Jacqueline O'Hagan

04 June, 2009

On a day that made history as the day ‘it didn’t rain in Corrig’, some 160 participants took to the line in the Leinster League’s 7th installment to see just how ‘dry’ the recent spate of warm weather could make the quagmire of mud and bog that is Corrig mountain!

Hoping that the slightly longer distance and drier conditions of late would suit me, and rapidly running out of races to fit in seven, I decided to race, although cycling there on a heavy bike that wasn’t my own was probably not the best race preparation! Nonetheless…I did my bit for the environment!

Diarmuid’s race brief was wonderfully short; (i) the course is marked so follow it and (ii) see you at Aherne’s Pub! And with a 3, 2, 1 we were off!

The race started fast and furious like all IMRA races and snaked up the fireroad until we turned up a forest ride, huffing and puffing, tripping and shuffling as we went. From there it was a brief descent on fireroad and before we turned off again, this time toward Seahan, which I was hoping was somewhere just over the crest of the hill where each of the distant runners seemed to disappear! From here I could see Sonia Fuhrman ahead of me and no doubt Karen Duggan was not far behind so digging deep I toiled up the hill just trying to hang on to my place.

Credit to him, John Shiels positions himself in all the ‘best’ places, noticeably at the top of a very steep and heinous climb, to catch us all at our…..best! True enough there he was at the top of Seahan, snapping us, no doubt looking a little worse for wear!! Thanks John! Can’t wait to see the photos for this one!!

It has to be said though the course was a lot drier than normal, as usually even the climb to Corrig is a slippy mucky mess but with a lot more grip than normal and only a fresh breeze off the mountain to deal with, we were indeed spoilt!

From Seahan we turned right and dropped to the saddle toward Corrig where we would do a U-turn and eventually come back to Seahan’s summit. The terrain from Seahan to Corrig was unfortunately not as dry as the first climb and I managed to disappear about three times in, what very much appeared to be but clearly wasn’t, dry firm bog! Once back at Seahan it was mostly downhill on open mountain or rocky track with only a slight climb on fireroad before the final fireroad descent the way we had come up.

Coming off Seahan, I concentrated on running as fast as I could, but descending not being one of my strong points, I couldn’t really close much of a gap on the leading lady which remained much the same throughout the race. Karen managed to catch me at the end of the last rocky descent and thinking the race was gone I throttled back a little, only to come within meters of both leading ladies again on the slight uphill climb. One the hill tipped downwards it was a case of cat and mouse as I, in fifth gear, caught up with Karen who found a sixth, who then caught up with Sonia, who found a seventh……and the battle continued until the end with Sonia, Karen and I coming across the line in first, second and third, some 13 seconds apart! Well done girls on a tight race!

I am not sure as to how close it was in the men’s race, being a few kilometres back, but with a minute ten seconds separating Eoin Keith, Ger Butler and Hugh McLindon it must have been a close affair. Kudos to Eoin though on his win after his very successful Wicklow Round at the weekend and also to Hugh, back in pole position again after some time off the circuit!

First M40 was Ben Mooney and first M50, the unstoppable Gerry Brady! Ercus Stewart took M60 honours and Mike Gomm, M70. In the ladies race Maria O’ Rourke was first F40 (I think) and Ruth Lynham first M50. Last but not least, well done to Colm Moran and James Alexander, our two male juniors, winning the MJ and M14 categories.

Big thanks to Diarmuid and his band of merry men (and women) for a very successful and well run race, to John Shiels, always to be seen, camera in hand, to catch us in all our glory ;) and of course….to the sun, for a rare but very welcome appearance in Corrig!

Gerry Brady

04 June, 2009

COUNTY RESULTS

There were 156 finishers on the long course on Corrig on an almost completely dry course even in the saddle between Seahan and Corrig. The 2008 event is the highest ever number of finishers on Corrig at 214 (short and long courses).

There were 104 finishers (67%) from 16 counties and 71 finishers (46%) from 20 clubs in the results. If you have not yet listed your county team, you can email it to Gerry.Brady@imra.ie. Preferably use your county of birth.

Eoin Keith (Cork) surprisingly reappeared out racing only days after his ultra Wicklow Round run and duly led from gun to tape although he had international orienteer Gerard Butler (Dublin) for company early on. Eoin has agreed to run leg 2 in the Wicklow Way relay for a hamstrung race reporter making quite a hectic seven days! The women’s race was a more exciting affair with Sonja Fuhrmann leading a Dublin clean sweep and earning her debut victory in the process. Wicklow were second county team and Kildare in third. Dublin also won the men’s team from Wicklow. Cork got the better of Kildare for third team. Mayo pipped Meath for fifth team.

Women
1. Dublin 6 (1 Sonja Fuhrmann, 2 Karen Duggan, 3 Jacqueline O’Hagan)
2. Wicklow 30 (6 Aisling Renshaw, 11 Liz Ryan, 13 Maria O’Rourke)

3. Kildare 36 (7 Eileen Walsh, 29 Sinead Murray)

Men
1. Dublin 12 (2 Gerard Butler, 4 Keith Daly, 6 Niall McAlinden)
2. Wicklow 19 (3 Hugh McLindon, 7 Ben Mooney, 9 William Powderly)
3. Cork 68 (1 Eoin Keith, 31 Kevin O’Reilly, 36 Mark O’Sullivan)
4. Kildare 81 (22 Joe Flynn, 24 Dermot Murphy, 35 Eoghan Carton)
5. Mayo 216 (20 Eoin Syron, 89 John Coleman, 107 James Higgins)
6. Meath 224 (62 Michael Boyce, 68 Kevin Magee, 94 Desmond Guerins)

7. Westmeath 63 (8 Anthony Malone, 55 Alan Collins)
8. 140 Donegal (61 Shay Foody, 79 Liam Faulkner)
9. Louth 145 (49 Padraig O’Dwyer, 96 Pol O’Murchu)

Rene Borg

04 June, 2009

The three teams who would sit on the top-3 after tonight's race went head-to-head at Corrig as well. All the forces of Wicklow (in the shape of 8 Sli Cualann runners) stood against 5 Crusaders and 5 Clonliffers. The home team let both numbers and class count, with Hugh McLindon and Ben Mooney arriving first in 3rd and 7th. Then Anthony Malone arrived for Clonliffe and Shane O'Rourke for Crusaders. With Gerry Brady and Jimmy Synnott arriving in 12th and 14th, Sli Cualann secured a comfortable victory but the game was on for 2nd on the night and for 1st place in the League.

A 4th Sli Cualann runner arrived before Jason Kehoe made it two for Crusaders. Dermot Murphy came off the final climb with two Crusaders in hot pursuit, myself and Gavan, and a 6 point deficit to make up for second. The hardy orienteer took the lead on the descent and in the hard intra-club battle that ensued the necessary six places were made up.

No amicable agreement could be reached on who should be the third scorer and ge tthe glory, so Gavan kept his sprint strong enough to stay in front, while UCD’s returning Eoin Syron, just 3 seconds further a drift, almost pushed us out of the reckoning trailing your truly by but a second and Gavan by 3!

The D4 outfit stay second ahead of their North-Dublin rivals in the overall table while Sli Cualann made the best of their victory and are now back to 1st with 6 races to go.

UCD also recorded a solid result finishing fourth. Behind them Kevin O'Riordan ran the race of his IMRA career to lead Setanta home in 5th narrowly in front of Eoin Keith-led Boards AC. It was for not for tiredness in their front man, however, who rocketted home 1st despite his Wicklow Round exertions in the weekend. But then again, what's a little less than 18 hours for an ultra-runner?

In the ladies, Jackie and Hazel had Setanta in the lead early on, but Sli Cualann took another double-win when Maria O'Rourke beat out Melanie Walsh. Still the orienteers just about held off Crusaders led by Niamh O'Ceallaigh.

The men's competition remains the most open just beyond halfway through with 25 points separating the top-3 in the men's while Sli Cualann's ladies have carved out a 57 point lead over Crusaders AC with Clonliffe Harriers the strongest outsider with only 3 finished races but the best team average so far.

MEN

1st - Sli Cualann 24 (3 Hugh McLindon, 7 Ben Mooney, 14 Jimmy Synnott)
2nd - Crusaders AC 45 (10 Shane O'Rourke, 16 Jason Kehoe, 19 Gavan Doherty)
3rd - Clonliffe 45 (8 Anthony Malone, 12 Gerry Brady, 25 Dermot Murphy)
4th - UCD 82 (18 Zoran Skrba, 21 Eoin Syron, 43 Niall Fox)
6th - Setanta 84 (17 Kevin O'Riordan, 32 Terry Lawless, 35 Shane Enright)
5th - Boards AC 85 (1 Eoin Keith, 36 Finbar McGurren, 48 Richard Nunan)
7th - Tumbleweeds 145 (40 Ben Moore, 47 John Linehan, 58 Donough O'Keefe)
8th - Glenasmole 240 (72 Cillian Stewart, 79 Ercus Stewart, 89 Thomas Galvin)


WOMEN

1st - Sli Cualann 30 (6 Aisling Renshaw, 11 Liz Ryan, 13 Maria O'Rourke)
2nd - Setanta 37 (3 Jackie O'Hagan, 5 Hazel Thompson, 29 Melanie Walsh)
3rd - Crusaders AC 39 (10 Niamh O'Ceallaigh, 14 Eva Fairmaner, 15 Roisin McDonnell)