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

By the time the runners started the race at 10.00 AM the torrential rain which had soaked the challenge walkers at 7.00 AM had eased. The wind had eased as well but the ground was sodding wet making for slippery conditions.

 

Forty-two runners climbed through the woods on muddy trails beside the Glen River until they emerged on open ground near the Icehouse. Normally quite a few runners would have crossed the Glen River at this point, but the raging torrent, which confronted them, was too dangerous so the Glen River path became the de-facto route. Richard Cowan mind you had a reckie along the riverbank but it was a futile effort, which lost him time, allowing Gary Bailey to arrive on Donard?s summit with a comfortable lead over BARF?s Neville Watson.

 

Gary, the course record holder continued to pull away from the field and even an out of position marshal on Bearnagh failed to slow his progress. By the time he got back to the finish line he had a twenty-minute plus cushion from Richard Cowan with Clive Bailey only a few minutes further back.

 

First vet 40 of the day was Cathal McGreevy of Team Purple but he had to work hard and had only seconds to spare in keeping Mourne Runners vet 55 Mike Barton at bay.    No ladies had entered this year, but former course record holder Hannah Shields had entered as a walker and her time of six and a half hours was good enough to be the fastest walker of the day.

 

Before I sign off I would like to pay tribute to the marshals on the summits who had to endure some wild weather to ensure the event happened. They were the real stars of the day.

 

Jim Brown