Mourne Mountain Marathon 2018

While many runners had their eyes on the Berlin Marathon and the World Mountain Running Championships in Andorra, the Mourne Mountain Marathon was taking place much closer to home. A unique and well organised event, the Mourne Mountain Marathon (or 2 day) is arguably the highlight of the mountain running calendar. It is the only 2 day mountain marathon in Ireland and always attracts a quality field of athletes.

The event is a real test, both mentally and physically as it mixes running, navigating and being self-sufficient for the entire weekend. That involves carrying all your food, cooking and camping equipment, and running in teams of two. Weather conditions can make a difficult event even worse, not only at the overnight camp, but finding the checkpoints in clag is never easy. Not always the fastest runner will win on the day as clever route choice can be the real deciding factor. It takes a hardy sort of runner, not everyone is cut out for the challenging event. There are 4 2 day classes – D being the shortest at 35 km over the 2 days, to the Elite class which is 55 km with more difficult navigation and considerably more climbing. The distance described is “as the crow flies” and competitors will cover much more distance (and that doesn’t take into account navigational error which is easy done when tired!) For those not keen on 2 days a 1 day score event was introduced where runners pick up as many checkpoints as they can in 6 hours.

Weather on the Saturday was reasonably good in most parts however for those that ventured up Bearnagh, would all agree it seems to have its own weather system. The mountain has notorious reputation for bad weather, and in the NIMRA championship this year conditions changed that quickly, from sunshine to a localised thunderstorm that no sane person would venture in. Conditions up Bearnagh this Saturday were not that bad, but the clag made finding the control at the top extremely challenging and a number of teams lost a lot of time searching for it. The conditions at the overnight camp were the worst it’s been in a number of years. The wind was that strong many tents were damaged and there were reports of some seeking shelter in the portable toilets. Thankfully the weather improved and in the morning conditions were perfect for navigating in the hills – a small silver lining for a final day on tired legs with little to no sleep.

Newcastle AC has plenty of the hardy sort and was well represented at this year’s event. Newcastle AC’s Linda Rogan and partner Gina Graham narrowly missed out on 1st Female Vet team by 7 seconds over 2 days of racing in the C class! The C class was won by Alan Elwood and son Andrew in a time of 6hr 55min 15 sec.

In the Elite class, last year’s winners Paul Pruzina and Philip Vokes were favourites and took the led from the off, finishing 1st in a time of 8hr 49min 39sec. Newcastle’s latest signing Mark Stephens, an orienteer who has shown excellent running form recently finishing 3rd in the Seven Sevens, finished 2nd in the Elite with team mate Colm Moran in a time of 9hr 30min 24sec. Newcastle’s David Hicks, winner of this year’s Sevens, and partner Neil Andrews (2nd at the Sevens) had a consistent run finishing 5th on both days to finish 5th overall.

In the Score event it was the best route choice that won with Newcastle’s Sam McNeilly and Stephen Rice planning a route that picked up the most controls in the 6 hours. They finished with a score of 410 out of a total of 570 points. Mourne Runners’ Ricky Hanna and Sarah Graham were a close 2nd overall with 340 points. In the score this year mixed teams dominated the podium with Jennifer Bratty and Robert McBride finishing 3rd with 330 points. Newcastle’s Nigel McKinney and Orla McElroy went for a different route picking up less controls but worth higher points and finished with 250 points and picked up the 1st mixed team prize.

A lot of planning and organising goes into an event such as this and the Mourne 2 Day is always a fantastic event. Thanks to all the organisers for giving up their weekend and all the time spent planning to make the event such a success.

While many runners had their eyes on the Berlin Marathon and the World Mountain Running Championships in Andorra, the Mourne Mountain Marathon was taking place much closer to home. A unique and well organised event, the Mourne Mountain Marathon (or 2 day) is arguably the highlight of the mountain running calendar. It is the only 2 day mountain marathon in Ireland and always attracts a quality field of athletes.

The event is a real test, both mentally and physically as it mixes running, navigating and being self-sufficient for the entire weekend. That involves carrying all your food, cooking and camping equipment, and running in teams of two. Weather conditions can make a difficult event even worse, not only at the overnight camp, but finding the checkpoints in clag is never easy. Not always the fastest runner will win on the day as clever route choice can be the real deciding factor. It takes a hardy sort of runner, not everyone is cut out for the challenging event. There are 4 2 day classes – D being the shortest at 35 km over the 2 days, to the Elite class which is 55 km with more difficult navigation and considerably more climbing. The distance described is “as the crow flies” and competitors will cover much more distance (and that doesn’t take into account navigational error which is easy done when tired!) For those not keen on 2 days a 1 day score event was introduced where runners pick up as many checkpoints as they can in 6 hours.

Weather on the Saturday was reasonably good in most parts however for those that ventured up Bearnagh, would all agree it seems to have its own weather system. The mountain has notorious reputation for bad weather, and in the NIMRA championship this year conditions changed that quickly, from sunshine to a localised thunderstorm that no sane person would venture in. Conditions up Bearnagh this Saturday were not that bad, but the clag made finding the control at the top extremely challenging and a number of teams lost a lot of time searching for it. The conditions at the overnight camp were the worst it’s been in a number of years. The wind was that strong many tents were damaged and there were reports of some seeking shelter in the portaloos. Thankfully the weather improved and in the morning conditions were perfect for navigating in the hills – a small silver lining for a final day on tired legs with little to no sleep.

Newcastle AC has plenty of the hardy sort and was well represented at this year’s event. Newcastle AC’s Linda Rogan and partner Gina Graham narrowly missed out on 1st Female Vet team by 7 seconds over 2 days of racing in the C class! The C class was won by Alan Elwood and son Andrew in a time of 6hr 55min 15 sec.

In the Elite class, last year’s winners Paul Pruzina and Philip Vokes were favourites and took the led from the off, finishing 1st in a time of 8hr 49min 39sec. Newcastle’s latest signing Mark Stephens, an orienteer who has shown excellent running form recently finishing 3rd in the Seven Sevens, finished 2nd in the Elite with team mate Colm Moran in a time of 9hr 30min 24sec. Newcastle’s David Hicks, winner of this year’s Sevens, and partner Neil Andrews (2nd at the Sevens) had a consistent run finishing 5th on both days to finish 5th overall.

In the Score event it was the best route choice that won with Newcastle’s Sam McNeilly and Stephen Rice planning a route that picked up the most controls in the 6 hours. They finished with a score of 410 out of a total of 570 points. Mourne Runners’ Ricky Hanna and Sarah Graham were a close 2nd overall with 340 points. In the score this year mixed teams dominated the podium with Jennifer Bratty and Robert McBride finishing 3rd with 330 points. Newcastle’s Nigel McKinney and Orla McElroy went for a different route picking up less controls but worth higher points and finished with 250 points and picked up the 1st mixed team prize.

A lot of planning and organising goes into an event such as this and the Mourne 2 Day is always a fantastic event. Thanks to all the organisers for giving up their weekend and all the time spent planning to make the event such a success.