Those of us lucky enough to get down to County Down at the weekend enjoyed a real varied selection of racing along with the usual craic.
🏖 🏡 Friday evening saw almost 50 of us running round the streets and Parks of the seaside town of Newcastle. The Urban courses were fast (if you could cope with the humidity) and although it is challenging to make the town technically difficult, Planners Fionne and Moire kept things interesting with route choice and control locations. Others involved in supporting this event were Stephen Gilmore- Map Corrections, Steph- Controller/ Set-Out/Collection/ Starts, Dan Earnshaw- Organiser/Set out/collection, Mark Earnshaw- Control Set out/collection/Starts, James Earnshaw/Sharon- IT/set out/collection and Mark Pruzina,
Results.
⛰🏜 Saturday we were 10mins down the road at Meelmore. An absolutely stunning summer day welcomed us to the lower slopes of some of the Mournes highest hills (twinned with the Nevada desert). Planner George really kept things interesting from the beginning with two different starts for the various courses. The more challenging courses headed off round/over Lukes Mountain before heading back towards the Trassey track/Meelmore area. The shorter courses stayed a bit closer to the Trassey/Meelmore slopes. All courses were a really good physical and technical challenge, made even harder by the searing heat. Finishing the courses was an achievement and reward in itself. Altogether there were 98 competitors on this NI Colour Series event which doubled up as the Club Champs. Others involved in supporting George were, Des Fletcher – Controller, Sarah Knight – Organiser, Dan/Steph/Sharon/Alan Brett/Mark/Ric – IT, Des/George/Harry Bell/Sarah/Chris – Starts, Harry/George – Photos, Mark Pruzina – Results, Steph – Car parking and George/Sarah/Des/Greg – Control Collection.
🥇🥈🥉The Results for both events include Winsplits and Routegadget can be found here.
🍗🍻The fun continued as we enjoyed a BBQ and plenty of great craic. We had an opportunity to say our farewells to Juls, thanking her for all the great work she has done over the past 6 1/2 years. Thanks to Norma for bringing the firepit to keep the midges away and keeping us feel cosy as we enjoyed a wee glass, sitting on well into the evening or early hours of Sunday morning.
🌬☔A stormy night blew in some weather for Sunday morning, so those daft enough to go out running again and brave a damp morning had a great run around the Tollymore Forest Fun Score. Thanks to Stephen Knight for planning a 1 hour course for Seniors and 45 mins for Juniors. Also thanks to Steph, George, Dan, Kenny & Ric for Control set-out/collection/general tidying up. And of course Sharon and Mark on IT.
👍A massive thank you to Sharon Dickenson for coordinating the whole weekend with the help of Gordon Stephens who has been the main coordinator for many years now and is looking to pass this volunteering role over. Others wee need to thank are Gordon and Mark for pulling the MOO and Alan Gartside for his expert printing. This is a great weekend in our club calendar, so if you are interested in helping lead with the coordination of this weekend or support in various ways with this club festival, please let us know.
Check out the LVO Chat page of Facebook for some great photos of the Colour Series event.
