Hanna and Lynch in cracking form again

Hanna and Lynch in cracking form again

1 January 2019

WITH entries closed weeks before race day with the limit of 750 teams of two being reached, the Castlewellan Christmas Cracker has become a popular festive race in the local running calendar.

2018 represented the 36th edition of the race that started in Comber in 1983 when organised by Jim Hayes and Ballydrain Harriers with around 100 entries, before moving to Castlewellan in the early 2000s.

Conditions could not have been better for Saturday with hardly a wind, 12C and underfoot conditions surprisingly dry – where there had been mud and gutters 12 months ago, the ground was extremely firm.

The course was the brainchild of Jerome ‘The Prophet’ McCrickard and he set about tempering the traditional cavalry charge by cunningly starting the race at the Blue Row on Mill Hill with the runners spending the first 400m running uphill to the Market House Square and after a swift lap of the square, headed into the park through the main gates. 

Zak Hanna and Seamy Lynch were already controlling the race from the front of a pack of 5 teams as the race turned onto the large Show Field (without the mud) and from there on the ‘figure of 8’ turning upwards on the boundary wall out towards the Drumbuck Road and onto a steady, grassy climb towards the Trekking Centre – again minus the much anticipated muck.

Last year’s female winners from Beechmount Harriers, Gerrie Short and Catherine Diver, were already exerting pressure on the mixed-club pairing of North Belfast’s Martsje Hell and Mourne Runners’ Sarah Graham. 

Meanwhile, in the mixed category, there was the making of a great battle between North Down’s Jessica Craig and Dromore AC’s Wesley McDowell and David Jackson and Ciara Toner from Springwell Harriers on the North Coast.

After ping all the way back to the castle, the route turned upwards to the biggest climb of the day, Foxes Green and Slievenaslat, the steepest mile in the Park. Hanna and Lynch were now away, showing all their class, leaving a great battle between Newcastle AC pair Luke McMullan and Mark Stephens, Mourne Runners’ pair of Timothy Johnston and Jonathan Scott, Runner Beans Podcast pairing of Eoin Lennon and Gerard Heaney and Willowfield Harriers pair Russell Hughes and Duncan Bell.

Next up was a sharp exit at the back of the park and down towards Leitrim. What goes down must go back up. Sure enough, another climb back up to the forest, followed by a swift descent to the lakeside, a turn up Crow’s Road and the sting in the tail with another exit back onto the grass towards the Bann Road playing fields before one final climb back into the park at the Maze and the finish in the campsite.

It was a glorious site on a glorious day with crowds lining the finish sweeping curve - more great course design - and Lynch and Hanna home in 53:24 for the 8.5miles and 1,300 feet of climbing, to win the title as a pair for the first time and well-deserved. 

Commenting afterwards, Lynch was delighted with his second victory in three days having won the Turkey Trot from the Tollymore Mountain Centre on Boxing Day and Hanna was even more delighted with news filtering through of a 1-0 victory in the big football match in Glasgow – if Carlsberg did Saturdays. 

The Mourne pair of Johnston and Scott finished strongly in 55:03 to take second by 34 seconds from McMullan and Stephens with the Runner Beans in fourth in 56:02.

In the mixed category there was a strong run from Jessica Craig and Wesley McDowell, coming home 14th  overall in 1:01:33. 

They didn’t have it all their own way with Ciara Toner and David Jackson in 22nd overall in 1:03:11 and Dromore AC’s Luke Osborne and Rebekah Nixon in 23rd overall in 1:03:23. 

Beechmount’s Short and Diver won the women’s category in 29th overall in 1:04:24. Hell and Graham were 66th overall in 1:08:13 and Ballydrain’s Amanda Perry and Denise Logue third in 76th overall in 1:09:13.

Other category winners were: 80-99 male, Russell Hughes & Duncan Bell (Willowfield Harriers), 57:58; 100-119 female, Denise Mathers (Mourne) & Kathleen Monteverde (BARF), 1:26:48; male, Sam Crawford & Billy Reed (East Antrim Harriers), 1:02:59; mixed, Diane Watson & Paul McCullagh (City of Lisburn), 1:08:55;  120-139 female, Siobhan Greer & Mary Byrne (Newry Tri Club), 1:54:03; male, Leslie Wilkinson & Frank Rea (North Down), 1:13:17; mixed, Martina Elliot (Lunchtime Legend) & Brian Hamilton (EDAC), 1:20:05; 140+ male, Dessie McHenry & Wes Kettyle, 1:42:11.  

The Christmas Cracker seems to be popular for many reasons – the above shows that it is competitive all the way down the field, but it also reflects the growth in popularity of running – park runs, marathons, trail running and so on – a chance to escape and also, at this time of the year, a chance to correct the calorie and toxin imbalance.

Everyone who completes the course succeeds – each year the course changes; it’s a magical mystery tour and that is one of its greatest attractions. This year the distance was 8.5 miles, mainly off the tarmac, yet no real mud (a disappointment for some, a joy for others) but always plenty of climbing – 1,300 feet – the fastest was just over 53 minutes the last finisher just over 2 hours and 23 minutes – 677 pairs, 1,354 finishers and everyone a winner in their own right.

And dressing up, yes dressing up, it’s all part of the fun; from the ‘herd of mad cows’ from Ballydrain, to the copious festive season Santas and elves to super heroes.