After Action Review - St. Patrick's Day Weekend - Dublin 2026 - Daniel

GORUCK Dublin 2026

At the end of January in 2026, Kris from the Munich Rucking Crew informed us enthusiastically that GORUCK would host a few Dublin GORUCK events with several patches to be earned. I was intrigued, because I hadn’t been to Dublin, or Ireland for that matter.

Of course, travel cost would be high at the time because of Saint Paddy’s day. Still, I booked a flight and a hotel for four nights from the 12th till the 16th of March. Lufthansa sent out notifications that week that pilots were on strike for a couple of days. But luckily, mine was the only Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Dublin that wasn’t cancelled. So I took the train to Frankfurt Airport on Thursday, grabbed a fast food lunch, boarded a fully booked airplane and got to Dublin without much hassle. Once there, I took the express bus from Dublin airport to George’s quay near my hotel, where I arrived in the evening.

The shakeout ruck

I checked in with Christian, who had arrived earlier that day from Munich, and inquired where the rucking group was at. He had already rendezvoused with Cadre Fagan and a couple of other guys and girls for the shake out ruck - choose your own weight, have some beers. Cadre Fagan had chosen Fagan’s pub as the event headquarter up north from the city centre based on name and reputation, which was definitely a nice location about 35 minutes away from my hotel. Shortly after I had texted Christian, they got moving so I ended up meeting them at The Celt, a somewhat prototypical Irish pub situated just around the corner. So we met at the bar sometime around 6, drank a few rounds of beer and got to know each other. There were about 5 or 6 Americans and us two Germans.

After about 45 minutes or so we continued on to the next location to have more beers. The night went on until we were back at Fagan’s pub, which concluded the welcome rucking round trip. Everyone got a nice little patch from Fagan, one for the shakeout ruck event with a blue-green Clover leaf on it, as well as a special Ireland patch for anyone participating. We said our good nights and everyone returned to their hotels. As I was quite hungry, I grabbed a pita at a Greek fast food place called Yeeros and called it a day.

The next and more serious event was the Basic that started around 7:00 PM on the next day, so we basically had Friday off during the day. After eating a nice English breakfast at the hotel I explored the city a little bit and bought some necessities, including 4 liters of water and some snacks and food, but also spent a large portion of the day lying in the hotel bed to get some rest before the events. Following the Basic, the 12 miler would start on Saturday morning while the Tough was planned Saturday night. I was still pondering doing all the events, but eventually I thought, what the heck.

For the Basic, we still hadn’t organized a team-weight, so I thought I’d find something and figured out that the beer kegs you can see in the streets here and there near the pubs in Dublin might do the job. One of those kegs was standing near the entrance of The Celt, so I figured I could maybe steal it. Before returning to the hotel after my city tour, I did the right thing and asked the owner of The Celt (or some guy working there for that matter) whether I could borrow it for a team sports event. He was chill about it, he just told me to return it later. I picked up the keg and took it back to the hotel - it was a bit heavier than required but not much, around 27 lbs or so, and I learned it’s a Euro keg that holds 50 liters of beer. I dropped it off below a railway overpass near my hotel because I didn’t want to schlepp it to my hotel room and hoped that nobody would steal it (nobody did).

The Basic

Later, after I had packed all my stuff according to the GORUCK Basic packing list, I picked up the keg and hiked up to Fagan’s pub up north, where I waited for the other guys. I didn’t know that at the time, they were already having beers at the beer garden before the event so at some point the whole group came around the corner with another three kegs of similar kind. We had a laugh, assembled the kegs and did a check in.

Fagan went through the list of registrants - we were a small group of 5 people that did show up, including one female, Jess, otherwise Jason, Curtis, Chris and I - and instructed us to find a stick for the GORUCK flag we’d take along, and then we started off with a little welcome party. The welcome party was basically 17 minutes of different random exercises with 17 repetitions each, so Jason, one of the Americans from Michigan, took the lead and we started doing push-ups, sit-ups, ruck swings, and other exercises with or without our rucks. After finishing, a navigator was assigned to choose one of three routes randomly and we had our first destination, which was Croppies Acre Memorial Park. Fagan decided we had too many kegs and so one was returned to the bar.

So we grabbed our rucksacks and the remaining kegs and started marching downtown along the main street. The city was crowded due to St. Paddies, plus it was the weekend, so we had to carve our path through pedestrians and groups of people and got some stares and comments. The more memorable interactions were with police who several times pulled up next to us or approached us on foot to inquire where we got the kegs. Fagan was always quick to give a precise definition of what we were doing, that we had borrowed the kegs and we’re going to return them, etc. We even invited some police officers to join us the next day, but they didn’t show up (disappointing!)

First stop was the Utah teapot, where we took some group photos, before we marched on to our actual destination. The Irish National War Memorial Gardens is north of the Guinness brewery and west of the city center, and offered some trees to pee on and an Irish flag encased by a low, spiraling wall with English, Gaelic and French inscriptions. Apparently the French revolutionaries had inspired the United Irishmen to rise against the British empire. We hydrated, had some snacks and tried figuring out what the French meant, since some of us had taken French lessons years ago at school … We got the gist.

I had expected some PT here and there, but nobody asked for it and the Cadre didn’t give us any challenges - being the small group we were, options might have been limited, but I wouldn’t have minded a couple of lunges and ruck swings. So we had snacks, chats and hydrated and after a while we had cooled down so much that we all thought that we should get going again.

I volunteered as the next group lead and the next stop would be the five lamps, North East of the center, and I suggested we walk along the river. The alternative would have been to just follow the tram tracks, which Jason suggested, but I thought that would have been kind of bland. Cadre mentioned that it would be colder near the water and boy, he was right. We kept moving however so it was fine. I thought the river would offer more scenic views - but you really need to be close to the center to enjoy the best views of Dublin. There, it’s quite spectacular at night.

The five lamps actually were just that - a nice lamp post with five lamps. Actually there are a couple of these lamps strewn across Dublin. So we took our photos there and as far as I remember we also talked to some police who were curious about what we were doing. They always suggested we had stolen those kegs. Speaking of which, Jess, who isn’t a tall female, was chugging along like a pro - she had done plenty of GORUCK events before it seems.

As we were near my hotel (The Beresford) I suggested I return my keg to The Celt. Otherwise, I would have needed to return it after the event, which would have meant another 30 minute walk for me - so we decided to do that and walked down Talbot to the pedestrian zone. I returned the keg and Fagan advised me to notify the pub that I had done so. We then continued to the Spire which is a 120 meter high steel pole and took a left back South until we all crossed the river - it was decided that it was time to call it a day so we headed back north along O’Connell toward the R132 and Fagan’s bar, where we arrived around midnight.

Back at Fagan’s, we had a small celebration and everyone got their patches, had a beer, and after that we dispersed and returned to our hotels. I arrived at the Beresford at around 1:30 AM and went to sleep.

Overall, my Garmin clocked 14.56 km (9.1 miles) in 5:20 h, including one-way from the hotel to Fagan’s - the actual event was around 7.5 miles and 4:30 h.

The 12-miler

After getting what I felt was too little sleep, I got up and dressed for breakfast and ate some scrambled eggs with bacon, a couple of sausages, toast, as well as baked beans and some veggies. I didn’t take my weight, because Chris had brought some 15 lbs sand plates and offered me one of them to use for the 12-miler. The meetup time was around 10:00 AM, or so I had thought. So I got going at around 9:30 with an ETA of around 10. On the way there, Christian texted me whether I would still show up.

Unfortunately, there had been an email that I had missed that included a mandatory briefing which was at 9:30. So when I arrived, most groups had already been on their way or in the process of leaving. It wasn’t an issue though and so we got moving right away. Jens from Hamburg had joined the event and so we were a team of three to do that 12 miler, Chris, Jens and myself. There were a couple of waypoints we needed to hit as well as a time hack for the whole 12 miles. We were advised to use navigation software on our phones, but actually it’s not that hard to navigate in Dublin.

The weather was perfect that day, and we started the familiar R132 southward to get to the first waypoint. We chose to go clockwise and the first stop was The Strand house, which apparently is a medical center in Fairview Dublin. So we took a left and walked a while toward Fairview, crossed a river and ended up at a nice looking church. The sun was warm, the perfect day for a ruck. At first we needed to identify the building, luckily we found the small plaque and took a photo of it as evidence. We still felt a bit pressed on time so immediately we continued Southwest toward the R803 - next stop being the James Joyce center. On the way there, I figured I’d like a coffee and Chris had to have a bio break. So we found an insomnia coffee shop, I got my coffee, and we continued on into the Street where the James Joyce Center was situated. We took a group photo there and afterwards, we walked down O’Connell Street southwards towards the city center to reach our next destination - the Molly Malone statue. Molly Malone stands behind a church and the artists took some liberties in representing her bosom, which as is the case with such statues, is shinier than the rest.

Molly agreed to join us for the group photo and after we continued our route. We continued southward to reach The Little Museum of Dublin where a fiddler was playing and trying to lure in tourists. He was intrigued what we were doing, so we explained it to him and then went back on our way. Next up was St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Saint Patrick’s Park - it was St. Patrick’s weekend after all! Again we took our group photos with the cathedral in the background, but we didn’t waste much time although there was a kind of market that seemed interesting in the park. But we had our time hack, so we didn’t linger.

We did enjoy the sights and sounds of Dublin which is a beautiful place. It’s different from how I had imagined it - I suppose it’s more modern than I had thought. In my head, it would have been village-like with pubs and cobblestone. But actually, it reminded me more of Brooklyn, New York, than my little hometown for example. Granted, there were pubs, and plenty of them. Most had live music most of the time it seems, so the Irish definitely are joyous people.

Our next destination was Dublin Castle. We could only access the courtyard, otherwise it looked quite neat - not as rustic as you’d imagine a medieval knight’s Castle. After the castle, we rucked to the Leprechaun Museum, which we walked by at first but then Chris noticed the mistake and we found it. There was a sign that said “no peeing, children might be working here” or something like that. That made me chuckle.

Then we had a longer hike to the brewery district where Guinness is situated. The whole quarter smells of hops and malt. Once in a while you can see horse carriages speeding through the city, which provides a nice atmosphere - the horses definitely seem enthused about their jobs.

After taking in the atmosphere of the huge Guinness facilities, we headed back North past Croppies Acre Memorial Park, where we had been the night before, and then up towards Collins Barracks where you can find the National Museum of Ireland. There was a part of the museum that you could access for free and which houses an old ship that was used to smuggle German rifles to Ireland in 1914 Howth gun-running. We went in, walked around the ship, and took in some history.

Our actual destination was around the corner, which was the Irish UN Veterans Association. So we found the memorial site where we were supposed to go, and took our group photo. A ginger cat was lying on a bench nearby but unfortunately, the area wasn’t accessible so we couldn’t sit down. And so we continued on toward the next destination, which was the Bohemian Football Club at Dalymount Park.

We entered an alley with pro Palestine graffiti and we checked out the field. On the way back there was a small crowd gathering, apparently there was a concert coming up or whatever and they were taking pictures of two girls hugging and being told to look sad. They had a professional looking camera man, a guy with a mic boom although no sounds were being made, and an artsy looking director. The director told us not to walk through the picture and asked us to wait for two minutes or so, so we lingered and watched. Eventually, we decided to take the longer route around the block. When we looked back into the alley when we were around the block, the commotion had dissipated. I cursed humorously.

We continued eastwards towards our next destination. On the way we passed the Mater Hospital and decided we check out whether they had a public restroom and a cafeteria. They did, so we took a rest and grabbed snacks and drinks and dropped our rucks for a while.

We had figured that this was our last stop back toward Fagan’s, and that we had plenty of time left. Overall, we had five hours to hit all destinations. So we made it back to Fagan’s to endex and we all got our patches.

This time, my Garmin clocked 16.52 km in 4:23 h. So less than the intended 12 mi, but we hit all the destinations in time.

At Fagan’s, we all gathered, ordered a Guinness, and spent some time in the beer garden - which had heating fortunately. I got into a chat with a friendly Irish dude with a sweet boxer Staffordshire mix. So we talked a little about what we had been doing with GORUCK and about dogs. After finishing my beer, I decided it was time to return to the hotel to get some rest before the Tough would start at night. So I hiked the 30 minutes back and flunked down into bed. I wasn’t able to sleep though, as my mind was racing with incoherent thoughts about the condition of the world at the moment. I had a coffee, one of the Cokes I had bought before, some snacks and got going.

The Tough

This time, I didn’t bother to take the keg along. The Tough would start at 9 PM so I got going around 8 PM and showed up on time this time around, and the Cadre registered the participants. We had a no show, and basically we were the same people who had attended the Basic together. Only this time, it was just four of us - Jason, Jess, Chris and I, plus Cadre Fagan.

We found a slightly bigger stick, attached the GORUCK flag, and did a briefing. The briefing was similar to the one for the 12 miler - and also, we skipped the welcome party (“imagine doing a welcome party … Hmhmhm”) and didn’t have any weights to carry.

So again, we got to do a blind choice of destination and got going after a target had been picked. It was a Saturday night, so the streets were crowded. We were sporting the GORUCK flag with an American flag spearhead - around the beginning of our route, a taxi driver shouted at us - “How do you feel about America? Oh no it’s the Israeli flag! Death to America!” We ignored it but rolled up the flag later on. Some other people made comments along the route which we ignored. Best not to engage in politics. I overheard someone saying, “we’ll have to live with this guy for another couple of years …” That about sums it up.

The rest of the ruck was a bit uncoordinated and messy in my mind. I had started off the Tough enthused, but my body was probably already running on fumes and hormones. Physically, it was challenging going without sleep - but nowhere did I feel like I was reaching any of my limits.

I believe our first destination was the Guinness brewery, where we ended up on market Street at the Guinness storehouse. A beautiful street of tall, brick walls with the industrial flair of past times. We continued to Great Western square in Phibsborough and then headed back downtown to St. Michael’s Tower. Continuing to the now familiar castle, we sat down and took in the sights and sounds of Dublin. I changed into my merino long sleeve and figured it was much more comfortable in the cold than the functional clothing made of plastics. There were drunk people stumbling around, bands were playing, and we heard what sounded like a karaoke event.

We left and downtown, we found a small supermarket with a cafeteria that was open and entered to get some snacks and drinks. I got myself a coffee - the inside was a mess, but we sat down nonetheless and enjoyed the time sitting down and sipping our hot beverages.

Next up, we headed back to the river (called Liffey, btw.) to reach the Jeanie Johnston famine ship at the Irish immigration museum, where we took another short break. From here, we walked up Molly Malone once again - the last time around, there were semi-professional musicians making music nearby. This time, there was a group of men singing Oasis songs as a choir. It was around 2 AM that we spent some time there with Molly and taking in the atmosphere.

After indulging, we took another hike past the Oscar Wilde statue at Merrion Square Park to beggars Bush barracks, which was the farthest point away from Fagan’s bar. Afterwards, we rucked back all the way to the West to the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks near Croppies Acre. At that time it was past 4 AM and we decided that we’d head back to Fagan’s.

So we headed back. We reached Fagan’s at around 5:30 AM, we did a little patch ceremony, and exchanged numbers. The others had some plans for Sunday, but I was happy to return to my hotel, take a shower and lie down until the afternoon.

Overall, we rucked for 27.21 km (17 mi) in 8:26 h during the tough.

After the events

Later on Sunday I met up with Chris for coffee and we ended up at the hard Rock Cafe to grab some late lunch. In the evening, the six of us that participated in the Basic met for dinner in a pub / restaurant with some live music - after, we said our goodbyes and returned to our hotels once again.

The next day, I flew back with Christian to Frankfurt - we managed to sit next to each other as the flight was only about 3/4 full. Back in Frankfurt, we grabbed some food waiting for our trains, and exhausted but glad about the experience, we returned home.