Karrimor International Mountain Marathon
Donnelly and Birkinshaw Regain Title
Rob Howard / 30.10.2005
Morgan Donnelly and Steve Birkinshaw regained the Elite title they’ve won together twice before (in 2002 & 2003). They set off first in the chasing start with a 4 minute lead over two teams, and extended that on the second day. “We had a 4 minute start and had to make it count,� said Donnelly. “It was crucial as it gave us a chance to get out of sight. Then the second and third checkpoints were quite hard to find, which helped us as well, and after that the weather closed in – which helped us too! It was very windy on High Street, so much so Steve got blown over at one point and when he said we should stop and put our jackets on I was quick to agree!�
Defending champions John Hunt and Mark Seddon did restart today, despite Seddon’s injury, but hampered as they were they could not really mount a challenge to try and retain the title.
Though Donnelly thought they were out of sight of the chasing teams all day, they were not. Andrew Davies and Andy Schofield had spotted them. “We took a bad route out of the second checkpoint and could see them on the skyline\" said Davies, \"but I think they were 10 minutes ahead by then and away. Then we took a different route to number 3, but I think theirs was better. They beat us easily really!�
In the A class Simon Richardson and Alan Billington had a huge 43 minute lead from day one and they duly finished first.
“It was bitter and windy today,� said Richardson, “and on High Street we were blasted by the rain being driven against us. So we didn’t hang about!� They only paired up a week ago on the KIMM forum. Richardson won the B class last year (in fact he won the B classes in all the mountain marathons in the UK), and Billington ran the Elite, retiring when his partner was injured. “Now we’ve won the A it’s back to the Elite!� he said.See All Event Posts
