In 1978 Kate Bush was top of the charts with ‘Wuthering Heights’ and now again 44 years later her second no.1 with ‘Running Up That Hill.’ Stranger Things have happened…
Nevertheless two good numbers that a squad of hardy fell runners can relate to. Sunday 19th June was the next NIMRA championship race, and it was the medium Flagstaff to Carlingford route, a linear 11 mile jaunt through the Cooley mountains with a good 3000ft elevation to take on.
The first dibbing point was the steps up onto the bus which dropped the runners at a lonely path on the Armagh/Louth border, to head straight into the climb for Anglesey Mountain, before traversing boggy ground to Clermont on the Ravensdale side. The next 5 mile or so was all fairly runnable taking in the next 3 checkpoints, firstly the mast on Clermont Carn/Black Mountain, a nice path towards Carnavaddy, before dropping down to the Windy Gap at the Long Woman’s Grave. A quick sup of water here and then route choice becomes random and sporadic towards the last checkpoint on the high point of County Louth, Slieve Foye, steeply overlooking the finish down in Carlingford. Continue reading