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

The 24^th running of the Christmas Cracker took place on Saturday 29th December. For the first 20 years the event was held in Comber but for the last 4 years it has been organised by the local Newcastle Club. The race is based around the beautiful Castlewellan Forest Park and the surrounding countryside. One of the main attractions of the event is that it is run in pairs, giving the runners the chance to form new partnerships, many of usually last for one race only. The winners of that innaugural event were Deon McNeilly/Dermot McGonigle from the Newcastle Club and it was the mighty Deon who along with the up and coming newcomer Brendan Teer, from East Down, who were first back to the main gates of the park after covering the very hilly 10 mile course in 62.29.  His former comrade was last seen boarding the fast ferry to Hollyhead to avoid that dreaded last minute phone call from some desperate soul eager to run, but unable to convert a ?maybe? to a ?definitely?.

 

The race, which starts at the local Castlewellan Football club, saw a record breaking 89 teams toeing the start line. With the first half mile along the main street some runners got a little carried away by putting on a bit of a show for the locals, a decision that many were to later regret on the 3 major climbs. As the runners entered the park they were greeted by local piper Ian Kendall, who unlike his son Mark, did turn up on the day. First shock of the day was when the marshal directed the runners into the show field, via a 4 foot drop! This 1km run across the rutted field took its toll as the teams became very much strung out, at which point head time keeper (2 watches Morgan) said ?this is going to be a very long day?. As they began their climb towards the first major top of the day the banter between spectators and runners had become decidedly one-sided. At Slievenaslat it was Brendan/Deon leading from two International fell running teams of Carty/Blaney and Woods/Bailey. From here the course drops to the lake via the sharp decent of Foxes Green. It was here that one of the visiting Letterkenny (road) runners took a bit of a tumble and also fell from their 5^th spot to 10^th, at the finish but in the through spirit of hill running, the injured team mate was giving, his now ex partner, an ear bashing at the finish. As the runners reached the back of the lake it became obvious that some last minute partnerships were just not working. Mourne Runners International fell runner Eddie ?the beagle? Hanna, had slipped his leash, and was now about 2 minutes ahead of his handler ?Father Joe? who in true tracker runner spirit was heard to say  ?bless the boy? or something like that. The second major climb of the day showed that is a case of the old dogs for the hard road, with North East Runners Jordan/McConnell (age 100+) just outside the top 20 places and first 110+ team Cowan/McHenry in the top half of the field. Note to all you young things that missed out this event, there were 9 over 100+ teams in the event. As the course took the runners out on the roads around the park there were some interesting developments in the mixed category, with less than 10 overall places separating the first 3 teams. Team Abbey, with Bell/Ganiel leading from family Maxwell of Mourne Runners. Note to Bill, if you bring the kids with you must expect them to encourage you to take the sweets instead of the wine at the (unofficial) prize giving. These teams held their places to finish 1^st and 2^nd with the fast finishing Martina Hawkins and the completely finished Pascal Toner from the Newcastle club taking a well deserved 3^rd place.

 

The final sting in the tail was the road climb on the Bannonstown Road with many of the runners having to drop into first gear with some even appearing to hit reverse, but as this is the season of goodwill your names are safe. The downhill 2 miles run home was a welcome sight but with two thirds of the field making it to the park gates in under 90 minutes, not only was this top class turnout but also a top class field at a top class event.

Newcastle AC, on behalf of all the runners, would like to thank the Castlewellan club for the use of their facilities, those who took the entries marshalled or in any way contributed to the smooth running of the event. See you all next year for another fun run in the Castlewellan sun.

 

Bogman.