Local athlete Ailis Brosnan is currently recovering from an activity inhibiting injury. Nothing odd about that – she’s an athlete and they get injured.
However, Ailis’s injury is a broken ankle. What makes this a man bites dog story is that she sustained the break while two kilometers out from the finishing line in a mountain race in the South of France. And there’s more – she just got on with it and went and won the bloody race.
Current Athletic Confinement
“I was out in the South of France teaching yoga at a retreat recently and took in a trail race at the end of the term. It was a 19km mountain race in the Calanques UNESCO site in the South of France,” said Ailis as she explained her current athletic confinement.
“I was delighted to win the race as hadn’t raced such a technical course before but what sets it apart from other races is that I broke my ankle about two kilometres from the finish.
“I was running great but was aware my legs were tired toward the end so I was mindful of that on the last technical descent.
Premiere Femme
“People were cheering ‘premiere femme’ as I was running and a group of about five males ahead of me heard this so stepped back off the trail to let me go past, I said no but they insisted.
“Now, I had five of them powering down the descent behind me so was going a bit faster than I should have – just two kilometers from the end of the descent my ankle went over on a rock and I heard a loud crunching / tearing sound,” Ailish recalls the moment of realisation.
“I knew I had done damage to my ankle but I was winning the race so continued another two kilometers to the finish!
Anti-inflammatories with Ice
“I was flying back home that evening so there was nothing I could do about it so I just iced and took anti-inflammatories.
“I guessed I had torn ligaments and hoped that was all. But I managed to drive back from Shannon and go to my little boy’s soccer match the next morning.
“The swelling was very bad so decided I better get it x-rayed and that confirmed the broken ankle!
“Unfortunately now it means weeks of rest which doesn’t suit someone who likes to be active daily.
A Flavour of the Race
“I was in training for a half-ironman in Mallorca in May and I’m hoping I can still pull that off,” said Ailis with confidence that she’ll be there.
To get a flavour of the kind of race in which Ailis damaged her ankle, you can see a promo video of it here which showcases the amazing scenery and the technical terrain of the circuit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzLenke3F78
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