Scrabo Hill Race

Thursday August 19th saw the return of the Scrabo Hill Race. The course follows a narrow single track through Scrabo Country Park and has plenty of sharp, steep climbs and rough descents over rocks and roots. Measuring 4 mile, runners had 2 laps to complete before finishing at Scrabo Tower.

I’ve heard of a sprint finish, but for the first few hundred metres, as far as I could see, 2 runners were having a sprint start. Pushing each other to the limit were Mourne Runners’ Timmy Johnston and NAC’s Tom Crudgington, with Johnston just nudging ahead to take the win in 26:33 followed closely by Crudgington in 26:52. Last podium spot went to Mourne Runners’ Johnny Scott in 28:58.

First lady was North Belfast Harriers’ Martsje Hell, 17th overall in 33:45, 2nd was Dub Runners’ Claire Tonry, 22nd overall in 35:21 and 3rd was Jog Lisburn’s Debbie McConnell, 23rd overall in 35:24.

There was a good turnout of NAC on the night, finishing 5th was David Hicks in 31:29 taking the mv40, also, 7th Simon Hodge in 32:04, 32nd Gerry Kingston in 38:07, 36th Eugene McCann in 38:31 taking the mv60 too, 42nd Declan McElroy in 39:46, 64th Owen Brady in 54:08 after rolling an ankle early on.

Thanks to race director Andrew Wallace for the reinventing of this race.

Race Report by Hill Runner