Stormont Cup 2015

A group of bleary eyed Orangegrovers gathered at the gates of the Stormont estate at 10am on Sunday morning for the running of the annual Stormont Cup, a Club handicap cross country race amongst the trees on the left hand side (west side) of Prince of Wales Avenue as you face the building.

The current holder of the magnificent trophy is Pauline Bayliss, the lovely lady with the blue tinted Oakleys, although she was not wearing them on the day. Runners set off according to a delicately calculated handicap chart based on recently recorded 5k and 10k times and possibly on the whim of the Club Captain.

The slower runners start first and the challenge is for the faster runners to eventually catch and overhaul them. Rarely does it work that way and every year the competition throws up an unexpected and deserving winner. This year the following members made the deadline for entries… Robin Montgomery, Sarah Steer, Alan Montgomery, Stephen Anderson, Fintan Hurl, Ian Grant, Ian Wilson, Brian Todd, Eoin Woodman, Pauline Bayliss (defending champion) and Lisa Rodham. My money is on Lisa Rodham if she has a good run on the day! So, what happened this year?

Well the race was run in almost perfect conditions. It was a beautiful morning and there was that ‘good to be alive feeling’ amongst most of us as we warmed up on what was a fairly challenging course. Rarely does the considerable downhill section reward the hard climb up to the turn.

Leaves falling from the trees in abundance laid a carpet of gold on the downhill section. Well, to cut a long story short, we have a new and well deserving champion. Stephen Anderson, despite running very well in yesterday’s GR8 Dundrum Run, overhauled Lisa Rodham on the home straight to win the trophy. Very well done indeed.

Robin Montgomery, despite starting at the back of the group with the largest handicap, was second and Lisa Rodham was third. Spare a thought for Lisa Rodham. As she came round the turn and headed down towards the finish she was in the lead but was overhauled in the end, with the finish in sight, by both Stephen and Robin. The rest of us were there, or thereabouts!

On the day Stephen won the trophy with Robin second and Lisa third. Well done to all who competed in this morning’s Stormont Cup!

Grateful thanks to Chris Woods, Darren Moan, Carole Bell and Kirsty Buchanan for their hard work which contributed to the smooth running of the event and which made it such a pleasure in which to run.

Tags: Stormont, Stormont Cup

Thanks to Chris Downey and Chris Woods for the photos.