A week after Declan Teague lowered his time for the Drumlough 5 Mile Race from 32.17 to 31.41, a new personal best, but retained the 11th position he also occupied last year, there was a familiar look to the front end of the field in the Loighinisland 5.05 mile race. Five years after the inaugural race East Down's Brendan Teer and Newcastle's David Mc Kibben again locked horns as the heavens opened around the picturesque but challenging route. This time they were joined by another East Down frontrunner, Liam Venney and he it was who split the pair as Teer gained revenge for his narrow defeat in 2006, his time of 26.06 leaving him with 2 minutes in hand over David with Liam recording 26.36 for a gallant 2nd place. There was a sizeable turnout from Civil Service AC and Murlough AC as well as the East Down contingentand the Saul GAC team, resulting in the event's highest entry to date. The ladies race was won by Lagan Valley's Julie Murphy from Liz Dawson and Murlough's Donna McCusker, while Aoife Cochrane was first female home in the Fun Run. Her Dad Joe is obviously learning from her example with a very respectable 46.26 in the main race. The annual Slieve Donard Race took place on Saturday and there were several commendable performances from East Down athletes
– in fact everyone who undertook this challenge deserves commendation. Liam Venney turned out again, obviously fresh from his efforts in Loughinisland, and reached the summit in 43.08, holding 9th place but despite taking only 22 minutes for the descent had had slipped back to 16th at the finish, an indication of just how crazily the top runners throw themselves down the mountain. A very respectable first effort nonetheless and perhaps an indication of better to come? Well done to Anna McCoy who picked up the Female Open prize with a 54/32 split and overall 68th place while congratulations are due to Ross Denvir who completed in 1 hour 45 minutes on his debut. A brave attempt considering his inexperience in this sort of terrain.–race safety requirements included the instruction to carry full body cover, a whistle and a compass.
I seriously considered taking part again in spite of having missed the entire Hill and Dale series this year, except for one spectating night, which doesn't really count for much. I had always intended to “do it again” after my only previous effort in 2007, which saw me beat my age (in minutes) to the top, was not recognised in the results. I thought that with another 4 minutes to play with I could do it again. However in the course of my deliberations I noticed that the pre
Now I can whistle pretty well and full body cover is something everyone demands when they see me, but the last time I used a compass was to assist my unsuccessful efforts in the completion of my “O” level Geometry test, (today's GCSE to those who have short memories or who haven't lived very long) and given my ineptitude with it then there was no way I was going to risk being asked to draw circles on top the our highest mountain. I might occasionally think about Pheidippedes when out running but there was no way I wanted to have to recall Pythagoras, or was it Archimedes? at 2689 feet. It's clear though that the likes of Des Woods, up in 37, down in 18, can do their sums pretty quickly. While the Greeks might have a word for it, recalling my mathematical deficiencies lead to more Anglo Saxon than classical expression.
So I went on a picnic instead, consoling myself that next year I would have one minute more to make the summit, compass or no compass.
Next Friday night sees the second running of the Greyabbey 10K and 5K with the Portaferry 10 mile and 2 x 5 Relay on Tuesday 19th July. And then it's back to Downpatrick for the Russell Gaelic Union 10K on 27 July. Plenty to keep evryone happy in that lot.
Joe Quinn
4 July 2011
