Unknown

28 November, 2009

HOWTH League race - Report by Joe Lalor
Howth 19/6/02 Dry, humid evening
One of the comments often made about hillrunning races is that the old hands have an advantage as they know every twist and turn in the course and those newly bitten although following a taped route are never sure what was coming up next. Last evening we were all in the same boat. We knew it would not be the old route, we had tired of annoying the golfers by tying up their fairway while crossing the "white stones" right of way, some runners even took delight by taking short cuts across tee boxes and greens. We suspected it might be the new route of last year with a treacherous gully down to a road section. As it happened it was a brand new route devised by course designers Doug Corrie and Gerry Smith. When they arrived a few days ago to survey a route much to their surprise!!! the massive gorse clearance of last year had all grown back and with not enough time to remove it they went for a new route and we all benefited.
As the 88 runners gathered on the edge of the Howth GAA pitch for a later than usual start in deference to traffic there was a mad scramble to get to the single track path into the woods before the mob as there would be little scope for passing. The going was soft here and there were a few fallers in the early stages if a foot went into one of the many holes. This was nothing to the pile of bodies at Beechers Brook (a fallen tree diagonally across the path) those who took the left hand option made up several places as runners fell over tree and prostrate colleagues but as in the famous Aintree course this was a two lap race and how many people made the same mistake the second time around. The route swung left up a steep hill and out onto an upland flat section with delightful views of Dublin Bay followed by a narrow descent and then a climb back up to almost the same point. This afforded some of us to see how those at the front were getting on, it was marshalled to avoid the temptation for an early shower. We were now back on familiar ground with a trip up to the aerial and around the course once more. There is something about a two-lap race, which makes it always feel much longer than it actually is.
Paul Nolan, after the hiccup of last week, won his seventh race and the Arup League. Paul is an Arup employee and this should be worth something at his next review. There is a great battle in progress in the M40 category. Gerry Brady is ahead on points but Aonghus O?Cleirigh with less races run has a better goal difference, it will probably be settled by penalties. On the night Aonghus came in second with a 22 second lead over Gerry in third. With the non appearance of Joan Flanagan, Emma Sokell had things all her own way in the ladies race despite being a slow learner in how to deal with the fallen tree on the course.