Mullaghmeen Report
Despite a brief shower early in the morning, the rain held off for the final event of the Leinster Spring Cup held at Mullaghmeen, Co Westmeath on Sunday 18th April 2010. The much-hyped bluebells were not yet up but smatterings of colour dotted the forest floor and the bramble was none too thick. 125 competitors arrived for what turned out to be almost perfect orienteering conditions, dry underfoot, mild and slightly overcast.
Even after a 30km run the day before, Ger Butler charged around the Brown in 61:43 declaring the whole thing "a bit easy" on completion. Ger was followed by Colm Hill just over a minute behind, a tricky depression at no 11 making all the difference. First man out Dave Weston was the first home on the Blue course in 65:33 while there was a super performance by M14 Jonathan Quinn to come home third in just under 71 minutes.
Aonghus O’Cleirigh cruised around the Green course in 45:19 with Ingus Retkins of Fingal nine minutes behind. Due to an error on our part some participants on the Green course received inaccurate control descriptions. We’d like to apologise to all who were affected by this.
Donal Kearns of Fingal easily took the Light Green in 42:18, clinching the Leinster Spring Cup title while he was at it. And an excellent performance from Sean Rothery of Three Rock, coming home 14th despite well qualifying for the M80 class! Kern Morgan of DLSO charged home to take Orange in 25:17, with three other clubmates in the top 10. Time now for these M14s to move up a course perhaps?
Ciaran Kearns of Fingal raced round the Yellow course in just under a quarter of an hour, yet another Kearns brother to take a Leinster title back home to Meath. The organisers would like to thank all who turned up and all who helped out for making it an enjoyable day. Results can be found here
Comments
Mullaghmeen
Thanks to Shane for beating me to it with a comprehensive report on the race. It only remains for me to thank him for putting in so much time as controller, and major thanks also to Brian Power, whose contribution as planner went far beyond the usual remit - methinks you've got a proprietal, almost fatherly, interest in this wood, Brian! Thanks also to Jim for helping with putting out controls, and for use of van as mobile equipment store.
Finally, a big thank you to all who helped on the day, and indeed to all who participated in the event - I think that most people will remember this as one of the most enjoyable outings of the season, principally because this wood has that x-factor, an open, runnable deciduous wood with reasonable contour detail and a forest floor carpeted with flowers such as wood anenomie and primroses.