26 Extreme’s latest project was a variety of races around the scenic Mourne mountains area, particularly nice at this time with the autumn colours. The races ranged from Ultra – 40 miles, marathon, half marathon and 10k and were not for the faint hearted with never ending hills, the organisers succeeding in their mantra “We don’t do easy”.
In the Ultra event our first athlete home was Sean Nickell clocking 6:19:13 and finishing in 12th place overall. Donald Smith 7:39:55 and Robert Martin 7:41:07 were next in 46th and 47th with Cara Jeffrey not far behind in 54th recording 7:58:34.
The marathon attracted 4 ND runners and Eamonn O’Reilly returned in 20th with 3:42:58. Recently crowned club Grand Prix winner Philip Mulligan yet again showed his versatility and finished in 49th place, 4:23:33. Helen Wyse made it home in 5:38:58 which positioned her in 81st. Clare Russell completed half of the full marathon after feeling ill during the week, a creditable achievement given the nature of the course.
The half marathon saw Catherine Roberts returning first ND runner after a well fought race with colleague Frankie Rea who felt the effects of moving up an age category. Catherine managed 2nd female with a time of 1:36:47 and Frankie was 10 seconds behind in 1:36:57, 18th. Scott Nelson was next in 1:44:31, 46th, John Ferguson 1:48:56 – 80th, Simon Sexton 1:51:49 – 108th, Sarah Benton 1:58:48 – 163rd, Jill Aicken 1:59:55 – 168th. The half marathon attracted over 400 runners and the remaining ND entrants were 200th David McClements, 246th Trevor Patterson, 258th Melanie Patton, 312th Gavin McDonnell and 369th Helen Sexton.
In the comparative sprint event, the 10k, John McGarvey was first man home in 51:58 providing him with 21st place. Gemma Caughers and Marie Devine ran together to cross the line in 1:04:17, 93rd and 94th.
Another successful event with a healthy number of NDAC runners – 23. Some of our athletes have completed other marathons in recent weeks and throughout the season so even more admirable that these races were tackled so well.
Youtube link to the events – supplied by Colm Fearon