Ireland’s ‘Poc Fada’ (Long Puck) competition was originally inspired by the old Ulster tale of Cú Chulainn travelling across the Cooley Mountains to the territory land of his uncle, Conchubar mac Neasa. Bored by the journey, the young Cú Chulainn (then, Setanta) decided to shorten the road by ‘pucking’ a ball ahead of himself and then running to catch it before it hit the ground.
The more modern version of that is an unusual competition where the participants not only compete with each other across the Cooley Mountain, but compete with nature and the elements as well, all the while traversing a landscape emanating a genuine sense of ancient history and culture.
The first Poc Fada competition was held in 1960 with competitors following a designated trail over the ridge of the Cooley Mountains, pucking the sliotar over a distance of slightly more than three miles. That competition consisted of six young hurlers from the Dundalk region but by 1962, the popularity of the competition meant hurlers from all parts of the country were participating.
In its early days, the course was marked out with temporary flags but as the competition became more established, these were replaced by permanent standing stones. The rules of the competition are quite similar to golf in that the person who can hit the sliotar (the ball) through the outlined trail with as few pucks as possible is the winner.
In the early 1980s, the competition was revised with a new course through the Cooley Mountains (now, approximately 5km in length) and in 2004, camogie players were finally allowed to take part. To date, the record for the Cooley Mountains course stands at an impressive 48 pucks . That basically means the winner slammed the sliotar over an average distance of about 104 metres per puck – quite a remarkable feat – I certainly couldn’t do it.
The competition is still ongoing with the latest taking place last month on August 5th.
