Northern Ireland Mountain Running Association
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Donard-Commedagh Race Report

Thu 15 April 2004 - Ian Taylor

British Championship Donard-Commedagh Race

Saturday, 3 April 2004

Simon Bailey of Mercia won the first race of the 2004 British Championship series in a time of 62:19, giving notice to all contenders that he expected to do better than his 2003 13th overall position. In second place was his team mate Tim Davies just 2 seconds ahead of Simon Booth of Borrowdale. Robert Hope was in fourth place with Rob Jebb, 2003 champion in fifth place. The latter, with Tim Davies set the early pace, leading by half a minute on Donard and the same on Commedagh, with Simon Bailey taking 68 seconds off them on the fast descent over grass, heather and forest tracks. Tim was able to hold onto second place but Rob faded to 5th. Simon Booth was another fast finisher, being 10th on Donard, 6th on Commedagh and 3rd overall. Others had poorer performances, with record holder Ian Holmes being 8th on Donard, 9th on Commedagh and uncharacteristically losing out on the descent to finish 16th. Mark Roberts was the first veteran in 9th place overall with a time of 66:32, while 2003 vet50 champion, Duncan Overton was again the leading vet50 in 74:56 and 58th place overall.

In the ladies categories Angela Mudge was an easy winner in 74:05, over 5 minutes ahead of Natalie White with Louise Sharp a further 2:27 behind. Angela was 32nd on Donard, 37th on Commedagh and 48th overall, whereas Natalie improved during the race (96th, 89th, 86th) and Louise faded from 79th on Donard, 82nd on Commedagh and finished 102nd overall, being passed by Natalie on the descent. Kate Beatty maintained her race position to finish first vet40, fifth female and 111st in 82:38.

With five counters required in the Open Men?s teams, club strength in depth is essential with Borrowdale proving they could deliver. With Ambleside, last year?s champions not appearing, Borrowdale have given notice that they want to improve on their second place in the team award. Borrowdale?s 38 points left them well ahead of Pudsey & Bramley (71 points) and Mercia (83 points), with a total of 17 teams in this category. The Ladies? Teams were led by Dark Peak (30 points) with Calder Valley second on 49 points, just beating Carnethy (51 points). The male veteran teams were again led by Borrowdale (23 points), followed by Cumberland Fell Runners (51 points) with Clayton Le Moors third on 99 points. Horwich also tied on 99 points but their fourth counter was behind the fourth runner of Clayton Le Moors.

Full results are available on the NIMRA web site www.nimra.org.uk

Ian Taylor
NIMRA