37 runners brave the snow - Springwell

The latest reports from the mountain were that there was 1-2ft of snow on the top with drifts of up to 4ft.

But with bright and sunny conditions on the day the decision was finally made to start the race half an hour later than planned.

Thirty seven runners headed up through the forest before emerging onto the snow covered mountain top. The leaders had the toughest job, fighting their way through the knee deep snow. There was no danger of getting lost for the following pack as the runners followed one another through a narrow path trodden into the snow.

A slight change in course to make the route safer and the extremely challenging conditions meant that times were well down on last year but Ballymena Runners’ Johnny Steede led the field home in 68:33, followed by his clubmate Alex Brennan and Armagh AC’s Paul McAnespie. In the ladies race, last year’s winner Sperrin Harrier’s Karen Alexander came home in 74:38, followed by FERMO’s Ciara Largey and Lagan Valley’s Diane Wilson. Abbey AC’s Gemma Turley, having been talked into her first mountain race by her Springwell training buddies, had a great race to finish fourth in 83:31.

Springwell had five runners in the race. First home was the club’s mountain man, David Jackson, in 74:05 and third MO40. Gerry O’Doherty and Chris Millar had a good battle throughout the race with Gerry coming out ahead in 78:22 and collecting the first prize in the MO50 category. Chris finished in 78:40, Gillian Wasson in 91:44 and Peter Jack 100:39.

Thanks should go to the marshals for standing out in such harsh conditions to ensure all the runners made it safely round and thanks also to the race organisers who everyone agreed made the right choice to let the race go ahead. The normally beautiful surroundings of Binevenagh Mountain were made even more stunning by the covering of snow and made for a truly memorable race.

The NI & Ulster Indoor Juvenile Championships were held in Magherafelt on Saturday. Springwell had two junior athletes competing.

Christina Corbett had a good day winning the Girls U18 800m in 2:42:50 and finishing third in her 300m heat in 47:68 but failed to make the final.

Niamh Tweedie finished 13th in the Girls U13 600m in 2:06:93.

Mark Wright of Annadale Strides was winner of the men’s 5 mile race at the NI Civil Service Cross Country held in the grounds of Stormont on Saturday.

Springwell had three runners in the field. Bryan Edgar was the first home in 30:12 followed by Jim Breen 32:27 and Jim Platt 38:19.