The real stars of this year’s event were the marshals who had to endure a torrid time of it to ensure that both the runners and walkers progress was recorded accurately. They were lashed by heavy continuous rain for most of the day and a vicious wind which made life very difficult. From the forecast we knew about the rain but such a strong wind was not expected. I think we were victims of quite a complicated weather system which was difficult to forecast accurately. Continue reading
Category Archives: Race
Annalong Horseshoe Results
The Steede Wins Classic Annalong Horseshoe
Saturday 10th May saw many familiar faces descend on Dunnywater for the classic Annalong Horseshoe. The race started sharp at 11am under murky damp skies, but the weather didn’t seem to phase NI’s fell running elite. Continue reading
Wicklow Way Ultra 2014
Long Distance Fred, now with a full entourage of BARF company for longer races, once again headed to the Wicklow Mountains on Saturday for IMRA’s Wicklow Way races. Lots of purple vests at the start line, albeit hidden underneath waterproof jackets.
To the hills!!
Glenariff Mountain Race 2014 – Race Report
This is the thirteenth year Ballymena Runners has hosted the Glenariff Mountain Race, supported by the local company Glens of Antrim Potatoes. Mark Alexander commented that it must have been the best weather they had in those 13 years, as indeed the sun was shinning over the Glens and the mountains were looking majestic, green and glorious.
Waterfoot Bay
NIRunning 5 Mile Trail Race
The first race of nirunning was a fast course . There was a large cross section of members from different running clubs. It was great to see new clubs there that I was never even aware of, until today.
2013 BARF Turkey Trot Results
Here are the official results for the 2013 BARF Turkey Trot. A full race report will follow. Well done to all runners, and a big thank you to all involved.
Place Name Club Cat TIME
1 Johnny Steed Ballymena MO 00:46:11
2 Seamus Lynch Newcastle AC* MO 00:46:36
3 Neill Carty North Belfast Harriers V45 00:47:12
4 Eoin Lennon Olympians MO 00:48:27
5 Jack Millar LVO MO 00:50:16
6 Dale Mathers Newry City Runners* V50 00:51:31
7 Alex Brennan Ballymena Runners V40 00:51:34
8 Emmet McAlister Ballymena Runners* MO 00:51:46
9 Cathal McGreevy Team Purple V45 00:52:00
10 Pete Grant Newry City Runners* V45 00:52:24
RunTheLine 25k Trail Race
Saturday 30th November saw an assortment of BARFers decent on Lamb Doyle’s Pub (53.26593, -6.24177) for the Run The Line trail race. Now in its second year, the Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue fundraiser has two courses to choose from, an 11.5k short or a more appealing 25k long course. We all signed up for the main event!
The weather on the day was perfect, with bright clear skies, little or no cloud, and a crispness that a thin frost brings to the air!
The Fallows
This morning saw 44 fell runners assemble in Kilbroney Park for the Mourne Runners race ‘The Fallows’. The race, a fast 17.5km run with 895m of climbing was not to be missed!
The race started at the forestry hut (G.R. 185176) beside the park entrance and proceeded straight along forest track, past the path for Fiddlers Green, and out onto open mountainside – effectively running parallel to the road below. Around the 3km mark runners entered Ballyedmond Wood, which was the start of a short steep climb, before passing through a gate (G. R. 208161) and onto an easier climb on open mountainside. This continued all the way to the mast (G.R. 204176). Runners then descended on a popular mountain bike track before re-entering Kilbroney Forest (G.R. 211181). The race then proceeded along fast undulating tracks before a steep zig-zag forest climb to a track close to the Slieve Martin – Slievemeen col. The remaining 2.5km was the very fast descent past Fiddlers Green, taking the infamous Hill & Dale race route!
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Diane’s Air show is a Seven Sevens record breaker
Normally Jonny Steede’s sub four hour run and second fastest ever Seven Sevens time would have received most of the attention in the race report, but the ladies record was smashed by a towering performance from Dromore athlete Diane Wilson. In conditions which were close to ideal, warm, with light winds and firm under foot conditions, Diane was soon flying with a good smooth rhythm which she maintained throughout the race to become the first lady to dip beneath the five hour mark. In fact she dived way past that mark to beat Shileen O’Kanes record of last year by half an hour. Second lady Denise Mathers also ran a personal best for a finish time of 5hrs- 13 min- 6 seconds, which only a few short years ago would have been a record performance.
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