NIMRA Prizegiving 2013 Report
On Saturday November 9th the NIMRA family gathered in O’Hares, Newcastle, for the end of season shindig and prize giving. The evening kicked off with a hearty feed. This was accompanied by shots of dedicated hill runners giving it their all at some of this season’s races; true to form this led to some gentle ribbing around the room.
As with most the NIMRA events the after dinner speaker was the chairman, Ricky Cowan. He started this years address with an interesting story about how he had come to know the late, great, Denis Rankin. This led into the showing of a really good film about the Mourne Wall Walk in 1976. The film had been made by the BBC and was narrated by Jeremy Paxman. One of the stars of that movie was the aforementioned Denis Rankin who was trying to break the record for the route. This was especially poignant as his widow Madeline had joined us for the evening; she even had a minor role supporting Denis. It was great to see people literally running in the mournes in a pair of dress shoes and flared jeans. I promise never to complain again when clad in lycra, gore-tex and state of the art trail shoes. After the movie a man who professes to having been Denis’s sidekick for the past couple of decades, Jim Brown, stepped up to talk about some of their escapades over the years. It is clear from the love in the room that Denis will be sadly missed.
NIMRA Champs 2013 with Madeline Rankin
This led us to the prize giving. The top 3 males in the NIMRA buy zithromax pharmacy Championship were 1. Stephen Cunningham 2. Deon McNeilly and 3. Neil Carty. The top 3 ladies in the championship were 1. Diane Wilson 2. Shileen O’Kane and 3.Denise Mathers. The NIMRA Championship category winners were: VM35 Stephen Cunningham, VM40 Clive Bailey, VM45 Pete Grant, VM50 Deon McNeilly, VM60 Stewart Cunningham, VF35 Hazel McLaughlin, VF40 Shileen O’Kane, VF45 Denise Mathers and VF55 Mary Mackin. The top 3 males in the NIMRA Grand Prix were 1. Stephen Cunningham, 2. David McNeilly and 3. Neil Carty. The ladies top 3 were 1. Diane Wilson, 2. Shileen O’Kane and 3. Violet Linton. The NIMRA Grand Prix category winners were: VM35 Stephen Cunningham, VM40 Clive Bailey, VM45 Neil Carty, VM50 Eugene McCann, VM55 Peter Bell, VM60 Stewart Cunningham, VF35 Hazel McLaughlin, VF40 Shileen O’Kane and VF55 Mary Mackin.
The last prize of the evening was the Runner’s Runner prize chosen by the chairman. This was presented to Dale Mathers in light of the fabulous year he has had. As well as participating in most NIMRA races he has completed the 72 miles and 42 peaks that make up the Bob Graham Round in 22 hours and 45 mins and all 168 km of the Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc. Aside from the obvious one of the things that has made Dale’s season stand out is that the man just never seems to tire; only a few days after the Bob Graham he was back mixing it up in a NIMRA race.
That is all for now folks. Keep an eye on the web site for details on next years calendar.
