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28 November, 2009

<a href="http://www.imra.ie/ad-hoc/NC07.htm"> Final NC Table <a/>

Following NC2 for which there was no report (my fault) the overall result in the series could not have been more finely balanced. The runners set off on NC3 with Paul Nolan holding a slim lead of 3.5 minutes over Aonghus O?Cleirigh. The route advertised as 21 km , if you stuck to the ridges, had the potential of being a lot shorter by loosing height and crossing valleys and gambling on the terrain. It is satisfying as a planner to see runners heading off in three different directions but soon they reconvened to take the very muddy track up to the Lobawn ridge before veering right to the very end on the ridge to a cairn which must have seemed almost all the way to Donard. The next control across the valley where the ridges from Sugarloaf and Lobawn meet was intended to tempt the unwary to do a straight line across the valley. No one was tempted or will admit to it.

The next control caused more of a problem. As runners dropped into the Glen of Imail side of the mountain they were confronted with a new road and young forestry not on their maps. A variety of forest rides and riverbeds were use to descend into Stranahely forest to a path junction but those that stuck with the new road found that it went all the way to just below Kavanagh's Gap and then dropped steeply down the Hairy Man?s Brook into the forest towards the control. The next and last control was on a spot height north of Table, most runners used Wexford Gap but marshall Kevin Carroll reported quite a few came to him off Table using it as a hand rail and not minding the extra height gained and distance travelled.

At this stage Paul had a six-minute lead over Aonghus but finished strongly to increase this to eleven minutes finishing in a remarkable 2 hours. Congratulations to Paul and to Moire O?Sullivan the series lady champion who was only 2 seconds behind her Mournes Mountain Marathon partner overall.

At the older end of proceedings Charlie O?Connell M70 was putting in a storming performance to arrive at the last control in mid field position only to loose much valuable time on his secret short cut. Mick Kellett M60 who had a great run missed his chance to catch his great rival by starting over 30 minutes late.



Paul Nolan 2.00.14
Aonghus O'Cleirigh 2.11.56
Alan Ayling 2.31.54
Eoin Syron 2.32.21
Greg Byrne 2.39.50
Andrew McCarthy 2.41.40
Moire O'Sullivan 3.14.59
Andreas Kusch 3.36.15
Niamh Ni Colmain 3.55.00
Cormac O'Cheallaigh 3.55.00
Paul Smyth 4.30.05
Jackie O?Hagan 4.39.09
Rene Borg 4.39.09
Daniela Boehm 4.39.30
Eilis Faulkner 4.40.17
Mick Kellett 4.42.10
Sarah Heal 4.47.35
Barry Tennyson 4.48.10
Charlie O'Connell 4.49.50
Isabelle Lemee 4.56.20 + 2.00.00