Record bonanza as Brown triumphs on Irish 'trails'...
Last weekend saw a rare triple-header of IMRA races. Along the Wicklow Way it was yet again time for runners to choose wisely between the option of the long and painful Trail race and the longer and painful Ultra race.
Further south the Irish Colleges Championship revisited Camaderry, recently used for the British and Irish Schools, to find the best university mountain runner in the country.
Wicklow Way Trail
With ten WMRA World Championship and Trophy appearances to his name, England’s John Brown would cut a recognisable figure in most any race east of the Irish Sea. This was not the case at last weekend’s Wicklow Way Trail race, although murmurs of his attendance had started to spread and several local contenders for the first place where pondering what to make of the Englishman’s challenge.
These runners had less than 25km to put plots to practice as the trail race was about 700m shortened from the previous year due to a new traffic light having been installed at the traditional finish at Johnnie Foxes’ pub in Glencullen, South County Dublin.
Ian Conroy, who earned his first Irish vest in 2010, acted first deciding to match John stride for stride in the early phases of the race. “I was trying to run for first not third,” he reflected post-race, and the 1500m man should rebound quickly from a gutsy move that back-fired as he faded into seventh.
Wrong pacing decisions usually results in significant time-loss late in the race, especially before the vaunted Curtlestown climb, the final obstacle before entering County Dublin, but the Salford Harriers man, second at Three-Peaks as recently as 2010, kept building his lead over the chasing Brian Furey.
In third place, four-time Irish Marathon Champion, Gary Crossan, seemed to have shrugged off the worst of his injury-woes in recent years finishing within a minute of Brian Furey. John Brown, in the meantime, had shattered the one-year old course-record by a staggering fourteen minutes that only underlined a field where eight athletes ran times that would likely have resulted in records if adjusting for the slight difference in course length between 2010 and 2011.
The women’s race also saw three internationals take care of the podium spots. By the time the brief technical section around Djouce mountain had been cleared, Donna Mahon ran strongly up-front. Despite this, Karen Alexander, Sperrin Harriers, never allowed her a moment’s peace as the two battled for supremacy until the final stretch into the village of Glencullen.
Donna Mahon
Alexander had 300m to close coming up the last climb and as the route flattened to the finish line, she kicked for home with determination but Mahon never dropped her pace and held on for a narrow victory with both women taking almost four minutes off the record Karen Alexander herself set the previous year. Aoife Joyce took third place.
Results online now at IMRA.
Wicklow Way Ultra
For some runners, the battles of the Trail race merely amounted to “the return journey” and while the pace was understandably slower, the Ultra also benefitted from higher numbers and stronger standard than its previous incarnations.
With five-times defending champion Eoin Keith still in a cast after suffering a fractured ankle on Annagh Hill, the race would have a new winner.
Eagle AC runner Paul Tierney had prepared himself for the race training on the hard climbs of the Galtees and it paid off as he won unopposed in a new course record of 4:11:27, a time fast enough for the Cork man to have finished fourteenth in the Trail race over half the distance, and a twelve minute improvement on the previous best.
Last year’s Causeway Marathon winner, Dale Mathers, also broke the course record despite finishing seven minutes back and with Eoin Keith expected to return for next year’s instalment to attempt to reclaim his title, an interesting fight should be in the cards.
Beth McCluskey, still regarded by many as the best out-and-out female mountain runner to have graced the Irish hills, now focuses on cycling, but showed that her light stride has not deserted her as she took victory ahead of defending champion Caroline Reid.
With the warm weather temporarily dampened by a cool mist and dry conditions under-foot, such a record-breaking weekend was perhaps inevitable but for photographers and supporters alike, the fields that contested on the day served up an enthralling spectacle.
Results now online at IMRA.
