The Kilbroney Challenge 2007 (Click Here)

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Description: There are just too many photos for me to upload them all here so i have downloaded them to google picasaweb , you may need to install a free piece of software to view them . It means that any photographer on the course can upload their photos. http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/notthesundayrun/Kilboneychallenge2007. Rowan working on results at present and I will get round to a proper report soon.

here it is................

KILBRONEY CHALLENGE 2007 – THE AFTERMATH

After several months of planning, many late nights in the front of a laptop, several meetings, some family disputes and more amendments to the course than I care to remember the day had arrived for the staging of the Kilbroney Challenge. The trails had been extensively marked with folk on the mountain till 11pm the previous night so there were no excuses for those who got lost or went astray on the course.

After having a week of very changeable weather we were blessed with sunshine on the morning of the race, thanks no doubt to the life size child of Prague in NTSR head office and the various sacrifices that were made to the weather gods early in the week. Work started at 7am with the arrival of the Joe Ward and the Red Bull kit, and soon the registration area was setup in time for the first arrivals who were taken care of by Lucy and Anne-Marie. The midges were in abundance early in the morning but after a bottle of Avon Skin so Soft was acquired from Joe’s van we could go about our normal tasks without having the added job of scratching holes in ourselves!!

Soon there was a smell of Deep Heat and other toxic potions in the air and we had 30 teams of two and one lone ranger raring to go. Briefing at 10.30am covered the various components of the race with some safety advice and pointers for the course. In the absence of the Red Bull girls Sarah from East Coast Adventure sounded the off at 11am precisely (ish!). The inaugural Kilbroney Challenge was under way and the runners set off towards Slievemartin at a savage pace with Barry Tinnelly sweeping at the rear to ensure no one got lost.

The first hill towards Fallow took its toll almost immediately with a large gap opening at the front by the Cairn at Slieve Martin, where Brian and Cormac were waiting with encouragement. Little did the competitors know the next time they encountered these two men they would have to get of their bikes and do the “puncture repair task”. People were already suffering before they headed along one of the most scenic parts of the route to Ballynagelty where Gene and Luke were waiting to direct them down the treacherous descent to Cloghmor stone. Hugh made sure that everyone headed to Viewpoint and, being a vet, he was also under strict instructions to put down anyone with a lame leg or ailment which would have jeopardised their performance for the remainder of the day. Thankfully he did not have to remove the tranquiliser gun from under his coat!! From here it was a sharp descent down to the summer seat punch and then onto the Glen River, where Rowan and Tony were waiting with a little surprise and a helmet. Into the river and down to the bridge where the CP waited in the dark – attached to the underside of the bridge. Most teams had difficulty finding this one! But after a little encouragement to get under the bridge they emerged the far side like wet rats but with one less punch to complete on their cards.

Back to the transition area where Brian McL and Colm directed the changeover to the bikes for the long slog to fallow and the tunnel .Then a hike a bike section, or if your legs were feeling up to it, an easy spin to greet Brian and Cormac at the mast for the second time and a special task – the puncture repair. Brian tells me you were all delighted! Then for the fun, or as we call it mountain biking dessert – a great technical descent down Fern Gully and on to Ballyedmond Wood where Seamus and David waited with a bit of number crunching as a special task. Some of the marshals said there were a few comedy falls on the mountain and a few were also witnessed in the singletrack sections where the numbers were located. From here it was along whin alley to Burma and a gruelling twist of the knife with a hike a bike climb to the top Burma, manned by Brian Scullion. An easy descent to the transition area left every one ready for the kayak with the end in sight. But it was not to be.

A cruel race director had arranged a 3.5 km orienteering course around the park before allowing competitors to collect their paddles and head to the beach where Ian and the East Coast Promotions Girls along with Pat, Paul and Eddy directed operations. The initial route around the minesweeper had to be shortened as conditions on the Lough deteriorated after the first ten teams hit the water. We can offer no apologies here as it was simply safety first and after conversing with some teams they were relieved the paddle was shortened!!

First across the line in a blistering 3hrs 58secs was Don Travers and Peter O’Farrell, followed by the local team of Kevin Murdock and Eamon Mc Convey who were 22mins back. The remainder of the results can be seen at this link RESULTS


The feedback from the event so far has been great. If you have not yet completed the FEEDBACK FORM that was in your bag please do and scan / email it to info@notthesundayrun.com. All this information will be shown to potential sponsors / funding bodies in order to gain as much sponsorship revenue so we can improve the event as much as possible for next year.

A race like this does not happen overnight and although it was the brainchild of Rowan he would be the first to admit that we could not have pulled off the event without lots of help. Just look at this list.

Rowan - Race Director / marshal / accountant / promoter / etc..etc…
Anne Marie – Registration and childminding / never ending patience / wife extraordinaire
Ian Cumming (East Coast Adventure) and his staff – Canoe safety, marshalling and general pointers on race organisation, keeping the guys at the kayak transition smiling all day!!
Ivan Park and the team at www.causewaycoastar.co.uk – race bibs, course design / planning and constant support up to the race day
Johnny McCabe www.clec.ie – Canoes and early pointers regarding race organisation
Eddy and Paul – Transport officers
Brian McG – Lumberjack extraordinaire!
Brian S / Hugh / Tony / Gene / Luke / Seamus /Mickey / Cormac – mountain marshals
Barry T who swept both the run and the cycle routes on foot after having ran the Slieve Donard race the night before.
Pat – Canoe safety
Brian McL / Colm / Lucy / Thomas / Liz / Fiona – Transition area / Time Recording etc
Henry – 2nd in Command / chief laminator and photographer
Mark – Ambulance driver
Dr Colin Mc Crory – Medic



Race Sponsors
East Coast Adventure, Rostrevor
Newry Building Supplies / Murdock Group
thecyclejersey.com
First Tracks Guiding, Newry
Bike Dock, Belfast
McAdorey Opticians, Newry
High5 Sports Nutrition
Signscape, Newry
T Knox & Sons, Portadown – for the sandwiches (sorry folks these were for the marshals)
O’Reillys, Newry - The Sweet People
McMahon & Co Accountants


ps . Quite a lot of people admired our new jerseys. There is a chance of doing another small print run as we need a few different sizes for some of the winners. They were £40 .If you are interested e-mail me at info@notthesundayrun.com



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