Senior Home International 2026 Report
Team N.I & Ulster set off for Keswick, Lake District, England, from Glenavy on the morning of Friday 10th April 2026. Spirits. Alan Stretton, Ciaran Goss, Ashley Crutchley and Paul Brennan were N.I’s hopefuls for the Home Senior International/GB European Championship qualifiers. Their very understanding, and patient, family/support team of Fionnuala Brennan and Amy Spiers did the heavy lifting, and listening, from the offset….they should be commended for their tolerance.
Confidence/delusional ambition was high and, to the uninitiated casual onlooker we looked like a well-oiled machine, in our team van that had a graphic of the Mourne Skyline, on one side, and the Mont Blanc massif, on the other. Looks can be deceiving.
The tone was set from the get-go on the ferry. Pre-race fuelling was well in swing albeit, seemingly, limited to coffee on account of nerves and endless chat…..this applied to all except Ashley Crutchley who decided a nap in the cinema was more appropriate.
In true peacock style team N.I rocked into Keswick, sporting their unique team van, and headed off on a short local shakeout run….there were early warning signs as navigation proved a challenge on the local community lakeside walking path.
12 hours later and it was go time. All members of team N.I were very proud to be sporting their home vests and decided, in spite of the near freezing temperatures and strong wind/rain, to get a group picture at registration in their vests. Fionnuala and Amy, as a result, would have to help complete the emergency contact details, thereafter, as the four men shook with nerves and hypothermia rendering the use of their hands non-existent. Note teams England, Scotland and Wales did not feel such a photo opportunity to be, in any way, necessary. The lack of a photo can speak 1000 words.
Layered up as if we were about to take on the Arctic Spine Race, and with Ashley in a pair of “well-ventilated” leggings and Alan wearing the world’s shortest shorts, we took off among a truly stellar field.
It was fast and furious over the first 10 miles of runnable undulating trail… with all plans of “don’t be an eejit in the first half or a wimp in the second” evaporating out the window. All four men were close together, aiming for strength in numbers and once able to talk, between deep breaths, Paul declared to the group “don’t worry, we’ll get the front runners on the climbs’….naivety is a wonderful thing!
As we flew past the first two checkpoints, we started into the first real climb of the day, with all racers facing tough conditions at this point. The four men had all separated a little at this point and settled into their own battle with the course, all secretly gutted to be diverted away from the Scafell Pike summit trail. Ashley had rolled an ankle not long before this and given this, alongside the tough conditions and worst case of leg chaffing known to man (see section on well-ventilated leggings), did amazingly well to grind through the pain on a course that just got harder and harder. Mind over matter at the highest level.
The pace continued to be demanding as we raced alongside Great Gable and Kirk Fell, and towards mining country. Climbs were long and steep enough to warrant respect, descents were technical and slippy, in the conditions, and the true talent of the UK’s finest mountain runners was only display as athletes danced their way over the demanding terrain .
The snow-capped summits were an amazing sight when we weren’t staring at our feet, picking a safe line down the mountains. There were many a tumble on the second big descent of the day but the men from the Kingdom of Mourne were built for that and took the heavy falls in their stride.
Along the way the race volunteers, alongside both Fionnuala and Amy, couldn’t have been more supporting and it gave us all a serious boost. Team mascot Jessie, an expert mountain dog, barked her support to her team throughout.
One final steep climb, after leaving the safety of Fionnuala, Amy and the van behind at checkpoint 4, and we were flying along the unbelievable ridge of Catbells fell followed by a rapid technical descent back into Keswick suburbia and onto the finish. All four men finished with 50 minutes of each other with Paul coming in 4:56:27 (31st overall), Ciaran 5:05:30 (35th overall), Alan 5:23:24 (41st overall) and Ashley, with the most unsightly inner leg chaff in history, in 5:46:53 (54th overall). They’d, narrowly, missed out on a team medal but, without a course recce and an awful lot of pre race travel, did themselves proud. Ciaran was only a matter of weeks down the line from a very stellar performance at the Maurice Mullins race which shouldn’t go unappreciated.
Paul and Ciaran thought it would be a good idea to strip down to the team vest for a finishers photo, again, in even worse conditions…..Ciaran subsequently required the safe refuge of his survival blanket and there were no further offers of finishers photos thereafter.
No time for much chatting after and it was straight to the hot showers to warmup and prepare for the evenings festivities.
In this time the van had managed to have an argument with a pillar, losing it’s rear drivers side windows in the process, and then, selfishly, decided to accrue a parking ticket to add insult to injury(s). Arrive in style, leave in chaos.
Post-race recovery nutrition took the form of more caffeine and a funny straw-coloured liquid served in 568ml glasses that got tastier, and numbed the pain, as the evening went on. Ashley had raided Boots of their finest wound care products, adding to his previous 2025 investment in Andrex stock, and was being sensible…the rest of the team…not so much.
The final day, after a one hour descent down 3 flights of hotel stairs for some, provided “insightful” learning into the unique diet of semi-elite mountain runners. One athlete clearly survives on coco pops and dairy milk much to the dismay of the oldest statesman in the group.
We may not have came away with a team medal but we ran hard, gave our best on the day, and did the vest proud. The fun is there to see for all, in the photos, and, without doubt, happiness is best when shared. The team are all extremely grateful for Athletics N.I and NIMRA for choosing them to represent N.I.
We only ask that, if ever approached by the Barkley Marathons organisers, NIMRA give strong consideration to picking four wiser men as it would, frankly, be negligent to send us four off into the wilds of such an event!
