Irish off-road triple-header
Peter O'Farrell at Maulin 2011
There may only be a few weekends left of the 2011 winter program in Ireland but with the speed the races are coming you wouldn’t know it: IMRA held its Winter League at Maulin on Saturday…
…while the BHAA series continued with the Garda Cross-Country in Phonix Park and more than a thousand people congregated for the dirty affair that is the “Run-A-Muck” challenge.
Mauling performance as O’Farrell takes Winter League
This year’s Winter League has perhaps been the toughest and the final race taking in 14% climbs up and down Maulin and Crone Wood beneath it only exemplified this. There were notable absentees in the hundred-thirty strong field with many having wrapped up their league already but the men’s title remained up for grabs.
Several runners galloped ahead early on before being reeled back by experienced Rathfarnham runner John Brennan. Peter O’Farrell had likewise bided his time and slowly took control of the front. With John Brennan losing ground on the descent, Des Kennedy, the European Masters international, and a third Rathfarnham man, David Power, swept into the podium spots and Kennedy only shook off his younger rival in a sprint finish.
O’Farrell meanwhile had built a fifty-six second gap on the rest and could celebrate his first Winter League title. In some ways it was ironic, as the former Irish Champion stated concerns about the Winter League during the last IMRA AGM.
Citing both the safety issues illustrated recently when it took thirty minutes to get Eoin Keith the finish line after his broken foot at Annagh Hill and the calendar congestion: “If there are races on, people will do them and I’ll do them,” O’Farrell said, “but I wouldn’t hesitate to question the whole idea of the WL at next year’s AGM”.
With the regular volunteers doing most of the heavy-lifting, O’Farrell believes one long summer season would solve both the volunteer issue and leave everyone thoroughly enthused about a new start to the season. He makes a compelling case both on and off the mountain and one that is bound to be discussed further by IMRA in the future.
Planning and safety matters aside, the race saw several people missing a critical turn and DNFing as a result. The most notably casualty was Emma Donlon who lay in tenth position and was well on her way to delivering the most impressive performance by a female runner in the league so far, when she went astray.
Karen O'Hanlon
It left a silver lining for Karen O’Hanlon who, after three second-placed finishes, kept to the course and secured her first win in the league to confirm her runners-up position in the overall standings. Second went to Rachel Burgess with Maeve O’Grady third.
Full details now online at the IMRA site.
Garda Cross-Country
Northwards, in Dublin, much friendlier grassy slopes awaited a three-hundred strong field for another BHAA cross-country event. These events serve as the lay-man’s to cross-country, less intense and punishing than the AAI events, but it is still cross-country.
Kate O’Neill, one of the cross-country runners who have represented Ireland in WMRA events, needed to be at her best to hold off Aoife Brady. 11:48 and 11:50 were the times as the two ladies battled it out for supremacy of the 2 mile ladies course. Six seconds back Fiona Mahon arrived for third.
The men were tasked with double the distance but perhaps not double the pain and here former youth international Mark Hoey came out on top ahead of Ray Hynes. During the Dublin Intermediates in October, Hynes had led the field early on before settling for the silver. While he had to settle for second once again, a victory is surely coming for the up-and-coming Crusader. A further eight seconds back the experienced Michael Traynor helped himself to third spot.
With more than 300 entrants for another week running, the appetite for cross-country clearly remains with only two more such fixtures to go on this year’s BHAA fixture list.
Full results at BHAA.ie.
Run-A-Muck!
Our coverage of the off-road activities of the weekend would not be complete without mentioning the hordes of people travelling to County Kildare for another instalment of the infamous “Run-A-Muck”, the self-proclaimed “muckiest, messiest and most fun way to help” in aid of the Niall Mellon Township Trust.
Serious racing it may not be but the pictures tell of a memorable day for all involved including winner Ugis Karasevs whose time of forty-three minutes for the two lap and nine kilometre agility course is still deserving of respect.
Photos and details at Run-A-Muck now.
