World Mountain Running Trophy

4th - 5th September 2004
Sauze d'Oulx, Italy

Report

Newcastle AC Athletes Compete in World Championships

Local athletes, including a big contingent from Newcastle AC, travelled to the World Masters Mountain Racing World Championships on the 28th August followed by the World Mountain Racing Championships on 4th September in Sauze d'Oulx in the Susa Valley northwest of Turin in Italy.

World Masters - 28th August

Tricia Sloan, originally from Warrenpoint and now working in Manchester, finished a fantastic 4th place in the Women's 35 category coming home just 7 seconds under the hour and narrowly missing out on a medal. Shileen O'Kane finished 8th in the same race less than six months after giving birth to her first baby. Completing the Northern Ireland line-up was Derry dentist Hannah Shields, within 100 vertical metres of the summit of Everest in the Spring of 2003 and having trailed a sled to the North Pole last winter, Shields is back in serious training a another polar assault before hoping to return to conquer Everest.

It was 16th and 18th place respectively, in the Women's 40 event for the Newcastle athletes with Clare Galbraith coming home ahead of Tish McCann. Barbara Brown made up the local female contingent with 17th in the Women's 45 race.

In the men's races, Newcastle's Dermot McGonigle came home an excellent 42nd. ACKC's Wes Kettyle and Newcastle's Marty McVeigh had respectable runs in the Men's 50 race, whilst Jim Patterson was 10th in the Men's 55 race ahead of Willowfield's Des McHenry.

All in all, it was a successful day's racing at altitude (the races finished around 7,500 feet above sea level) in the heat of summer that we never had in this part of the world. Over the 11-day trip to the this part of the Alps temperatures each day reached between 25 and 30 degrees even at an altitude of nearly 3 times the height of Donard. In between the two World Championship events, a contingent of 8 from Northern Ireland and 6 from Scotland completed the Tour de Mont Blanc, anti-clockwise, from Courmayeur. 155km and 30,000 feet of climbing and descent in less than 5 days, for a 'round' that takes mere mortals around 15 days to complete.

Tricia Sloan Newcastle AC (W35) 4th 59 minutes 53
Shileen O'Kane BARF (W35) 8th 63 minutes 56
Hannah Shields City of Derry (W35) 16th 67 minutes 57

Clare Galbraith Newcastle AC (W40) 16th 69 minutes 21
Tish McCann Newcastle AC (W40) 18th 71 minutes 55

Barbara Brown ACKC (W45) 17th 75 minutes 04

Dermot McGonigle Newcastle AC (M40) 42nd 54 minutes 15
Richard Rodgers Newcastle AC (M40) 67th 57 minutes 10

Wes Kettyle ACKC (M50) 59th 65 minutes 40
Marty McVeigh Newcastle AC (M50) 73rd 68 minutes 12

Jim Patterson Newcastle AC (M55) 10th 59 minutes 14
Des McHenry Willowfield (M55) 17th 61 minutes 09

World Mountain Racing World Cup - 4th and 5th September

Northern Ireland sent three teams and one individual to this year's championship - a 6-strong men's team, 4-stong women's team, 3 strong-team junior men's team and in 18-year-old Vicky Clegg, daughter of Irish Rugby International, a sole representative in the Junior Women's championship. Clegg had an encouraging run coming home in 33rd place and laying form foundations for future progress.

Women's World Trophy

The ladies team was led by Newcastle AC's Tricia Sloan, fresh from her 4th place in the Women's 35 race at the Masters the previous weekend. Sloan has been representing Northern Ireland since 1996 at World events and this year made her 7th appearance in 9 years. She was joined by club mate Kerry Harty, now 23, a previous All-Ireland Girls Champion in her teens when she posted times such as 2m16 for the 800 metres on the track. Over the past year she has renewed her competitive instinct alongside a growing number of female athletes now wearing the red & yellow of Newcastle AC (www.newcastleac.com). Harty's local achievements this year include winning the Women's Hill & Dale title in the spring, running for Northern Ireland in the Knockdhu Home International in April and winning the Mill Hill Uphill Mile into Castlewellan in 6m32 smashing her own 6 year-old record by 20 seconds.

Anne Sandford from Crossgar was the third Newcastle AC runner on the ladies team. Sandford has been competing for Northern Ireland since 1995 and after a few years break had been having a great season on the mountains. One of the finds of the year, the selection race winner, is another local, who represents City of Derry, Cathy McCourt, daughter of Olympic boxer of times past. Finally making up the local representation was another Newcastle AC athlete, Alwynne Shannon from Rathfriland, having just missed out on Northern Ireland selection, was also in the field representing the Republic of Ireland.

The race was tough, 8.4km and 3,000 feet of climbing with one descent of 500 feet and with the start line already at 5,000 feet the thinner air of altitude was already a concern for the athletes. Add to that the glorious Indian summer weather with temperatures approaching 30 degrees and there were all the ingredients for a challenging race.

After ten minutes of racing, Harty and Sloan were neck and neck lying about 2/3 down the 86 strong field. Sloan pushed on up the steep section, almost 1 in 2 in places, and Harty dropped back and was passed first by McCourt and then by Shannon. The 500 feet descent with just under 3km to go came as a useful respite for some and it was around here that Harty found a second wind and came back into strong running form and started to pass many of the runners that had earlier passed her. The sting in the tail of the race came with 1.4km to go as the course turned up the steep 2006 Olympic Piste. Sloan bounced up it and came home a very respectable 48th in 61 minutes and 2 seconds. McCourt, winner of the selection race in July finished strongly, passing the south's first runner Beth McCloskey late on to come home 55th in 63 minutes 19 seconds. Harty passing runners all the way home demonstrated her old 800 metre track speed in taking care of two more runners in the uphill 50 metre finish to register a respectable 62nd in 64 minutes and 46 seconds. Disappointed behind, Sandford came home 76th in 71 minutes and 32 seconds and is now looking forward to a successful cross-country season having run hard on the mountains all summer season.

Overall it was a successful race for the Northern Ireland women finishing 15th out of 20 participating countries and taking the scalps of the Republic of Ireland and Wales.

Women's Race - Irish Finishers

48th Tricia Sloan Newcastle AC 61 minutes 02 seconds
55th Cathy McCourt City of Derry 63 minutes 19 seconds
56th Beth McCloskey Crusaders 63 minutes 31 seconds
62nd Kerry Harty Newcastle AC 64 minutes 46 seconds
67th Orla Tuohy Tipperary 66 minutes 17 seconds
69th Alwynne Shannon Newcastle AC 66 minutes 24 seconds
71st Maureen Foley Dublin 67 minutes 30 seconds
76th Anne Sandford Newcastle AC 71 minutes 32 seconds

Men's World Trophy

For many year's now Neil Carty produces his best form at World Trophies and this year was no exception. Excellently prepared he scythed through the field in the second half to come home a respectable 83rd in 57 minutes and 33 seconds. Behind him was Ballydrain's Brian Ervine having a steady run and getting inside the hour mark. Next came to the two Newcastle AC locals, Hill & Dale Champion Alan McKibbin in just outside the hour and a minute behind him Deon McNeilly, the first time he hasn't been first NI runner when he has competed in the World Trophy.

Ballydrain's David McNeilly was 5th NI man home in 124th just 16 seconds behind his namesake with Scottish Borders based Limavady man Florida-James making up the six.

Live on Italian TV, the race was won by New Zealander Jonathan Wyatt who only 7 days earlier had finished 21st in the Olympic Marathon in Athens in 2 hours and 17 minutes. Wyatt's progress as he climbed the steep piste near to the top of the race was an inspiring sight to behold. The NI men's team was 22nd out of 27 countries that completed teams, a couple of places behind the Republic of Ireland.

Men's Race - Northern Ireland Finishers

83rd Neil Carty North Belfast 57minutes 33
111th Brian Ervine Ballydrain 59minutes 18
121st Alan McKibbin Newcastle AC 60minutes 34
123rd Deon McNeilly Newcastle AC 61minutes 43
124th David McNeilly Ballydrain 61minutes 59
137th Geraint Florida-James Carnethy (Scotland) 64minutes 52

Junior Men's World Trophy

The Junior Men's race was full of incident with Junior Hill & Dale Champion Mid-Ulster's Jonathan McCloy running a strong and steady race to come home in 72nd and just outside the hour. It was more eventful for the others. Shane Doherty suffered and suffered in the altitude and the heat and eventually crossed the line with serious heat exhaustion and spent a considerable time in the Green Cross Tent before being recovered enough to come off the mountain. Adam Mitten didn't make it to the summit. With 5km to go he was already in a dire way with his head spinning and being unable to focus properly on the ground. He fell over and the official moved in to remove his number and this was his race over. All down to experience, Mitty is already looking forward to his next race and has put Italy behind him.

Junior Men's Race - Northern Ireland Finishers

72nd Jonathan McCloy Mid-Ulster 61 minutes 31
74th Shane Doherty Mid-Ulster 78 minutes 47
DNF Adam Mitten Newcastle AC A casualty with 5km to go

Junior Women's Race

33rd Vicky Clegg North Down AC 36 minutes 10

Footnote

Kerry Harty would like to express her sincere thanks for the sponsors who supported her travel and participation in the World Championships:

Down Democrat
Conway Brothers Funworld Amusements
Wood Lodge Nursing Home
Danny O'Rourke Plumbers
Down District Council
Paddy Maginn Quinns Bar
O'Hares Fruit & Veg Grocers
Anchor Bar
SK Electric's
Friends & Family

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