Sperrin Harriers Winter League Round 5 – Lough Fea 10 Miler
Saturday 1st March 2014 saw the 5th and final round of the Sperrin Harriers Winter League Trail Series 2013/14 at the picturesque Lough Fea situated outside Cookstown.
The race entailed four laps of the Lough for a total of 10 miles with the first half being fairly flat and straight followed by a second half with a couple of slight hills with tight turns and twists.
Seven OAC athletes competed in this race with the majority from the Spring Marathon Group. Thomas Leitch who had run the previous four races was completing the series with the final race.
The home club was well represented with a strong turnout of red vests, as were Ballymena Runners and Springwell.
Initially it looked as if the weather wasn’t to be kind, with the now common rain and wind which has been very prevalent during these winter months. Luckily the rain eased at the start of the race eventually stopping. This left a slightly robust cross wind on the second section of the course. At times some blue sky could be glimpsed through the grey overcast clouds.
Thomas Leitch was the first OG to cross the finish line with a time of 1:02:32 finishing 10th. This placed him a very well deserved 8th out of a field of 70 runners at the end of the series
Michael O’Donoghue was next to finish with a PB of 01:16:42 closely followed by Pauline Bayliss who was participating in her first 10 mile race, finishing in 01:17:57. John Neill and Lisa Fleming both had strong runs with times of 01:19:10 and 01:27:48 with Lisa very happy to come in under 1.30 hrs. Melinda Wilkinson finished strongly at 01:34:35 with Paul Edger crossing the line in 01:40:04 both felt that their races had gone according to plan.
Elizabeth Leitch had been on hand to collect discarded gloves and to stoke dogs throughout the race. All of which was greatly appreciated by her fellow OGs.
The post-race refreshments were held in a container beside the Lough but in true country style there was as much tea you could drink with buns and biscuits that would have choked a donkey all with lively chat.
All OC’s commented on how welcomed they had felt on arrival with many other runners amazed and delighted that they had made the “Journey down.” On the route there had been many shouts of encouragement from the few but vocal spectators and also from their fellow competitors’.
Many felt that they would recommend this event and either attend or complete future trail races for 2014/15 .
Well done to Thomas Leitch on completing the series.