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28 November, 2009

Blue Light
Report by Douglas Barry
The Blue Light race was a race of two halves - the up and the down. Simon Fairmaner led to the summit closely followed by last week's Bray Head winner Hugh McLindon. However, Fairmaner was passed on the descent by McLindon who had an easier win than he might have anticipated: the rain ensured the bespectacled English runner had a torrid time visually.
"Me specs are misting up!" he exclaimed to me halfway down as Hugh surefootedly pulled out a lead, winning his 4th League race over the rough ground from the radio masts. Behind a wiperless Simon, the improving Peter O'Farrell blasted past the rest to take a convining third place. Not bad for someone whose first love is rock climbing. Eoin Keith followed ahead of the improving junior runner David Simpson. David climbed well, but lost a little on the tricky descent.
With Simpson winning the junior category, the remainder of the men's prizes went to Simon Walters (over 40), Calvin Torrans (over 50), and Seamus Kilcullen (over 60). Calvin - another noted climber - turned the tables on Ercus Stewart who had beaten him in earlier races. Ercus claimed afterwards that his efforts in winning the class on Carrauntoohil three days earlier had blunted his edge. This category will run and run...
Joan Flangan had an excellent run to win the women's race. As usual, her relentless descending put many hapless men to the sword over the rough ground. Joan had a big margin over Roisin McDonnell who was comfortable in second place. Behind her, many runners took a wrong turning. This disrupted the likely outcome of the women's race. Deirdre O'Neill benefited, taking third, with Caitlin Bent winning the veteran's class.