"THERE ARE gods among you. You are lucky to share the grass with them," said Con Moriarty, course director of the Turas, the first ever Irish round of the Adventure Racing World Series.
Standing in the sporadic sheets of rain in the ancient landscape of the Gap of Dunloe at the end of the Turas, it was hard to tell whether he was talking about the athletes or the spirits roaming the lands of Co Kerry. But it was easy to believe the former.
Adventure racing is a team event that sees athletes race for the best part of a week. After five days of punishing racing along a 650km (403 miles) course, 17 teams from a starting pack of 18 made it across the Turas finishing line, with 10 making the official rankings.
They had run, biked, abseiled, zip-wired, kayaked and navigated their way across Ireland's toughest terrain and through some of the country's most remote communities.
"At the heart of the vision of this race for me was the idea that we could use a great race as a thread through which stories of landscape and place will be told, of letting a Turas occur that would be a celebration amongst ourselves of our place and amongst the world's finest athletes tracing an epic journey through our valleys, mountains oceans and lakes," said Moriarty.
The athletes appear to have revelled in that journey.
"We loved the course," said Wayne Oxenham, captain of New Zealand team Orion Health, which won the race with a time of 77 hours, 33 minutes, edging out the early favourites Helly Hansen Wilsa (France) and US outfit Salomon Crested Butte.
"For a first race, it was put on superbly. It had a really good mix of the disciplines.
"It's exactly what adventure racing needed. The sport seems to be going towards making it almost impossible. This is bringing it back to what's achievable and what's enjoyable."
"It was an epic race," said Jari Kirkland, the navigator from Salomon Crested Butte. "It was a real positive experience, and tested everybody in all the different events. And it didn't break us. I think I can recover and race in one or two weeks' time."
The nature of the sport means that athletes use anything at their disposal to get an edge, and Orion Health took full advantage. During an enforced stop, they had a vital few hours' break, and teams took the opportunity to get some rest. "We stayed in a BB while everyone was camped," grinned Oxenham. "We got some clothes washed and dried." Next year's competitors take note of the secret to success in the Turas - a good Kerry BB.
At the closing festival in the Gap of Dunloe, a host of bands headed by Kíla whipped up a storm of excitement amid dreadful weather, and the hardy crowd of athletes and spectators refused to let their spirits be dampened.
It capped a glorious week of events to mark the toughest race to ever tear around the Irish countryside - Turas by name, turas by nature, and a journey to be remembered and celebrated.