Slieve Croob climb is challenging prospect

Slieve Croob climb is challenging prospect

14 September 2016

SLIEVE Croob stands tall surveying the Mourne Mountains and always keeping an eye over Dromara. 

This year, however, a crazy idea was put forward to have a hill climb to the summit of the peak. Everyone was in agreement that the surface wasn’t safe, the sheep could cause havoc, no one in their right mind would come and who would sponsor it. 

Several phone calls later and finally a watch of a Kevin Costner film and the mantra of ‘build it and they will come’ seemed very appropriate.

When organising an event like this there are many many people that don’t get mentioned in this report, but without them there would be no race. 

So, many thanks to all the people that contributed to the event no matter how small they thought their contribution was.

The first delivery arrived on Saturday morning as the clouds dissipated and the sun shone to reveal the true challenge of Slieve Croob. The wind was barely noticeable compared to Friday and the sign on and car park were ready to welcome the riders. 

The Kings James pub in Finnis opened its doors and Peter Morgan’s Cottage was the perfect place for the sign on.

After the riders signed on there was the opportunity to test some Abernethy Butter Fudge to get the system firing. 

Up until Friday night the smart money had been on Lindsay Watson to take the win with ease until a late flood of entries saw Roger Aiken and Cathal McAuley putting their names down. 

The good news was that apparently everyone is in the off season and no one had been on their bike all week, in fact some stated that they may be enjoying the off season too much as they went back for seconds on the fudge.

It wasn’t all about the men as the women’s field was even harder to predict who would get the top spot, with all of them claiming they aren’t great at climbing. 

Shalene Ward would be a dark horse with Martina Hawkins, another decent bet based on her secret cross country training.

For the rest who looked at the strava KOM and came to the conclusion that it was not going to be the day they were going to smash it, the challenge was purely bragging rights and of course the achievement.

Who was going to be the fastest Dromara CC rider to the top to claim bragging rights was surely going to go between Nathan Mullan, Barry Kellett and Matty Armstrong with an outside chance that Jack Ferguson might be in the mix. 

For the first Dromara CC lady it would be interesting to see if Roisin Wilson could take that accolade.

With the marshals in place it was time to send the riders into their own personal hell to see what they could produce. When the dust had settled and people were still talking about who was sprinting through the car park to get to the summit.

Craig McAuley produced an astounding time of 15 minutes 2 seconds to become the fastest rider. To put the time in some perspective his nearest rival Lindsay Watson finished second in 16 minutes dead and as it would turn out, third place to fifth would be separated by three seconds with Phoenix’s Cathal Smyth proving every second counts to take third place from Cameron McIntyre (4th) and Roger Aiken (5th).

Shalene McMurray proved that her mountain running fitness would pay dividends as she was the fastest lady in 20 minutes 18 seconds with Sonia McIntyre proving she can climb in second place followed by Dromara CCs fastest lady Roisin Wilson.

In the bragging rights at Dromara CC it would be Matthew Armstrong who produced an excellent performance to beat Nathan and Barry and claim the fastest hill climber from Dromara CC. 

Barry Kellett would miss out on second fastest Dromara CC rider by only once second as Nathan squeezed in just ahead of him.

For the rest , less than half the field broke 20 minutes and there were plenty of riders proving that making it to the top was a tremendous achievement. Ben Wilson was the youngest competitor today and full respect to him for completing this epic hill climb.

When the riders had completed the hill climb it was time to head back to the King James Pub where soon to be Michelin starred chef Neil Armstrong was in full mode, barbecuing the burgers provided by Carnbrooke Meats. 

With everyone cleared from the course the prize giving could start with the spot prizes generously provided by Mourne Cycles, Hanna Cycles, Dave Kane Cycles, Bike Spanner, Holly Coffee, Life Outdoor and Cafe Velo Magasin.