Slieve Gullion
Thu 4 March 2010 - Ian Taylor
The first Championship race of the year takes place next Saturday, 6th March over Slieve Gullion. We have a new race route starting from the Slieve Gullion Forest Park Centre at map reference 042 198. This is on the south East side of Slieve Gullion, about 4 miles round from the start in the last few years.
The race route description is elsewhere on this web site, together with directions to the start. The race starts at 12 noon, with registration in the Forest Park - main car park. The route is about 4.7 miles in length with 460 metres of climb - a bit longer than the route in previous years.
The Cafe have given us the use of a private room with access to their courtyard which has picnic tables/seats etc for overspill if needed. They
are doing vegetable soup with a roll. It means that we don't have to drive across country to Mullaghbane as in previous years.
The entry fee is £7 including the soup + roll .
This new route is the fifth different one we have used on Slieve Gullion, virtually all organised by Brian Valley with Armagh Club. The earliest information I have is the 1984 race from Gullion to Camlough mountain, over 8 miles and 2000 feet, although the race reports indicate that it was held in previous years. The race then was won, taking five minutes off the record, by Dermot McGonigle, now a Scottish resident and still a runner, with Ian Parke second, followed by Jim Hayes, Noel Douglas and Stanley Graham. A younger Brian Ervine was in 7th place with Williw John Brown in 9th place. Willie John must have been a bit fresher then as he followed the mountain race up with a 4.5 mile road race the same day. And, for the record, Marty McVeigh was in twelfth (and last) position.
