Bailey?s Cream Poleaxes Brian?s Dream
Thu 12 August 2004 - Ian Taylor
Conditions were good for this year?s Seven Sevens race with firm dry ground, a cooling breeze from the Southeast and broken cloud only occasionally touching the hilltops.
4 hours of racing and only 2 seconds apart!
Brian Ervine was hoping to break the four-hour mark having been thwarted by last year?s sapping heat and he was joined by over forty other runners who had also opted to take on this the toughest race in the fell running calendar. Deon Mc Neilly, a former Northern Ireland champion was entered with Gary Bailey and Eddy Hanna headed the enthusiastic young guns of the ACKC team. The ladies were represented by just one runner, Helen Cassidy of teamU4EA.
ACKC took the team prize
As expected Brian Ervine was first to the top of Donard and Commedagh, but when he reached Bernagh he must have wondered about Gary Bailey who was still in contact. Gary is fast on the downhills so for every lead Brian built on the ascents, Gary pulled it back on the descents. The long run down from MeelBeg to the Ben Crom Dam proved decisive for Gary found a better line and reached the Dam just ahead. Brian moved back into the lead up Binnian, held it over Lamagan and had a two-minute advantage by the Saddle. Once again Gary?s descent speed ? undulled by the distance, proved to be the ace card, as he sped down the Glen River to catch Brian within sight of the finish line. It was a thrilling climax as Gary overtook Brian then made an error and had to run a longer route through the car park while Brian headed directly to the finish over the playing fields. One runner came from one direction, the other from another and produced one of the tightest finishes ever ? Gary winning by a mere 2 seconds. Both runners smashed Damian Brannigan?s record and pushed the time below the four-hour mark to 3hrs 54min 10 sec. Although stunned by his loss Brian was quick to congratulate Gary, the first local runner to defeat him in a long Mournes race in many years. From a neutrals point of view both runners are to be congratulated on serving up such an epic duel.
Behind them vet 40 Deon Mc Neilly ran a steady race for fourth place and Eddy Hanna of ACKC just held off a fast finish from Richard Cowan who excels in long races. ACKC had a good day all round with five in the top ten, making them easily top team.
Helen Cassidy unsurprisingly won the ladies race, but she wasn?t the fastest round the course on the day. That honour went to Hanna Shields of Everest climbing fame who had entered the challenge walk and completed it in 5 hours 51 mins. That just happens to be a new record time. We will have to talk Hanna into trying something really tough soon, like a fell race!
Jim Brown
On a more personal note, congratulations are due to all who improved their Seven Sevens best times. It?s not often that, after seven completions of the walk/race, a vet55 can take 20 minutes of his pb!
