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28 November, 2009

<B>The Come-Back King</B>

Flashbacks to the glory days of 2007 were inevitable as a surprisingly large field turned out for the first race on open mountain in this year's Leinster League: the classical Scarr route where runners must summit three peaks on before turning back the way they came.

A lot of the regular top-10 runners must have fancied their chances going in to the day's race as they knew the season's previous winners would have their eye set on Saturday's European Trial and thus left the door wide open for a strong contender.

Few may have known that lining up at the front with them was James McFadden, who back in 2007 went close the Winter League before being narrowly beaten by Garry Crossan and Ronan Guirey, both runners with considerably pedigree to their name.

With three victories already to his name, those who knew James would probably pick him the favourite, but for those who likewise knew of his long injury lay-off, the likes of Aaron O'Donohue, Bernard Fortune or last weeks winner William Powderly may have been more obvious candidates.

This was pure nostalgia for myself, as James McFadden was the guy to beat when I took up hill running in earnest in early 2007, and national coach Gerry Brady must have been delighted to see another athlete back on his feet in a time when also Ronan Guirey has been side-lined.

Scarr may be the race of come-backs, as last year saw the welcome return of Hugh McLindon, and today more would be done to earn it that very title.

<B>Scared on Scarr?</B>

Last year's Scarr race had the benefit of a rare break in the torrential rain that ravaged our Summer then, and apparently Mother Nature felt it had a score to settle with the beautiful green mountain and her four peaks (only three of which are run in the actual race).

So it was a cold and wet group of runners who lined up on the Wicklow Way and delight greeted Andreas Kusch's short route walkthrough. "straight up and back the same way," one felt the hill running Gods (e.g. John and Robbie), would have approved.

I'd jogged a mile up the route earlier with James and Eamon and my trail runners had literally drowned to an extent that prompted my feet to ask for flippers, so I was left with no choice but wear my road runners. On the day when the Mudclaws were needed the most, they were safely tugged away in my warm flat.

I wasn't the only one wearing improper foot-wear, but even amongst our well-equipped counter-parts, there may have been a semblance of fear as we rushed uphill off the Wicklow Way through big puddles and crying earth.

The leaders made an early break, and I missed the most interesting part of the duel as I first took off easy, then had to stop three times to tie my shoelaces (lesson no. 1: Double-tie the things or run barefoot!).

James later recollected how William had pushed strongly on the uphill before being broken by a late surge from our come-back man. Aaron O'Donohue and Bernard Fortune also kept themselves well in contention. Runner-up at this stage, however, was Scotsman Ryan Montgomery.

As the steepness of Scarr increases in places, grip becomes more essential as the deep mud on a wet day and slippery rocks means every step forward can easily be two backwards (or your last, no hold on, I'm being dramatic now!).

Scarr, like it's big brother on the far side of Tonelagee, Brockagh, is feared for its false summits leading runners into a feeling of elation only to shatter them with the sight of another peak. I remember well, the psychological effect of this last year, but this year it seemed to fly past, mostly because I was busy being livid with myself everytime I stopped to fix my shoes and having to run hard to try and catch up with the people who passed along in the meantime.

<B> Over the Tops </b>
Finally, the last summit arrived and at this stage we could enjoy some of the duel. I was impressed to see James flying down in first, and managed to cheer him on amongst my increasing grumpiness. He looked to have broken free, but not much later runners started to descend in great numbers, and alertness was pivotal as it was difficult to enforce proper right of way on the worn away track.

Niall McAlinden was well in the top ten, but was amongst those injured on the day, apparently suffering a sprain, while the runner up among the ladies Laura Flynn, also needed treatment.

Falls abounded on the way down, a man slid on a rock right in front of me, and as I tip-toed off the mountain in best Bambi-style I had to kiss earth and grass twice myself, once close to the finish where I had the consolation of Cormac greeting my slide through the grass with a "wauv".

For those in solid footwear the road would have been great fun on this day, but an alternative was to go straight for the heather and hope there'd be no potholes (a strategy I eventually adopted). And, as hill runners know, falling in heather beats the Hell out of falling on rocks.

<b> How it finished </b>
Then comes the fast final bit on the road and for any runner with something left you can now hammer down with all you have. It's great fun and a few close finishes were certainly in store on the day.

Not long after I finished, Erin Roberts of UCD had run well to secure the ladies' victory in front of Rathfarnham's Laura Flynn and Sile Smith.

I had walked away in a fit by this stage and did not see all finishers, but before me Jimmy Synnott had run strong to secure the M40 category, first M50 was a delighted Jim Fitzharris (who claimed the money won was worth what he paid the other M50s to stay home), Roger Moulding secured M60 and Charlie O'Connell once again wrapped up the M70 in front of Seamus Kilcullen and Mike Gomm. Longevity and the hills certainly go hand in hand.

Laura Flynn was first F40 while Ruth Lynam took the F50 in front of Eva Fairmaner and Ger Power respectively.

Plaudits of the day, though, can only go to James McFadden, running his first ever Leinster League race, and sealing a spectacular comeback, after more than a year out, with a devastating time of 33:26. Even in these difficult conditions this bettered last year's winning time of 34:14, and could be a new record for the current route (yours truly will need to do some research on that).

Second man home was Ryan Montgomery followed by Bernard Fortune: Sunday's runner-up at Glenmacnass, who had held off Aaron O'Donohue in a close fight.

All in all, a good show in the Wicklow hills, in the absence of favourites such as Peter O'Farrell and Barry Minnock.

As is now fitting for Scarr, a returning runner stole the show and we will look forward to more close duels in the hills as the Leinster League continues on open mountain at Brockagh then Sorrel Hill.

Thank you to all the volunteers who coped with the difficult conditions, in particular Caroline Reid out on the course - and a special thank you to Brian and Nicki Gaffney for the use of their facilities for parking and race registration

TEAM COMPETITION
A wet day meant only four men's teams competing in the rain, and once again local boys Sli Cualann had to see themselves pipped for first by a resurgent Setanta, as John McEnri led the orienteers home to victory.

The Sli Cualann women suffered a similar fate in their second outing of the year where a Joyce-less but not joy-less Crusaders team showed good strength in depth to take victory with a fine score of 22 led home by duelling Rachel Walters and Niamh ni Cholmain coming in with 3 seconds between them.

TEAM RESULTS

Overal LL: <a href="/ad-hoc/LLOverallTeamResults8-12.xls">here</a>

MEN
1. Setanta 53 (John McEnri 7, Kevin O'Riordan 20, Tony Doolin 26)
2. Sli Cualann 54 (Jimmy Synnott 10, Mick Hanney 21, Ben Mooney 23)
3. UCD 112 (Tim Grummell 11, John Kirwan 14, Stuart Scott 87)
4. Team BCD 138 (Alfonso Ruiz De Azua 38, John Ahern 49, Declan Flanagan 51)

WOMEN
1. Crusaders AC 22 (Rachel Walters 5, Niamh Ni Cholmain 6, Bronagh Cheetham 11)
2. Sli Cualann 48 (Liz Ryan 14, Michelle Lambkin 16, Jean Bader 18)

</br>
<b> Inter-county women </b>
1. Dublin 28 (6 Niamh Ni Cholmain, 9 Jacqueline O?Hagan, 13 Eva Fairmaner)
2. Wicklow 56 (14 Liz Ryan, 18 Jean Bader, 24 Ruth Lynam)
3. Meath - (15 Ann Tobin)
</br>
<b> Inter-county men </b>
1. Dublin 47 (6 Niall McAlinden, 17 Robert Healy, 24 Rene Borg)
2. Wicklow 62 (11 Tim Grummel, 21 Mick Hanney, 30 Conor Short)
3. Meath - (5 Fechin Heery, 27 Eamonn Hodge)
4. Wexford - (3 Bernard Fortune)
5. Galway - (9 Brian Furey)
6. Kerry - (13 Mike Long)
7. Westmeath - (7 Patrick Ryan)
8. Cork - (20 Kevin O?Riordan)
9. Donegal - (47 Shay Foody)
10. Louth - (84 Aidan Callery)
11. Waterford - (91 John J Barry)