The third of this year’s Hill & Dale series of races took place at Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor on Thursday 27th April. An unrelenting climb from the park took runners to the summit of Slieve Martin. Runners jockeyed for position as the uphill start quickly narrowed, limiting overtaking opportunities as they ascended into the mist past Fiddlers Green and up the Clasha towards the back of Cloughmor before a tricky, fast descent back to the park. The course may “only ” be approximately 4 1/4 miles, but almost 1800ft of ascent gives some indication of how brutal this race actually was. 6 of North Down AC’s toughest runners joined the field of 243 runners; Clair Quigley, 3rd FV40 was the first to finish in 52:06 followed by Matt Ormesher in 58:37. Claire Scott missed a sub 1hour finish by an agonising 5 seconds ahead of 1st MV75, John Adgey, in 1:07:13. Trevor Patterson completed the hills in 1:08:14 and Ian McCreary brought the NDAC runners safely back in 1:14:09.
[photo: Clair Quigley, Trevor Patterson, John Adgey, Matt Ormesher, Ian McCreary, Claire Scott]