Northern Ireland Mountain Running Association
www.nimra.org.uk

 

Bryson leads Newcastle home at Stuc a Chroin 5000

Mon 5 May 2003 - Simon Taylor

The second British Championship Fell Race of 2003 took place in the Trossachs in Scotland, about 25 miles north west of Stirling, last weekend. A crack squad of seven runners represented local club Newcastle AC ? six actually made the trip with the seventh, Dermot McGonigle, almost a naturalised Scot these days, meeting the rest of the team at race registration in Strathyre.

Fresh from victory in the first Championship race of the season in April at Slieve Bernagh in the Mournes, Newcastle?s Veterans team was hoping to make it two out of two. In the Open category, the team had only an outside chance of improving on its fourth place from the first race.

Spirits were high on the Saturday morning as the clouds gathered and the first of the promised heavy hail showers lashed down ? it had rained all week in Strathyre and conditions underfoot promised to be very heavy. On top of that, the forecast was for prolonged heavy rain during the race.

The race itself is one of the toughest on the calendar covering 15 miles with 5,000 feet of climbing (plus 5,000 feet of descending). It starts quietly with about two and a half miles along forest tracks climbing about 800 feet steadily before rising steeply onto the mountain for about another 20 minutes or so on boggy undulating ground before the 5-minute plummet (and 1,000 feet) into Glen Ample. The climb out of Glen Ample on Ben Eaich is awesome, rising 1 in 2 in places over crags and deep heather, and going on (for most mortals) for about twenty minutes to the summit at around 2,600 feet.

At this stage about an hour into the race, the route drops quickly along a steep ridge full of interlocking spurs, followed by sharps rises and descents, eventually to a col where the 1,000 feet climb to the summit of 3,200 foot Stuc a Chroin rises steeply above the runners. By this time most runners have been out for more than one and a half hours and turn to face the long return trip to Strathyre. The sting in the tail is the 1,000 feet climb back out of Glen Ample followed by the two and a half miles forest run home. The race records are a few seconds under 2 hours (Ian Holmes) for the men and 2 hours 22 minutes for the women (Angela Mudge).

Like most long races, nothing can be taken for granted, anything can happen over two hours of racing and Newcastle?s four veterans all needed to finish to allow the team to score and there was no room for error. Newcastle?s team leader, World Veteran?s Champion, Robbie Bryson led from the front and was quickly in the leading bunch. Team number two, Deon McNeilly made a last minute pit stop to lubricate certain parts of his anatomy for the long race and arrived at the start field to hear the race set off two minutes earlier than scheduled. Not panicking (there was still over two hours of running to go) McNeilly eased his way through the field on the narrow forest track and latched onto former Slieve Donard winner Colin Donnelly and together they made light work of the first 40 minutes of running. Behind, McGonigle was intent on improving on his below par performance in the Bernagh race and had been working hard on his fitness over recent weeks, he too settled into the top 40 in a field that numbered 271. Evergreen, Jim Patterson, three times British Champion in the Veteran 50 category and now 56, was minding his own business and moving along steadily. Making up the Open team, newcomer Annalong?s Stephen Cunningham, a novice on the fells, was being thrown in at the deep end and despite his raw talent, this long race was going to test his staying skills.

At the Ample River was the welcome sight of water carrier Billy McNeilly, with fluid refreshments and giving encouraging support. The promised rain had not materialised and with the south wind, temperatures were suddenly high.

Out at Stuc a Chroin summit, Bryson turned in 7th looking strong, McNeilly in 19th going well, McGonigle in about 40th working hard, Rodgers in 80th, Cunningham in the 90s and Patterson just outside the top 100 ? but a lot could happen on the way back. The ground was unforgiving, soft, mucky, and slippery and every step energy sapping, grinding many of the runners to a virtual stop at times. Then into Glen Ample and two hours into the race the dreadful pull out of the valley, about 1,000 feet and almost 1 in 2 at times and then four miles of open mountain and forest track to negotiate before collapsing over the line.

Ian Holmes, of Bingley Harriers, led home a Bingley 1,2,3 in 2 hours 4 minutes and 41 seconds with Rob Jebb in second and Andy Peace in third. Mark Rigby was first veteran 40 in 4th place in 2 hours 7 minutes and 50 seconds, with Bryson 2nd veteran 40 in 7th overall in 2 hours 11 minutes and 21 seconds. McNeilly, dug in, surviving well to come home 5th veteran 40 in 25th overall in 2 hours 20 minutes, faster than his last time out in this race in 1997. McGonigle excelled to come home 14th veteran in 2 hours 33 minutes, a performance well ahead of his Bernagh race. All eyes then watched for Patterson, the important last counter. Rivals Horwich RMI had runners home in 7th, 8th and 13th, and were also anxiously awaiting their fourth scorer.

Finishing strongly as ever, Patterson rounded the final corner to come home 37th veteran (and 97th overall) in 2 hours 47 minutes to give Newcastle a final score of 58 points, 20 points ahead of Horwich and 24 points ahead of Clayton. Two wins out of two gives Newcastle a seven point lead going into the next race, Moel Eilio in Snowdonia in two weeks time and are now wearing the favourites tag ? but with a lot more work to do.

In the Open category, debutant Stevie Cunningham (the only first class performance by Paul Mawhirt all year, before he retired from the sport, was to spot Stevie in the local gym and recognise the raw potential) produced a fantastic performance over the long distance to come home in 82nd overall. He gained places all the way home to finish in 2 hours 44 minutes and is bound to go from strength to strength in the coming months. This performance with the finishing positions of the four vets gave Newcastle an excellent 3rd place in the Open Category to add to the 4th from the Bernagh race to leave Newcastle in 3rd place in the Championship so far.

One other notable performance on the day came from Edinburgh?s Angela Mudge, who knocked nearly five minutes off her own record to come home in 2 hours 18 minutes and in an amazing 20th place overall.

A final word of mention to BARF?s Jim Brown who also competed, gratefully accepting a ?sugar fix? on the climb back out of Glen Ample and then stealing six minutes over the final half hour run home over his feeder. Brown finished 34th veteran overall in 2 hours 45 minutes just bit ahead of Patterson. Meanwhile, following the prize giving, the Newcastle team foresaked the ceilidh for best real ale pub in the Trossachs, back in Callandar, to fill their stomachs on fine food and several pints of local ale favourites ?Bitter & Twisted? (Patterson?s favourite and toasted several time to absent friends ? they know who they are) and ?Titanic? (left to after the race rather than risk fate before the race).

All in all a successful sortie to Scotland with Wales to come in two weeks, and the race over the shorter 8 miles distance with 3,000 feet of climbing.

BOGBOY

Results

Individual

1st Ian Holmes (Bingley) 2 hours 4 minutes 41
2nd Rob Jebb (Bingley) 2 hours 5 minutes 24
3rd Andy Peace (Bingley) 2 hours 6 minutes 04

7th (2nd Veteran) Robbie Bryson (Newcastle) 2 hours 11 minutes 21
25th (5th Veteran) Deon McNeilly (Newcastle) 2 hours 20 minutes 01
50th (14th Veteran) Dermot McGonigle (Newcastle) 2 hours 33 minutes 07
82nd Stephen Cunningham (Newcastle) 2 hours 44 minutes 16
97th (37th Veteran) Jim Patterson (Newcastle) 2 hours 47 minutes 02
115th Richard Rodgers (Newcastle) 2 hours 50 minutes 51

260 finishers


Teams

Open Category

1st Ambleside AC (Lake District) 169 points
2nd Cumberland Fell Runners (Lake District) 209 points
3rd Newcastle AC 261 points

Veteran Category

1st Newcastle AC 58 points
2nd Horwich RMI (Lancashire) 78 points
3rd Clayton-le-Moors (Lancashire) 82 points