Rene Borg

22 March, 2011

From: http://www.mudsweatandtears.co.uk/2011/03/22/big-records-at-little-sliabh-bui/


The Little Sliabh Bui trail race saw the light of day as part of the Open Trail Series set up to promote mountain running in the South-East of Ireland and encourage more local runners to eschew the roads for the trails…

Last weekend, Jane and Graham Porter’s initiative reached another level with the short four mile course being given a place in the revived IMRA Spring League that started one week previously at Hellfire Woods.

In the route’s inaugural year, a small field saw some solid winning performances as Irish international duathlete Keith Heary and middle-distance specialist Fiona Kehoe set good records for the route which survived the 2010 season.

The race takes place in Northern Wexford where the Wicklow Mountains give way to lower forested hills (the Blackstairs Mountains and Mt. Leinster close by the exception), and Fiona Kehoe’s victory was fitting, the Kilmore AC athlete has won the last two Senior Cross-Country titles in the county and overseas readers may remember her win in the 800m of the 2010 Welsh Indoor Championships.

More local records
Perhaps this served as ample inspiration for the Wexford runners participating in the race and they were helped along by the most competitive field this race has yet seen with forty runners led by Tom Hogan, another two-time winner of the Wexford Senior Cross-Country titles, who qualified for the European Mountain Running Championships in 2009, but was sadly unable to grace the Irish shirt. His spirited charge from the front would see four runners break or equal the standing records.

The Racing795 man did not disappoint those who knew his pedigree with a splendid 22-minute victory. Michael Kelly, Gowran AC, pulled along by the fast pace, matched Keith Heary’s record with his 23:05 time in second while Des Kennedy got a hat-trick of podium finishes as he arrived alone forty seconds later possibly relieved of having avoided another narrow sprint finish. Kennedy is now well-positioned for the league title, with Hellfire winner Gerard Heery the nearest threat as the final race at Mullaghmeen will be organised on his home turf.

The women’s race saw Jean Wilson pull into a 100m lead during the crowded opening stages; from here she slowly extended her lead despite losing some ground on the uphills. The Sportsworld runner, now a resident of nearby Enniscorthy, won the Dublin Novice Cross-Country in 2006 and showed great strength as her time of 25:55 took one minute and eight seconds off Fiona Kehoe’s record.

Behind her, Aoife Joyce, who represented Ireland at the WMRA World Trophy in 2007, likewise had a solid start to her season, in only her third mountain race in three years, after returning from serious injury, as she also broke the record by three seconds. This added extra local gloss to a characteristically sunny day in the south-east. Joyce is a native of County Wexford despite competing for Dublin club Crusaders and it was a representative of another Dublin-based club, Raheny Shamrocks who took third when Niamh Garvey arrived a few minutes further down.

Dermot Murphy

21 March, 2011

When we arrived at Sunday's race on Little Sliabh Bui, we were greated by a shroud a mist covering the land. However, the mist gradually lifted and it was a perfect morning for a race by the time Jane sent us on our way. A field of 46 runners turned out for what turned out to be a very enjoyable race, and with former Irish Mountain running Internationals - Tom Hogan and Mick Kelly in attendence, a very fast race too. The two lads set a fast pace from the outset and the rest of us were carried along at a faster pace than what we are used in Mountain running. After an initial climb, the race went on a downhill section of nearly a kilometer, so an early chance for the faster guys to show their stuff. After that, the route winds it way in a figure of 8 direction with equal amounts of uphill and downill racing. The wooded hill provided some super views of the surrounding Wexford landscape, not that we had much time to take them in.

Tom had the strongest run on the day and won in a time of 22 minutes - just over a minute quicker than the previous record. Mick in second place equalled the old course record. Des Kennedy, a consistent performer this year, was in third place. The womens race record also fell by over a minute, with an impressive debut from Jean Wilson. Jean throughly enjoyed the race so hopefully we will see her back for more races this year. Aoife Joyce also had a strong run for second place. Niamh Garvey was third lady home. In the vet categories, there were victories for Ben Mooney (M40) as Des was third overall, Martin Francis in the M50 and Diarmuid O'Colmain in the M60. Emer Geraghty won the F40 category, with no other category winners for the women.

And so back to the Court Hotel in Ferns for the prize giving. Jane and Graham provided a great selection of prizes and most people did not go home empty handed, although Graham did find it difficult to get rid of that giant thermometer - after about 5 attempts at calling out raffle ticket numbers, Dave Brady kindly volunteered Martin Francis to be the lucky person to walk away with the prize!

Rene Borg

20 March, 2011

TEAM RESULTS

MEN
1. Sli Cualann 15 (4 Ben Mooney, 5 Sean Dunne, 6 Martin Francis)
2. Slaney Olympic 20 31 (8 Mick Jordan, 11 Bobby Redmond, 13 Edward White)