Furey retains Irish Championship
Brian Furey wins at Galtymore
Our sport, like most, rises from the merely impressive to the captivating through the great rivalries between closely matched runners and perhaps this seasons Irish Championship has seen the birth of just such a pairing.
Brian Furey, Rathfarnham, drew first blood against the efforts of Jason Kehoe, Crusaders, at Croagh Patrick before Kehoe bounced back with a dramatic win at the high point of the championships – Carrauntoohil.
Perhaps marked by his fall during that effort, Kehoe barely hung on to Brian Furey at Lugnacoille but the two runners battled so closely that the King of the Mountains title went to the Crusader although Furey took another win.
This meant that this weekend’s Galtymore race, possibly the toughest of all, could decide which of the two rivals could enter the New Year with the title of Irish Champion before the final race at Slieve Donard.
Once again the battle came down to the wire as Jason Kehoe told MST after the race:
It was a great course. Brian set off at a good pace and it was to and fro down off the first summit. I was trailing by about 30 seconds on the second summit but clawed it back coming back off Galtymore and it was about 15 seconds going back up Galtybeg.
Jason Kehoe
Then I caught up with him again going up the last climb but he put an injection of pace in once he hit a sort of plateau going up Cuis, then it was 30 seconds again. I struggled with route choice back up Cuis and next time I saw him on the final descent he was a good 50 seconds away. Wouldn’t have caught him so began to ease off for 1:45 gap in the end.
This confirmed Brian Furey as Irish Champion for the second year running with Kehoe settling for another King of the Mountain title. Bernard Fortune came in third place, and can add a bronze-finish in the Irish Championship to the Leinster title he secured at Mt. Leinster two weeks ago.
Full results online at IMRA here.
Leinster League round-up
In related news, the Leinster League finished “peacefully” as Tom Hogan had secured the title before Kippure and The Sugarbowl. Peter O’Farrell won Kippure and would have added The Sugarbowl if not Norwegian international mountain runner Tom Erik Halvorsen had been holidaying in the area. The Norwegian duly set a new record for the course in a strong win.
Jenny McAuley likewise returned to the league with two convincing wins. Had the Sli Cualann runner managed another finish of seventh place or higher, the title would have been hers, but her charge came too late to matter in the overall rankings.
