Rathfarnham had lots of athletes competing in the annual mountain relay race in Wicklow on Saturday. Winners were Trinity Track Racers after a long battle over 7 hours and 127 km with the Rathfarnham team. 29 teams of 8 runners took part, which is a great turnout with a mix of senior men, senior women and veteran 40+ comprising each team. Ronan Kearns & Paul Fleming were on the TT team, who have finished 2nd in recent years and provided great rivalry to Rathfarnham, getting closer and closer, so this win was well deserved given the strength of their team. Paul opened the battle nudging ahead of Peter O'Farrell and the gap stayed very close as Turlough, Donna, Owen and David kept just ahead of TT, until leg 6 at Ironbridge. Even a 1 min penalty for Rathfarnham didn't hold them back as Louis had to chase down the TT runner, who then took a wrong turn, so Rathfarnham had a 10 min lead heading into the long leg 7. Michael Freeley did his best but Ronan had the lead ahead of Valerie Cole on the last leg into Shillelagh. The gap in the end was 10 minutes, after 7 hours and 20 minutes racing. There was a great atmosphere at the end, plus some mild amusement as the battle for 3rd went to the wire, with up and coming UCD Orienteering taking 3rd ahead of Crusaders AC. The father/daughter team of Mike & RoisÃn Long helped the UCD team onto the podium for the first time. Eilis Connery was on The Squirrels team - so Rathfarnham had athletes on 4 teams, a great sign for distance running. Full results, photos & reports on https://www.imra.ie/events/details/id/1354/  |
