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!

The race was well represented by BARF, with 7 runners in attendance, but it was Gerry Kingston who took club honours.

Official times to follow. In the meantime, here’s the GPS data courtesy of Strava