Race 3 Photos by Paul Fegan
Record Numbers at Slieve Martin
Report by The Terminator
The third race in the 2017 Hill and Dale series took place in Rostrevor on Thursday 26 April. The weather forecast during the lead up to the race had changed that many times it was anyone’s bet what would be in store for the runners that evening. Thankfully Kilbroney missed the predicted showers, the wind had dropped and the sun was out just in time for the race.
1st Seamy Lynch with 2nd Willy McKee and Newry AC’s Krion Kelly 1st MV45.
Registration went smoothly thanks to Mary, Debbie, Richard and Nadia. They were kept busy, with 277 runners entering the race – a new record for the Slieve Martin race. Runners seem to be a forgetful bunch, as after every race, without fail there will be an item of some sort left behind. Usually it’s a jacket or top someone has left hanging on a tree, the last thing on a runner’s mind after a challenging run up a mountain! Over the years we have been amused at the items left. Last year a McKibbin misplaced her bumbag and when shown said bumbag which had been found the week before was certain it wasn’t hers only to come back a week later realising it was! This year someone managed to leave behind a good pair of inov8 fell shoes. The shoes were passed to this week’s race organisers in a box along with the other race equipment and left in their parent’s garage for a week. Unfortunately, she was not made aware of these shoes and as anyone who runs up mountains knows if shoes are left sitting they can smell like bog… When she returned to collect the equipment on Thursday morning she was given a right telling off for leaving wet fell shoes sitting as her mother had to clean them and leave them out to dry. Confused as she was certain she had already cleaned her inov8s went out the back and to much amusement found her nice clean inov8s sitting next to a second pair of nice clean inov8s! The shoes were collected this week from lost property. If you dislike cleaning your fell shoes after each race I wouldn’t recommend leaving your shoes behind as we can’t guarantee all lost property will be returned in such a clean condition! Continue reading
