Race 5: Moughanmore

5th May 2005

McKibben on verge of clinching 2005 title

It rarely feels like summer, at any time of the year, at the Deer's Meadow in the central Mournes near the Spelga Dam. This year's race was no exception with a cold northwesterly breeze feeling cold and the wet underfoot conditions chilling the feet. Moughanmore is the fifth of the 2005 Blue Lough (www.mountainandwater.com) Hill & Dale Race Series.

115 runners turned up to tackle the initial climb of Pigeon Rock, followed by a swift descent to the col between Pigeon and Moughanmore and thence to Moughanmore before turning for home and retracing the outward steps. This is a very traditional mountain race with the ground uneven, very steep in places, very slippy in places and no time to settle into any real rhythm.

There is also the challenge of route choice - the only checkpoint is on the top of Moughanmore and over the years this has led to much debate about which part of the Pigeon Rock ridge to cross. At the start the temptation is to follow the dry-stone wall. Less so this year as with the ground closest to the wall flooded, the vast majority of the field quickly set a diagonal route heading for the wall corner on Pigeon Rock. BARF's Jim Brown, now a vet45, stuck to his traditional route and climbed alongside the wall - "never again" he said after, as divorced from the rest of the field, he ploughed a lone furrow through the bog land and suffered for it.

Coming off a disappointing run at the Knockdhu Home International the previous Saturday, Newcastle AC's Kerry Harty faced two of the people who had beaten her there, club mate Anne Sandford and City of Derry's Cathy McCourt. A victory tonight would give Harty three wins and leave her clear in the bid for the title, a win for either of the others would leave the ladies series wide open.

Harty loves to front run and set off to banish the memories of Saturday and led through the top of Pigeon. Sandford though is hard to shake and she climbed determinedly and closed on Harty, as the climb of Moughanmore got under way. Just as the summit arrived Sandford was nearly alongside Harty, who, without as much as a 'hello' turned and dropped off down the steep descent like a stone. After that, try as she may, Sandford could not close again and off the drop of Pigeon, Harty pulled away to finish in 39 minutes and 31 seconds, having taken nearly a minute out of Sandford by the end.

Alwynne Shannon took third place to follow up last week's victory, followed by Physio & Co's Helen Cassidy and City of Derry's Cathy McCourt next. Having won at Slieve Martin and also first NI lady home at Knockdhu, McCourt did not like the rough, steep and slippy going this week.

McKibben in pole position

Alan McKibben is a front-runner, surging anytime anyone challenges. By the top of the first hill he had only Deon McNeilly and Ed Hanna for company. Descending off Pigeon he pulled away slowly and it was Hanna who emerged as the main contender with McNeilly suffering on the steeper second climb of Moughanmore. Carty also came through, although he looked like he was still suffering from Saturday's Knockdhu race where he was first NI runner home in 6th place.

McKibben led all the way home to make it five wins out of five and now needs only one more victory to guarantee the retention of his overall title. A determined McNeilly overtook Hanna in the closing stages with Hanna an excellent third, improving with every race.

First vet45 was Ballydrain's Dominic McGreevy in 35 minutes 39 seconds - "I've never seen anything like that before" - beating former veteran title winner BARF's Jim Brown who is starting to get back to fitness again. First vet50 was Albertville's Billy McKay in an excellent 15th place overall. Mid-Ulster's Jonathan McCloy tightened his grip on the junior title finishing first in 9th place overall. Willowfield's Des McHenry, 'fresh' from the Belfast Marathon on Monday was first vet55 and Larne's Billy Magee once again first vet60.

How the French like to finish

The Hill & Dale Series attracts all types of characters. This has been the much of the magic for more than the past ten years as interest has grown far and wide. Escapism is one thing that draws all-sorts to the Mournes on a Thursday night in spring and a quiet drink in a friendly pub, sandwiches to replace spent energy and even possibly a humorous prize giving. This week's pub was Doran's Mourneview Bar near Hilltown and once again the hospitality was second to none. The traditional Moughanmore race organiser of long-standing was nowhere to be seen. Actually, it would have been easier for him to organise a race up and down the Rock of Gibraltar, for he had booked himself a week in the south of Spain. To save him further embarrassment, he will not be named. Instead, full credit to Mark Kendall who stepped at the last minute into the breach, despite upcoming piping duties for a wedding the next day - missing a last minute rehearsal session. I'm sure he was as much in tune as ever.

Ably assisted by Joe (I don't like getting my legs dirty) McCann and the humour and wit of John Taylor, the top team erected the finish funnel (as funnel expert Frank Morgan was missing this week as well) and waited for the leaders to appear on the horizon. All went well and for the record, 115 runners started, 114 finished and for once this season 114 numbers and times were also recorded.

Regular series participant BARF's Patrick Lemoine, happily living locally these days but originally from France, is not just as fit as he has been in the past, nonetheless he was striding down the last mountain with the stereotypical prowess of the French cockerel and involved in a major sprint finish, one of many that happens all the way down the field each week. To paint the picture, the finish funnel is exactly that, a funnel, designed to filter the runners from the open bog into the finish line. Lemoine though clearly has a phobia about funnels and veered left towards the wall and missed the entrance (all of thirty yards across). Eventually noticing his mistake, he tried to clamber over the staked off area, only for Mr McCann (once a teacher always a teacher, even if it is a loose definition for someone teaching RE) to forcibly insist that he should re-trace his steps and enter the funnel in the appropriate way and slip a couple of places further back to 64th into the bargain. For a moment, it looked like there would be an international incident, pictures of French farmers blocking next week's finish line at Hen Mountain loomed large, but thankfully we're all in the EU now and having thought about it for a moment or two, Lemoine accepted the silver fox-like judge's decision and moved off to clean his soiled legs in one of the many nearby streams.

This week's furthest travelled participant was Glasgow's Drew Turnbull of Westerlands who finished 113th overall and 3rd vet60. Turnbull had taken part in Knockdhu the previous Saturday, Round Mountain at Ravensdale on Sunday, the Sugar Loaf race in Wicklow on Wednesday and then Moughanmore on Thursday. He set off early from Newcastle the following morning to return to Glasgow to take part in his 29th consecutive Ben Lomond race on Saturday. Sitting in Doran's at the Moughanmore prize giving Turnbull talked and talked to all his friends, new and old, exemplifying what the sport of mountain running is all about.

Race six this Thursday takes the Series past half way. Registration is at the Hen Car Park from 6.30pm. It is a classic mountain race with three short and steep climbs and descents taking in the summits of Hen & Cock Mountains before returning over Hen Mountain.

BOGBOY