SHARON TAMES THE SEA2SKY

Sharon Madine was the only EDAC athlete to compete over the weekend when she gave an admirable account of herself in the 9thrunning of Born 2 Run’s Sea to Sky series of races in Newcastle on Friday night. Sharon chose the 5K race for her test, which distance she has been improving her performances at in recent months.  There was a sizeable entry of 121 in the 5K, and  after a fairly sedate start in the relatively flat surroundings of Donard Forest the route ascended via a mixture of road and forest tracks through the foothills of the Mournes and then onto open mountain with boggy marshland underfoot. However it wasn’t long until the wet conditions disappeared and led to a swift descent to the promenade and the finish line.  Sharon was delighted to finish not only 11th overall but 3rd female! The only 2 to beat her were Ciara Savage, in 1st place, from the local Newcastle & District AC and Hayley McAteer, 2nd place, from the Lagan Valley Club.  Congratulations on another inspiring and nicely judged race bySharon.

SNOWDONIA INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN RACE

The 47th Snowdon Mountain International Race took place at the weekend with East Down’s Aaron McGrady included in the Ireland team together with teams from around Europe competing. This was his second time doing the race and first time representing Ireland at an international event, which resulted from from his 4th place in a selection race in Wicklow a few months ago.

In the build up to the race all the talk was about the heat wave with everyone hoping that it wouldn’t be as bad as the forecasters were predicting. The morning dawned and the heat built to mid day when it was 25 degrees, the race was scheduled to start at 2pm and on the button the runners were sent off to the sound of the Llanberis Welsh Male Voice choir singing the national anthem. The atmosphere was electric.

From the very start of the 7.5km climb it was all about coping with the heat, watching the heart rate and not over doing the effort too soon. The heat really impacted on the athletes thinking, as no one wanted to risk going too deep. The 15km race was an up and down, peaking at 1085m and Aaron chipped away at a few runners who had gone out too hard on the climbing and then gained and lost 1 place on the descent finishing off the race in 16th, one place better than 2019. This was a splendid result for the novice international, placing him as 2nd Irishman to finish, 1st at the summit, as a Northern Irish runner pipped him to first place. At the time of writing the places of the teams is not known but there were teams form the Home Countries as well as from France and Italy competing. This year was all clear skies but there was little time to glimpse the view on the way up and coming down he was too busy watching his balance to appreciate what scenery was on offer.  That will have to wait for another day when he is not involved in an international race.

Aaron’s verdict ? It was a very well organised event, with a festival atmosphere at the start/ finish area. The organisers quickly changed plans and introduce 4 water stations on the mountain, to counteract the searing heat problem, a move which he said was absolutely essential. He is already looking forward to getting another go at Snowdon, hopefully when the weather is more conducive to hard running. 

Joe Quinn

18 July 2022