Irish Mountain
Running Association

Howth Winter

Authors

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I was so enthusiastic for this race that I actually texted ?The Oracle? a.k.a Vivian last Sat evening to find out what time the race was - so convinced was I that the race was last weekend! Thankfully Vivian?s better judgement prevailed or his New Year?s resolution is to be nice to me ? but he put me straight. <p>
A sizeable field turned up considering the prevailing weather conditions ? we all were pleasantly surprised when as if by magic the rain ceased and the sun even made an appearance.<p>
Top marks to those who cycled out to the race beforehand ? impressive distances among these was Sabine who cycled from Inchicore taking ?an hour and a bit? to quote herself.<p>
New addition to the M40 class Eoin Keith obviously wasn?t feeling his age as he romped to a clear victory (as well as cycling out to the race) ahead of Shane O?Rourke and Alan O?Keeffe. Amongst the damsels it was Aoife Joyce?s turn to lead the ladies home and she was beaming after the race, clearly delighted to have beaten strong running Moira O?Sullivan and Karen Bothwell though Aoife is enjoying the form of her life and it is well deserved. <p>
Top of the M40s after Eoin was Mike Long, the M50 winner was Kevin Grogan. and our good friend Brendan Doherty showed that his recent good form at the Djouce Joggers race before Christmas continues. Seamus Kilcullen was to the fore of the M70s.<p>
In the female veteran class your scribe enjoyed her slosh around in the mud with Ger Power first F50 and Jean O?Neill smiling home to 1st F60.<p>
We all enjoyed the hospitality of the bar where endless cups of tea were dished up and the odd pint or two! <p>
We all agreed that it was a good day out and left feeling virtuous to have got out of bed!
Some post-race quotes....
Niamh Ni Cholmain ? on being teased about beating her Dad...?Well to be fair to him he did go around the course yesterday evening and marked it this morning before the race so.....mind you when we were going up the hill I tried tucking in behind him to shelter a bit and he deliberately sloshed into a huge puddle and soaked me!? shame on you Diarmuid!!!
Ger Power ? ?Great fun and its good to be back? she paused and admitted that she could add something more profound but couldn?t be rushed on making statements for the IMRA site,
Gavin Doherty ? ?muddy, or to quote Brendan Lawlor?s favourite description,..... oh wait no, I can?t say it as there are children around? he toddled off then to assure Santina and little James that he would be leaving soon but talk of watching Munster?s match commenced so even though he headed off with Dad did he actually go straight home?
Mike Long ? ?Much tougher test for the 1st race back compared to Hell Fire but isn?t this race really about Jane and Grahams return? Mind you does Jane know that her husband is currently walking around arm in arm with Brendan Doherty??
Thanks are due to many members for helping out with marking, marshalling, registration etc. amongst them Sinead, Doug, Henny, Ray, Diarmuid and Barry plus many others ? we really appreciate it.
I personally want to say a big thank you to Denise O?Gorman who very kindly minded my son Jack for me so that I could race and even fed me lovely brown bread, cheese and Fig Rolls afterwards ?
See you all at 3 Rock!

Preliminary Club Results:

Men's Teams

1st Clonliffe Harries 15 (Feargal Hartnett 4, Ronan Hartnett 5, Dermott Murphy 6)
2nd Crusaders AC 20 (Shane O'Rourke 2, Alan O'Keefe 3, Rene Borg 15)
3rd Setanta 65 (Eoin Keith 1, Andreas Kusch 30, Kevin O'Riordan 34)
4th Sli Cualann 87 (Cormac O'Cealleigh 8, Christopher Daly 28, Brendan Lawlor 51)
5th 3D Triathlon 133 (Sean Farrell 35, Eoman Quinn 40, Michael Blighe 58)
6th GEN 166 (Alan Ayling 32, Joe Lalor 44, Brendan Doherty 97)

Women's Teams

1st Clonliffe Harriers 22 (Bronagh Ni Bhriain 5, Karen Duggan 6, Maura Matthews 11)
2nd Crusaders AC 25 (Aoife Joyce 1, Niamh Ni Cholmain 10, Eva Fairmaner 14)
3rd Sportsworld 67 (Jackie O 9, Catherine King 27, Deirdre Horan 31)