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

DEON McNeilly of Newcastle AC is the 2005 Northern Ireland Mountain Running Champion following the sixth and final race of the Championship at Rostrevor today.

McNeilly, the 2003 champion, was just one point ahead of defending champion Neil Carty of North Belfast Harriers in the championship rankings after five races of the series.

Hill and Dale Series Champion Alan McKibbin of Newcastle AC charged up the first climb of Slieve Martin and McNeilly and Annalongs Eddie Hanna went with him but Carty held back off the fast pace.

McKibbin pushed the pace but Carty made a big effort on the third climb and the pair were neck and neck.

The North Belfast Harrier pulled out all the stops on the final climb in an attempt to win and score the maximum points he needed to defend his title.

However McKibbin managed to sprint clear to win by two seconds and clock 66 minutes and 12 seconds for the nine mile course which included 3,000 feet of climb.

Although McKibbin hasn competed in the other NI Championship races, the result means that McNeilly takes the Northern Ireland title for the fourth time with a score of 118 points, one point clear of Carty with Brian Ervine of Ballydrain third on 114 points.

Behind McKibbin and Carty today Eddie Hanna was third in 67:38, 50 seconds clear of McNeilly with Richard Rodgers (Newcastle) and Des Woods (Annalong) completing the top six.

Yorkshire-based Tricia Sloan, who hails from Warrenpoint, was a convincing winner of the six mile Womens race in 53:37, three minutes clear of Newcastles Alwynne Shannon.

Note:
Thanks to Brian for the above report.  Times have been added below and under the Results section.  Note that times for the 2 lap race for athletes in positions 4 to 8 are approximate. 

Ian