Rene Borg

31 July, 2010

TEAM RESULTS

MEN
1. Sli Cualann 43 (7 Jimmy Synnott, 9 Ben Mooney, 27 Robin Mooney)
2. Boards AC 54 (6 Mick Hanney, 11 John Ahern, 37 John Langenbach)

WOMEN
1. Crusaders AC 17 (4 Emma Boland, 6 Lornie O'Dwyer, 7 Deirdre Ni Chearbhaill)

Mick Hanney

29 July, 2010

Anyone who was waiting to start at Butter mountain was to be left sorely disappointed but thems the breaks in organising races. Sometimes the race route has to move… On the ‘g’ of go says Douglas and we were set off on our way downhill at the start of Earl’s drive race for 2010. Douglas’s sudden starts are something you need to get used to! From the start Dan Morrough ran as if he was doing the 200 metres. That, or he’d forgotten to close the front door of his house so needed to be home early. In any event his initial sprint was closed down by the chasing pack which was led by Jason Reid amongst others. A new leader with a Tri t-shirt stretched us out but he ran past the right arrow that Peter O’Farrell, the race marker, had left out for us. A shout from the pack and his error was corrected. Across the stream by a nice new shiny bridge (okay a few poles but who is complaining) and into the tracks which zig and zag innumerable times . Some runners took liberties with the marking and cut the zig zags short. Others took the designated route. Happens every year and probably can only be stopped by barring any potential short cuts completely.

A new leader in the shape of Jason Reid led through here. Adrift in a chasing pack I pursued Dan Morrough and Brian Caulfield with Jimmy Synnott close by.
Earl’s drive was as dry underfoot as its ever liable to be so the going was good. We headed out to the end of the pond for the crossing of the stream. Some hopped across the stones, others took the more direct route through the water which was running low. On the back-home stretch at this point and half way along we were encouraged by the likes of Martin Francis and Peter O’Farrell. I’d progressed up the pack by 2 places but Jimmy Synnott was on my shoulder as we climbed the short steep bit through the trees. As he pulled away from me I found a new gear and stayed in tow then moved ahead as the ground levelled out. The closing stages was fast and furious and I had to dig deep on the last uphill bit to avoid Jimmy overtaking me to finish a respectable 6th place. Jason – in training for a Berlin marathon I believe – took the race honours in a very decent time. 2nd place was plod runner up Maurice Robson and 3rd, in his first imra race of the year was Newtown man Ian McGrath. 1st lady was Karen O’Hanlon. In close contention was Moire O’Sullivan who is back briefly from foreign parts and obviously couldn’t resist the allure of an imra run, even if this is very short by her standards. Next up for her is the 7 sevens in the Mournes.

A fine evening for a short and fast race. Next up is the last of the trail series in Devils Glen. If it rains much between now and then the trail along the river could be interesting. If you haven’t ran in Devil’s Glen before you are in for a treat though.

Thanks Douglas et al for another smoothly run event and Dermot in particular for getting the results together and online was quickly.