It may be the middle of June – but on the slopes of North Barrule it was bitterly cold with temperatures only reaching about 10 degrees and considerable windchill thrown in.
I did suggest to the organisers that in future they should hold this race in the summer rather than mid-June!!
Tour of North Barrule
Last night (June 18), 17 of the 108 competitors contested the shorter race, which basically went straight up to the summit and back from the Gooseneck back road.
George Salter was the winner of the short race, with female winner May-Saa Smith in second place overall.
The full race checkpoints were at the 3-legs monument on the Mountain Road side, the American air crash site on the other side, and then at the summit before the sharp descent back to the finish on the Gooseneck back road.
Joey Bond took an excellent victory from Harry Kneen, with Oliver Chambers third and Sam Jones fourth.
Orran Smith was fifth, and would have been pleased to hear how well his daughter May-Saa had run in the short race.
Orran’s partner Nikki Arthur won the women’s race from Rebecca Harding.
Hats off to all the officials, most of whom quite sensibly had woolly hats ON, as well as about six layers!!
Video footage of the race can be found on Manxathletics.com.
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