Irish Mountain
Running Association

World Championship Trophy Race

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New Zealand had good reason to smile with two local World champions in Jonathan Wyatt and Kate McIlroy. Wyatt had never won an up and down race before as his previous four wins had been in uphill only races, so the organising committee who bid for and put on these championships that brought the world to New Zealand must be delighted with their efforts.

Based on percentage of the winning times, Ellen Diskin proved to be the best of the entire Irish team with a strong 111.68% and 18th place in the Junior Women's race. A slight improvement and she'll medal next year!!

The old dog for the hard road John Lenihan was next best with 114.36% and 53rd in the Senior men's race which is a tremendous performance considering his age. He'll be 45 in a few weeks! In the team standings, Ireland finished 12th out of 12 in the Junior Men's, 16th out of 17 in the Senior Men's, and 13th out of 15 in the Senior Women's.

See full <a ref="http://www.imra.ie/ad-hoc/nz05_res.htm"><b>results</B></a> here or go to our links page and then directly to the Worlds website.

<b>Lindie Naughton adds from Wellington...</B>
A solid 53rd position for John Lenihan at the World Mountain Running Trophy in Wellington, New Zeland could signal the end of the former world champion's illustrious career.
"I'm happy with today's run and if I do decide to retire, it would be a decent result to go out on. But I said I'd retire before and then came back, so I'm not saying anything definite. Whatever happens, I'll be running the World Masters Championships next year," says the Kerryman who turns 45 in a few weeks time.

For the 13th time, Lenihan was first home of the Irish on a tricky 13.5km course held in blazing sunshine around Mount Victoria above Wellington's beautiful seafront. Second of the Irish in 79th place was Kevin Keane, with Sean O hEigeartaigh not far behind for 82nd place and Martin Bradshaw 92nd making up the scoring four.

With steep uphills and treacherous downhills, familiarity proved a huge factor in the eventual result with local legend and uphill specialist Jonathan Wyatt winning his fifth world title and his first on an up and down course. For the 21st year, the Italians took the team prize - no other nation has ever won the men's team category.

In the women's race, Kate McIlroy raced away from the rest of the field to take the women's title by over two minutes from Scotland's Tracey Brindley. Best of the Irish women was Kerry Harty who finished 47th in 49. mins 51 secs, just holding off the fast finishing Edel Mooney, 49th in 49.56, who proved one of the stars of the day with her fearless descents. Cathy McCourt 55th in her first ever up and down race, made up the scoring trio. McCourt comes with a considerable sporting pedigress - father Jim took an Olympic bronze medal for boxing in 1964.

In the junior races, Ellen Diskin produced the best ever Irish result at this level when she finished a fighting 18th over the 4.7km course. Diskin's time of 24 mins 23 secs put her less than three minutes behind the Russian winner and the good news is that the 18-year old Dubliner is still eligible to run at this level next year.

Best of the junior men was Ciaran Fitzpatrick from Portlaoise who finished 34th in 43 mins 47 secs, about a minute ahead of Rory McDonnell from Dunboyne in 44th place, with Eoin Callaghan finishing 48th in 46 mins 40 secs.

There were also some fine runs in the open races held early in the morning. Over the three lap 13.5km course, George Lonergan ran a time of 64 mins 25 secs, despite going over on an ankle on the first lap. His time was still the <b>third fastest</b> by any Irish runner over the course on the day! Vivian O'Gorman also ran three laps, finishing in 87.5. Over two laps, Tommy Shanahan was 1st M45 in 46.53 and the redoubtable Mick Kellett 1st M65 in 64.25.