Unknown

28 November, 2009

We headed westalong after a dodgy manoeuvre at the M50 tollbridge brought on by a bout of too much overtaking lane 2km before the N4 exit. The ABS brakes saved us getting to know the back of a tractor after Longford and we circumnavigated a roundabout twice so all in all I was very happy to be looking up at Irelands Holy Mountain with only a hillrun to complete and no sign of the sky falling in on my head.
The race started under Mr. Lord?s direction (quite fitting considering) after the usual wait for a late arriving runner ? you have to love the weekend races informality ? and we trotted off up towards our Lady?s statue at a sustainable pace but sure enough that wasn?t enough and Eoin McKenna soon had a lead on the chasing pack. A quick glance showed I was the chasing pack so decided to buck up my ideas and set about reeling in the Riocht man.
To have any hope of winning somebody would definitely have to get to top before Eoin as he has proved his descending prowess against the master never mind mere jackeens like myself more used to the rolling Wicklow softness. So I changed the mental soundtrack to track 7 Razorlight and had got ahead by the time we reached the church. Nearly hit an oddly placed wall running around the church and headed down hoping against hope I had turned into a descending berserker as the climbing has improved this year but sure enough a human dervish passed by within seconds and with him went any chance of winning. Pilgrims and fellow runners passed in various blurs of well wishes and startled glances, my legs turned to jelly, track 7 started skipping and I struggled home well down on Eoin but luckily still ahead of a fast descending Bernard. In fact once wasn?t enough for the bould Bernard and he headed up to the top again for another look around and some personal time up there. Whatever he discovered was good stuff as he was different athlete the following day but that?s another story.
Thanks to Mr. Campbell for water, The first aid dude for many elbows and knees and all the organisers for a job well done. The mini race described above was repeated throughout the field with some having strong climbs and others savage descents as a quick perusal of the summit and finish places will show.

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1 Peter O?Farrell 33.04
2 Eoin McKenna 33.18
3 Eoin Keith 35.24
4 Bernard Fortune 35.31
5 Tim Grummell 36.41
6 James Kenny 36.59
7 Gerry Lalor 37.29
8 Thomas Blackburn 37.36
9 Keith Ryan 37.49
10 Conor O?Meara 38.15
11 Dermot Murphy 38.42
12 Turlough Conway 40.40
13 Kevin Grogan 40.45
14 Joe Aherne 41.58
15 Mike Cunningham 42.22
16 Damian Cunningham 43.34
17 Mick Hanney 44.00
18 Cormac O?Ceallaigh 45.26
19 Vivian O?Gorman 45.32
20 Henny Brandsma 45.41
21 Andrew McCarthy 45.54
22 Moire O?Sullivan 45.57
23 Enda Walsh 46.17
24 Melanie Earwaker 46.28
25 Justin Rea 46.35
26 Rene Borg 44.37
27 Thomas Blackburn Jr 47.02
28 Sean Burke 47.09
29 Liam Faulkner 47.58
30 Bernt Heim 48.14
31 Loretta Duggan 48.21
32 Ciaran O?Malley 49.05
33 Jacqui Howard 50.22
34 Niamh Ni Cholmain 52.43
35 Clare Sullivan 53.06
36 Joe Laffan 53.11
37 Noelle Collimore 54.48
38 Deirdre Horan 55.55
39 Clare Lawson 59.53
40 Martin Sweeney 61.00
41 Charlie O?Connell 62.45
42 Mick Kellett 114.45