Sunday 19th October
I travelled up to beautiful Carlingford last Sunday for the Glenmore AC 6K Road Race.
Just under 100 racers set off in blustery, but mainly dry conditions. The course meandered over local country roads which were either closed or extremely quiet. In any event we weren’t troubled by too many cars. There doesn’t appear to be too much flat ground in that part of the world and my impression was that the only significant stretch of flat ground we saw was the 400m race track on which we finished.
From the gun, heading downhill with a strong wind at my back I was thinking to myself that this can’t bode well for the finish. Gary O’Hanlon set the pace from start to finish and looked extremely comfortable as he drifted away from the rest of us. I found the constant up and down terrain very sapping and was never able to get into a comfortable stride. As I faced up hill again at the 4k mark a spectator shouted “last hill now”…experience told me not to believe a word and, as anticipated, two more hills followed thereafter. The final series of hills were on their own quite a challenge, but add the gale factor, which was now head-on, and you have a trial worthy of Hercules. Very glad was I to eventually enter the running track with a comfortable lead over the next runner. I finished in 9th position and was second in the M45 category.
The organisation was efficient and friendly. The tea and homemade cakes delicious and the prizes were generous. I would heartily recommed this race.
Placings:
1st Gary O’Hanlon 18:53
6th G. Shields North East Runners 21:50 (1st M45)
9th Paul Mitchell Sportsworld 22:26 (2nd M45)
10th Mary Laverty North East Runners 23:08 (1st FS)
North East Runners had sent a very strong team, occupied 7 of the top 10 positions and took two Male Team Prizes – without having declared an A and B team until the results were in!
(Full results on www.precisiontiming.net)
