A FULL MOON and sub zero temperatures greeted competitors in the second 26 Extreme Winter Race Series in Stormont last Thursday evening. Over 80 competitors turned up to take part in one of the tougher races of the calendar, braving the cold to take on the challenge. With its steep climbs and challenging descents, this off-road trail race around the famous Stormont Grounds is not for the faint hearted. Add to this the fact that the event tales place in total darkness and the trail in front of competitor’s only illuminated by the headtorch on their head, you have the perfect setting for a 26 Extreme race.

Runners from across Northern Ireland turned up to compete against each other in one of the first trail races of the 2011 season. This week saw a lot of new faces to the series as well as the usual suspects from Newcastle AC, BARF, Newry City Runners, Murlough AC, High Elbow Tri Club to name a few. Also in attendance were the team from SoundfunctionDJs.com keeping the vibe going, ChampionChip Ireland ensuring all times were accurately measured, Surf Mountain outdoor retailer and Uberdog Magazine.
The route took an anticlockwise direction around Stormont estate, along a fully marked and marshalled course. Despite the freezing temperatures the ground conditions were fairly good allowing the field to set a fast pace along the route, one again led out by Newcastle AC.

With the first lap down it was the ever present Newcastle AC grouping at the front, taking three of the first four places. The race to the finish was now well and truly on. The organisers were already wondering if anyone in the top five would challenge the pace of MeNeilly, Quail or Flaherty on lap two.

With all the runners clear of the 1st lap the short wait was on to see who would emerge from the darkness of the forest in first place. The first glimpse of head torches where visible storming through the trees and it was Deon McNeilly who exited the forest and broke the darkness in fist position with an impressive lead in a time of 34:48, Brendan Quail took second in 35:24 and Matthew Wilson took 3rd place over all in 35:48. In the ladies category it was Catriona McCorkell who took first place followed home by Taryn McCoy in second and Mary Colvin in third. All runners were across the finish line in just under an hour and each and every one must be congratulated for braving the elements to take place in the event.

Report by Michael Regan

Number 71 Deon McNeilly who lead the pack right until the end...

More results, pictures and information can be found
by visiting www.26extreme.com and clicking on the relevant link.

For more race blogs from Michael visit http://causewaymarathon.blogspot.com/

Click here for dates and times for the rest of the Winter Race Series.

Results: Race 7

Pos	Bib	Name	Category	Finish	Lap1	Lap2
1	71	Deon McNeilly	MV40	00:34:48	00:17:09	00:17:39
2	21	Brendan Quail	MO	00:35:24	00:17:33	00:17:51
3	330	Matthew Wilson	MO	00:35:48	00:17:55	00:17:54
4	313	David O'Flaherty	MO	00:35:54	00:17:56	00:17:58
5	352	Gary Keenan	MV40	00:36:39	00:18:36	00:18:04
6	91	Eamon McLaughlin	MO	00:36:52	00:17:56	00:18:57
7	52	Jim Brown	MV40	00:37:24	00:18:38	00:18:46
8	333	Thomas Leitch	MO	00:37:44	00:18:41	00:19:03
9	100	Eugene Mccann	MV40	00:37:51	00:18:40	00:19:11
10	316	Steve Begley	MV40	00:38:00	00:19:07	00:18:53
11	2	Barry Tinnelly	MO	00:38:03	00:18:56	00:19:08
12	14	Pete Grant	MV40	00:38:58	00:19:13	00:19:46
13	50	Colm Kelly	MO	00:39:15	00:18:58	00:20:17
14	218	Ian Steele	MV40	00:39:22	00:19:49	00:19:34
15	124	David Smyth	MO	00:39:38	00:19:30	00:20:08
16	266	Frank Mckenna	MV50	00:39:39	00:20:36	00:19:04
17	337	Declan Morgan	MO	00:40:14	00:19:55	00:20:20
18	196	Declan Teague	MV40	00:40:41	00:20:33	00:20:09
19	180	Tim Dorman	MO	00:40:54	00:20:53	00:20:01
20	324	Larry Mcateer	MV40	00:41:07	00:20:18	00:20:50
21	179	Phil Dorman	MO	00:41:10	00:20:14	00:20:57
22	325	Catriona Mccorkell	FO	00:41:12	00:20:22	00:20:51
23	355	Nick Irvine	MO	00:41:23	00:20:30	00:20:54
24	197	Paul Duffy	MV40	00:41:33	00:20:37	00:20:57
25	340	Andrew Greenaway	MV40	00:41:37	00:20:38	00:20:59
26	335	Aidan Hearst	MV40	00:41:42	00:20:39	00:21:03
27	309	Craig Doherty	MV40	00:41:44	00:20:49	00:20:55
28	308	Simon Caldwell	MO	00:41:45	00:20:51	00:20:55
29	76	Dermot Winters	MO	00:41:46	00:20:40	00:21:06
30	321	Peter Mcclenaghan	MV40	00:41:53	00:20:56	00:20:57
31	331	David Stewart	MV40	00:42:09	00:21:00	00:21:09
32	267	Jerome O'Loughlin	MO	00:42:50	00:21:08	00:21:42
33	338	Taryn Mccoy	FO	00:43:14	00:20:59	00:22:16
34	307	William Roberts	MV50	00:43:17	00:21:07	00:22:10
35	238	Gary Warnock	MO	00:43:33	00:21:49	00:21:44
36	229	Craig Lloyd	MO	00:43:44	00:21:50	00:21:54
37	315	David Mckeague	MO	00:43:53	00:22:20	00:21:33
38	65	Andrew Hassard	MO	00:44:05	00:21:32	00:22:34
39	277	Nick Small	M	00:44:08	00:22:18	00:21:50
40	323	Robbie Moore	MO	00:44:27	00:22:17	00:22:10
41	332	Maurice Fitzmaurice	MO	00:44:28	00:22:43	00:21:45
42	326	Mary Colvin	FO	00:44:38	00:22:17	00:22:21
43	259	Gerard Donnelly	MO	00:44:44	00:22:13	00:22:32
44	342	Gavin Warden	MO	00:44:50	00:23:35	00:21:15
45	42	Hazel Mclaughlin	FO	00:44:54	00:22:10	00:22:45
46	314	Colin Duffin	MO	00:44:57	00:22:34	00:22:23
47	357	Colm Fearon	MV40	00:45:04	00:22:44	00:22:21
48	317	Paul Cromie	MO	00:45:25	00:22:42	00:22:44
49	237	Peter Carr	MO	00:45:29	00:21:04	00:24:25
50	354	Andrew Mackenzie	MO	00:45:33	00:23:06	00:22:27
51	224	Mark Cassidy	MO	00:45:37	00:22:36	00:23:01
52	329	Stephen Mcilveen	MO	00:45:41	00:23:21	00:22:21
53	63	Daniel Young	MO	00:45:54	00:22:31	00:23:24
54	327	Michael Sloan	MV40	00:46:18	00:23:00	00:23:18
55	358	David Garey	MV40	00:46:28	00:22:45	00:23:44
56	328	Harriet Patterson	FO	00:46:30	00:23:23	00:23:07
57	336	Trevor Martin	MO	00:46:31	00:23:39	00:22:52
58	54	Gareth Young	MO	00:46:32	00:22:36	00:23:56
59	359	Gerry Patton	MV50	00:46:36	00:23:07	00:23:30
60	356	Louise Lemon	FO	00:46:53	00:23:16	00:23:38
61	209	Clarke Campbell	MV40	00:47:08	00:23:20	00:23:49
62	318	William Devlin	MO	00:47:16	00:23:27	00:23:50
63	351	Raymond Mcintyre	MV40	00:47:30	00:23:15	00:24:15
64	174	James Fisher	MO	00:47:49	00:23:20	00:24:29
65	334	Fred Mcclenaghan	MV40	00:48:00	00:23:18	00:24:43
66	344	Rosaleen Lennon	FO	00:48:30	00:23:51	00:24:39
67	187	Torrens Shearer	MV40	00:48:32	00:23:52	00:24:41
68	250	Lloyd Crawford	M	00:48:54	00:23:52	00:25:02
69	345	James Lyons	MV40	00:48:54	00:23:52	00:25:03
70	216	Fiona Cooke	FV40	00:48:59	00:23:52	00:25:07
71	319	Stuart Mcchesney	MO	00:49:00	00:24:28	00:24:32
72	217	Steve Cooke	MV40	00:49:02	00:23:52	00:25:11
73	349	Allen Corish	MV50	00:49:16	00:23:48	00:25:29
74	310	Matthew Ohare	MV40	00:50:25	00:25:00	00:25:25
75	343	Lindsay Fulton	MO	00:50:28	00:24:36	00:25:52
76	346	Rose Mcgovern	FO	00:51:13	00:24:38	00:26:35
77	348	Melvyn Adair	MV40	00:51:23	-	-
78	189	John Neeson	MV40	00:51:31	00:25:31	00:26:01
79	339	Anthony Bodell	MO	00:51:51	00:25:24	00:26:28
80	350	Carl King	MV40	00:52:27	00:25:15	00:27:12
81	322	Deirdre Heatley	FV40	00:54:42	00:26:59	00:27:43
82	347	Aaron Hewitt	MO	00:55:33	00:27:08	00:28:26
83	353	Margaret Mathieson	FV40	00:56:31	00:27:59	00:28:33
84	341	Claire Mason	FO	00:56:50	00:27:59	00:28:52
85	360	Turlough Murphy	MV40	00:57:55	00:27:59	00:29:56
86	312	Wendy Mark	FO	00:59:13	00:28:15	00:30:59
87	311	Anna Kennedy	FO	00:59:14	00:28:16	00:30:59
88	320	Breedagh Hughes	FV50	00:59:57	00:29:10	00:30:47