Heery stands tall in Mullaghmeen forest
Gerard Heery at Hellfire
Gerard Heery had positioned himself as the firm favourite for the Spring League title with his convincing win in the first race of the series at Hellfire three weeks ago.
While he was absent at Sliabh Bui, the revived league allows you to use your best two of three results to score and with Heery’s club St. Brigid’s organising the final race in Mullaghmeen forest, all was in place for the local man to sweep up the honours.
The Mullaghmeen route has come into the IMRA calendar “from the side” having been used as the course for the Meath Hill Running Championships in the previous years before claiming the high seat at the Spring League table. As long-time IMRA runner Turlough Conway added in his race report, a local county championship is a great way to grow the sport and hopefully others will follow in Meath’s footsteps.
With 5km length and less than 200m ascent, the course brings a wonderful freshness to the table and sits ideally with the other short races in this series allowing runners hoping to peak for the summer to sample their racing form without paying too high a price.
Short does not necessarily translate into pleasant and many runners may not have been fully able to appreciate the beautiful beech wood surroundings. The man with least time to take in the views proved to be Gerard Heery who did not disappoint winning in 17:32 having bided his time as the opening blows were struck.
Junior Cian O’Reilly showed great promise and stayed within striking distance as he took second in 17:39 with Dunboyne’s Neville Reilly only a further eleven seconds back.
Cian O’Reilly’s sister Eadaoin withstood pressure from Karen O’Hanlon to win the women’s race with Sharon Monaghan in third. On the day 99 runners turned up and 24 completed the entire league with more than two-hundred taking part making the revival a resounding success for IMRA.
With the Winter and Spring League behind us, the summer season kicks off with the WMRA Youth Trial this Saturday before the senior runners get their first piece of Championship action on the new and extremely promising course “Carlingford Slieve Foy”.
Results now online at IMRA.
