Last weekend Barf athlete Alan Ritchie was taking part in the Ultra Trail Harri Cana in Canada . A mix of trail and mountain through some of Canada’s most remote wilderness and breathtaking scenery. The race was 65k with nearly 2000 metres elevation . Alan managed to secure a top 50 finish in 7 hours 43 mins for 47 th overall in a competitive field . Well done Arf! Arf!

The weekend saw Jackie Toal take on the tough Kerry Way ultra clocking up 200 k of stunning mountain and forest trails . The accomplished ultra runner battled a tummy bug early on and didn’t let it put her off her stride finishing in an impressive 37 hrs 14 mins on an energy sapping course .

Jackie in action in Kerry

Closer to home Philip Ward was up at the East Antrim Marathon Series 100th event celebrations taking on the marathon . Philip is a regular at these events and added another marathon to his belt in 4.50 .

Philip at EAMS 100th marathon

Well done to both Barf athletes ! Arf ! Arf !

Saturday was the first running of a new race on the NIMRA championship calendar. Organised by Newry AC the route would take the runners on a 6 mile course taking in Knockshee and Slieve Martin . Five Barf athletes took on this race known as Dan Whites Dander . Rónán Davison-Kernan was home in 1.07.30 for 6th place over shortly followed by Jim Brown in 1.10.41 to win his age category,Trevor Wilson in 1.23.51, Andrew McGibbon 1.26.53 and Ian Taylor 1.55.17.

Jim Brown on the downhill to a category win at Dan Whites Dander

Also on Saturday at Florence Court the Last One Standing Ultra began at midday with the challenge of running a hilly 4.2 mile forest trail loop every hour on the hour until your the last one running . Geoff Smyth was at the start line for this one and managed 16 loops before bowing out at 4am Sunday with 67.2 miles completed.

Geoff Smyth at Last One Standing Florence Court

Sunday saw the hugely popular and competitive Laganside 10 k taking place in Belfast . Barf speedster Peter Thompson lined up for this one and came out with a new pb and impressive 35.41 for the distance .

Well done to all competing through the country ! Arf! Arf !

The organisers of the Mourne Mountain Marathon are putting the call out for helpers over the weekend September 21st and 22nd. If your not participating but want to be part of the action then contact them on the details below . Also if you just fancy a run in the hills you could help by taking in the controls that will be placed over the Mournes either day . Please contact them direct on links below if you can help or message on social media .

mailto:mmmadmin@mourne2day.com

http://mourne2day.com/

Barf runners have been out and about again over this last week or so . Last Sunday Geoff Smyth made a return to the roads taking on the EAMS Knockaghthon managing just over 40 miles on return from injury setbacks .

Declan McGrellis travelled to Scotland to take on the Ochill 200 mountain race , a 32 km race across a tough mountain range with 1800 metres of elevation on a very warm day , he battled the heat and cramp to complete the course in 4 hours 49.

Philip Ward was also in action Saturday and Sunday in Armagh as he completed back to back trail marathons on the tough Folley Glen course with very strong running from Philip on both days .

Last week Aaron Shimmons travelled to the USA to take on one of its iconic 200 mile races , The Bigfoot 200 , 206.5 miles with over 42000 feet in ascent .

The race route would take him from Mount St.Helens traversing the Cascade mountain range of Washington State eventually finishing in Randle . Those of us that know Aaron have seen how hard he has worked towards this race and that hard work paid off for certain. From the start of the race Aaron maintained a steady pace and held a top 10 position throughout the race in a very competitive field . Weather conditions on the Friday and Saturday produced heavy rain and thunder storms which added to the gruelling race but his experience in the mountains and of past races almost certainly gave him the edge he needed .

With 200 starters in the race the finish rate was a mere 65% which in itself aludes to the difficulty of these races and distance . Aaron finished in a superb 72 hours 44 mins for a magnificent 8th place overall , 7th male and 3rd in the vet40 category.

Definitely a performance to be proud of Aaron and from all your Barf teammates, bloody well done hi ! Arf ! Arf !

We had a lot of athletes taking part in races this weekend throughout the world . The Seven Sevens in The Mournes saw Alan Ritchie storm to a top 10 finish in 9th place overall with a time of 4.58.13 as he continues to improve in the mountains weekly . Rónán Davison-Kernan was next home in 5.11.04 followed by Brian Linton 6.31.53, Mark Robson 9.01.31 and Ian Taylor 10.25.11. Well done to them all on a challenging day weather wise on a seriously tough course .

Also on Saturday Denise O’Hagan and Pauline O’Hara travelled to the Glens of Antrim to take part in the famous Lurig Challenge Run with both tackling the serious descent with ease and finishing under an hour .

Denise and Pauline at Lurig .

Further afield Trevor Wilson took on the Zierre Zinal race in the Swiss Alps , a well known race throughout the mountain running world and now part of The Golden Trail Series .

Trevor at the finish line of the iconic Zierre Zinal !

Well done once again folks ! Arf ! Arf!

On Tuesday BARF runners Conor McKernon and Geoff Smyth (pictured below on new trail) were on the hills but this time they were working with the Mourne Heritage Trust helping to construct a new trail above Ben Crom reservoir to replace the old trail which is suffering from erosion . This was Geoff’s first time time but Conor has been helping out for a while now and also helps with the National Trust repair team on occasions .

Later in the week Denise O’Hagan, Pauline O’Hara ,Dawson Stelfox and Vincent Mc Alinden we’re invited to join a group on Donard including Mountaineering Ireland ,National Trust and the Mourne Heritage Trust to discuss and give input on a range of issues from path repair , wall repair , erosion ,event management, land ownership and a host of other topics. No doubt the various organisations benefited from having such an experienced group of Barf members at their disposal for the day . Well done on both days folks , great to see the club being represented in these ways Arf!Arf!

The Derryveagh mountains in Donegal provided the setting for some serious mountain running at the weekend with the UK and Ireland Skyrunner Series coming to town. Saturday saw the 26 k take place with over 2000 metres climbing .

Clarke Campbell (above) took on the 26k on the Saturday finishing in 7.09.42 and remarked at how brutally tough but enjoyable the course was .

On Sunday it was the turn of the 50 k with a gruesome 4000 metres plus of climbing it would certainly put our Barfers to the test . Richard Wilson (above) completed the race in 13.04.05 and Alan Ritchie (below) came home 18th male ,19 th overall in a very strong field he ran an impressive 8.55.17 .

Well done to all three on a testing course but definitely an enjoyable one from all reports , will definitely be on the radar of a few more from the club next year . Arf ! Arf !