The first time I did the Mountain Marathon was in 2011 and I swore I’d never do it again. We did the C class and I was talked into it by a friend from the Mountaineering Club at Queen’s, wasn’t fit, carried far too much and wore boots. The weather was rubbish. Time heals all wounds it seems and by 2017 I was up for another go, this time in The B class with the same man, wearing trainers and carrying a more sensible load. The weather was even worse but clearly there’s something wrong with me as I haven’t missed one since and have even had a couple of goes at the elite class.

However, 2020 involved more hours of suffering in the Mournes than usual, so a slight break in 2021 was in order. I hadn’t tried the Score class before so this provided an excellent excuse ease off. Paul Nixon (of this parish) was also keen to have a go but not the 2 days, and I committed myself to helping collect controls on Sunday to make sure I couldn’t be guilted into the 2 day. 

WE’RE BACK!! Fellrunning returned to the Mournes on Saturday 03rd July for the first time this year. With a new venue, revised race route, a record number of entrants (116) and Covid restrictions to manage, the race organisers were kept busy in the weeks before the race. This race was the first long category race, 20km and 2000m of ascent, in the 2021 NIMRA championship.

Live results for BARF races can be viewed under the results tab

Unfortunately we will not be organizing the Turkey Trot this year due to the ongoing uncertainties regarding Covid 19. At the time of writing (early November) it looks like the situation will not be improving any time soon so there is no point putting the effort into organizing a race in such circumstances. 

We, the Turkey Trot organizers would like to express our condolences to the family circle of Chris Smith who lost his life while running in the Scottish Highlands last week. Chris won the Turkey Trot in 2008 and 2012 and would appear every second year when he spent the Christmas period in Northern Ireland, apart from 2010 when the race was cancelled due to snow. His last appearance was in 2014 when he finished second after an epic battle with Shamus Lynch. He was an exceptional runner especially on continental type courses where he represented GB on a number of occasions. He ran for Thames Valley Harriers and there is an interesting Athletics Weekly article from 2014 where he talked about his training techniques for the mountains while living nowhere near them. These techniques obviously worked for he had some great results including winning the Snowdon International race. A nice guy and a very sad loss.

Jim Brown.