Saturday 26th March saw the Slieve Gullion Race hosted by Armagh AC returning to the calendar after an absence last year. Falling in the short category of approx 4 miles but with still at least 1000ft of climbing, it is a good warm up for the upcoming Hill & Dale series and there is usually a healthy number of red and yellow vests attending.

Starting on the narrow Ballard Road outside Lislea the 82 racing made their way along the undulating sheep track for the first mile. Gullion is known for usually being soft underfoot and plenty of mud to contend with, but with the recent great spell of dry weather, the runners made light work of the track towards a few steeper outcrops to the first checkpoint of the north cairn. From there it was a straightforward path past Calliagh Beara’s Lough towards checkpoint 2 on the summit south cairn (576m) and the high point of county Armagh. This was the 2 mile marker and from here the race gathered pace as this was the turn back towards the start, sharpening up after checkpoint 1 doubled up as checkpoint 3.

Davy Hicks continued his great form coming in under 2 minutes behind winner Andrew Tees of BARF to finish 5th (32:37). JP Gartland was another top 10 finisher a minute after in 9th place (33:23). Colm Murtagh was back on the hills and had a solid mornings work to place 18th (35:32). Next in 2 minutes later, making good time on descent was Pearse Brogan in 25th (37:34). A fantastic performance from junior Ciara Savage in 38th (41:04) put her on the ladies podium in 3rd. Sam McNeilly was then 4th lady home just behind Ciara in 39th (41:11) and Stevie Rice followed Sam for the finish coming 40th place (41:18). One minute later Owen Brady with another good effort came in 42nd position (42:18) whilst Seamus White was to take 61st place with a good time of (47:39).

Thanks to Armagh AC for hosting and holding on perfect day of conditions for the race. The first four men listed above gathered enough points to take 3rd mens team home on the day behind the host club and nearby Newry AC. The next NIMRA event is the classic Mourne Seven Sevens race on Saturday 9th April where 8 Newcastle runners (so far) will take on an elite field coming from across the water, including the likes of multiple Ben Nevis winner Finlay Wild amongst others!