The long journey to the 5th European Masters Mountain Running Championships in Ludwikowice Kłodzkie proved worthwhile for Rathfarnham’s Mark Ryan when he won the M35 race.
On a 9.4km course with 570m of climb, Ryan came home a clear winner in 38 mins 4 secs. A distant second was Polish runner Piotr Kon. Ryan had finished 26th at the 2011 World Mountain Running Championships, but has since struggled with injury and eventually required knee surgery.
He becomes the first male Irish winner of a European masters’ title. Robbie Bryson won the world M40 title in 2002. Four women have won European titles – Aisling Coppinger (W35), Mags Greenan (W50), Donna Mahon (W35) and Helen White (W45).
Ryan’s training partner Brian MacMahon of Clonliffe also travelled and won the open race in 37 mins 45 secs. Indeed, MacMahon led home the entire field on the annual “Run on the Great Owl” which incorporated the masters’ race – good news with the European Senior Mountain Running Championships looming next month.
Result: 1 Mark Ryan (IRL) 38:04, 2 Piotr Kon (POL) 40:26, 3 Vladimir Srb (CZE) 40:34. Open race – 1 Brian MacMahon (Clonliffe) 37:45
AT HOME, Greg Byrne and Billy Reid became the first to complete the newly established Denis Rankin Round. This, a 24-hour circuit of all the peaks in the Mourne mountains over 4000m in height, covers over 86km (54 miles) with over 6000m (20,000ft) in climb. Byrne and Reid completed the round in an excellent 20 hrs 29 mins.
The Round remembers Denis Rankin, a pioneer of fell running and mountain marathons in Northern Ireland, who tragically died on 16 May 2013 while competing in a race on Slievemoughanmore. More info at www.denisrankinround.com
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