Imperious Bailey claims fourth win in a row

1 June 2016

NEWCASTLE AC’S Ian Bailey was crowned King of the Mountains on Saturday when winning the prestigious Slieve Donard Race.

Bailey, who was looking to win the race for the fourth consecutive year, showed his intent from the off as he started fast and led the big field along the Main Street and into Donard Park.

Beside him was 20 year-old Zak Hanna from Dromara (Newcastle & District AC), who in his first year racing in the mountains has made a big impact. including a maiden victory in a Hill & Dale Race at Tollymore.

Also there was Willie McKee (Mourne AC,) who leads the Hill & Dale and NIMRA (Northern Ireland Mountain Racing) series at present and who many thought would pose the greatest challenge to Bailey.

Around 15 minutes after the start, eagle-eyed spectators with binoculars could see the lead runners starting to clamber their way up the right hand side of the Black Stairs.

Thirty-seven minutes and seven seconds after the start Bailey reached the summit — 53 seconds faster than last year so the record was on — a great effort that saw him nearly a minute clear of Hanna with, surprisingly, McKee a further 34 seconds back in third.

Diane Wilson, who was also going for four in a row, was dominating the women’s race and reached the summit in an excellent 46 minutes and 19 seconds with Lagan Valley’s former winner Shileen O’Kane in second place in 48 minutes and 9 seconds.

Making up the top three was Newcastle’s Mari Troeng summiting in 51 minutes and 45 seconds. With a cut-off time of 30 minutes at the ice-house on the way up, one runner out of the 208 fell foul of that — poor Farzan Anjomani missed the deadline and was withdrawn from the race, leaving 207 runners making it to the summit.

As anyone who has ventured up there, there are no certainties in racing in this type of terrain with underfoot conditions best described as treacherous at best.

The best descenders are able to go into free-wheel and bounce through the heather and the ruts and spot the holes in the ground and manoeuvre round them well at speed.

Bailey is good at this. in fact it is not possible to win this race without being really good at it.

Bailey was ahead of his record and pushed hard as expected on the descent. He reached the Ice House in around 46 minutes. He was literally sprinting along the promenade with time running out and reached the finish line in 53 minutes and 40 seconds, five seconds inside his record from last year.

“Disappointed with the descent”, he said. “I was nearly a minute up on the record at the summit’. Behind him, McKee had overtaken Hanna and recorded 17 minutes and 51 seconds on the descent to come home second in 56 minutes and 29 seconds.

Young Hanna was delighted with his third place and the ‘claret’ all over his legs illustrated the rough and tumble of the descending game‚— he’s learning the art very quickly.

Newcastle AC had five more runners in the top 10 with excellent runs from David Hicks in 4th (60:34), Colm Murtagh in 5th (60:44), Barry McConville in 6th (61:17), Colum Campbell in 9th (62:23) and Paul Carlin in 10th (62:57), all capable of breaking the hour barrier in the future.

Note should also be made of a fine run by 16 year-old Scott McKeag from Ballydrain in 16th overall in 65:20, a name for the future.

Meanwhile, Wilson turned at the summit and got into her favourite part of the race, the rough descent. Twenty minutes and 34 seconds later she crossed the line taking nearly three minutes off her time of 2015 coming home in 66 minutes and 53 seconds.

Behind her the order remained unchanged with O’Kane coming home in 2nd in 72 minutes and six seconds (23:57 descent) and Troeng in third in 75 minutes and four seconds (23:19 descent).

Spare a thought for Young Luke Taylor of Highland Hill Runners in Inverness was in the top 20 at the summit, but disaster struck on the bottom slopes near the Ice House when he tumbled at high speed and knew immediately he was in trouble.

Marshals were quickly with him and the Mourne Mountain Rescue called. Ironically, his father Gordie raced by a few minutes later not realising what had happened.

Gordie crossed the line in 80th place in just over 80 minutes, but his elation turned to disappointment when he discovered what had happened to his son.

A big thinks to all who supported the rescue, including the Mountain Rescue’s Neville Watson, who finished the race in 58th (75:01) and after lying on the ground he picked himself up and headed back up the mountain along with Paddy McCartan to help his colleagues retrieve young Taylor.

Thanks to the Mountain Rescue who attended the runner, splinted his arm and brought him safely back to sea level.

A race like this doesn’t just happen and race director Paul Watson led the volunteer team with a calm demeanour and would like to thank everyone who helped out.

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