give us a lift, and we started to give up hope of making the race in time. With only 30 minutes to go until race start, Anna and I began to walk towards the castle along the country roads, while we attempted to find someone who would drive us by hitchhiking. After a series of people ignored our hitchhike attempts, a car finally pulled over alongside the road.
The driver offered to take us the rest of the way. As we got into the car, we met his wife and young daughter who were also in the car with him. We thanked them profusely for offering to drive us. On the way, we learned that the couple had immigrated to Gort from Brazil over twenty years ago. Little did we know but Gort was considered Little Brazil in Ireland with over a third of town residents being Brazilian. As they dropped us at the carpark outside the race start, we thanked them again and hustled to the start area.
We had arrived to the race 15 minutes late, but the organizers were very accommodating and still let us run the course and had our finish times retroactively adjusted to account for our late start. The course was beautiful with great views of the castle grounds and lough. After finishing, Anna and I walked around the finisher village before asking for a lift back to Gort from some other runners. We then grabbed lunch at a restaurant in Sullivan’s Hotel in Gort before taking the bus back to Galway. We had a few hours to kill before the train back to Dublin, so we visited a café and bookstore and enjoyed the nice weather by walking around Galway.
It would not be fitting of the day we had if there wasn’t a final obstacle to getting home. As we boarded the 5:00pm train, we were told that two train cars (E and F) had been removed because of maintenance problems, so the seat in Car E that I had reserved no longer existed. For the first 30 minutes of the train ride, I hopped from seat to seat before finally settling in a seat next to Anna that was no longer reserved. We talked and recapped the day before soon arriving back in Dublin, where we parted and I headed toward the bus back to Belfast.
On the bus ride back, as the sun set over the Irish hills of County Down, I put on headphones and listened to the Fields of Athenry by the Dubliners. I thought about the kindness and generosity of the Brazilian couple who drove us from Gort to the race start, and I considered how their own immigrant experience and the support they must have received from others in acclimating to a new culture and environment in Ireland might have influenced their decision to help two stranded people along the country road in Gort. I felt especially grateful and inspired. Especially in a time of rising xenophobia and hostility towards immigrants in the Western world, I figured we could all learn a lesson from this couple.
There’s a saying in Irish: Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine. It roughly translates in English to: the people survive in each other’s shadows/shelter. In other words, we shield each other from the elements. I felt the meaning of this saying on the bus ride back to Belfast. Although I don’t remember their names, I remember their generosity. Go raibh míle maith agaibh, a chairde.
