A delayed report from the Viking which was mislaid by Bogusboy.

With the Hill and Dales over for another year 9 Newcastle AC athletes made their way to Loughinisland 5.05 mile road race to get their fix of midweek racing.

With a hilly course that included 97 metres of climb, Zak Hanna took off in “McMurray fashion” and never looked back. In a course that suited the runner up in the Hill and Dale series he ran an extremely impressive 26:53 finishing two and half minutes ahead of second place!

Patrick Higgins and Francis Tumelty finished second and third to make it a full Newcastle AC podium. Tumelty returning to his former home ground received some jeers and boos from East Down supporters, although it appears he has settled well into the Newcastle squad and there is no prospect of a return.
Colm Murtagh made a welcome return to the roads and finished in a strong 6th place after a successful Hill and Dale campaign. Some were surprised to see Murtagh complete a trip out on the roads and not return via ambulance. Could he planning an assault on Dublin? Sources close to Murtagh indicate his real reason for attendance was to get a proper feed since his better half has gone AWOL. With so many sandwiches on offer Murtagh went home fed for the week and a doggy bag for himself and the family.

Mari Troeng despite stopping to tie her shoe laces finished 3rd lady allowing Newcastle to take four out of the six podium places on offer. What a shame Wonderwall is still injured from Drinnahilly otherwise there is no doubt that he would have been on the podium in the associated 3 mile fun run.

Niall Carson was extremely grateful for all the recent hill training around Tollymore and was hear to describe the course as being “as flat as a pancake.” Running like London buses, 23 seconds separated Carson, Frank Cunningham, The Prophet and Patricia McKibben at the finish line, with McKibben the 6th lady home overall.

As Cunningham crossed the line for the second time in a week his face was a picture of happiness. When asked over a cup of tea by the Prophet about his frame of mind as they approached the last hill he just replied “I smashed it lads! I smashed it!”

In other news Philip Murdock made a welcome return to racing after completing the Liverpool marathon 6 weeks ago in a time of 3:13:55, Murdock made the trip to Comber on Saturday afternoon for a flat 10km. He came tantalisingly close to breaking 40 minutes for 10km missing the milestone by a minor 10 seconds.  There is no doubt that he will sub 40 minutes over the summer months as he aims for London 2017.