With no mountain racing on locally, six hungry NAC athletes made the journey south to Wicklow for the annual Powerscourt Ridge mountain race on Saturday 3rd of November.

Starting in Crone wood, the race follows fire roads before climbing to the summit of Maulin, followed by the long climb to Djouce, with the finish back at Crone. High winds and rain forced organisers to shorten the race by avoiding the summit of Djoice on the day.

From the off it was NAC’s Seamus Lynch who led throughout, claiming another win in what has been a fantastic year for him, leading the field home in 1:00:18. The chasing pack included NAC’s new signing Mark Stephens, showing off his descent skills once again helped him on his way to a well earned 2nd place in 1:02:59, 3rd NAC man home was Pete Grant claiming 2nd M50 in 1:14:05.

The ladies race was won by Sarah Mc Cormack, ranked at 3rd in the world this year, in 1:07:20.  First NAC lady, Bronagh McInerney finished 2nd F40 in 1:31:19, followed by Linda Rogan who was 2nd F50 in 1:41:54.  There was also a short race on the day avoiding Djouce altogether, NAC’s Catherine McIntosh finished 6th overall in 55:04 which was enough to see her claim 2nd F40 too.

Don’t forget NIMRA prize giving takes place on Friday 23rd November, bookings online via their website.

By Hill Runner