Corkonian reigns Supreme in Sea2Summit

JOB DONE Winners of the Supreme men's race at Westport Sea2Summit, from left: Colm Staunton (second place), Kevin Keane (first) and Aidan Mc Moreland (third).

Neill O'Neill

ANOTHER bumper weekend was had in Westport as the seventh annual Sea2Summit Adventure Race took place on Saturday. Organised by the team at the Westport Hotels Group (Castlecourt, Plaza and Coast Hotels) there were over 2,500 paid up registrations ahead of the weekend, meaning that the event was a complete sell out. The number that actually set off was slightly lower than this, owing to a natural level of drop outs and no shows.
Accommodation providers and bars and restaurants reported exceptional trading for mid-November, and the streets of Westport were packed with crowds on Saturday, particularly down along the finish line on the South Mall. Competitors from all over Ireland and further afield including England, France, the United States and Canada participated this year, and there was a huge number of local entrants to the event.  
Sea2Summit is split across two levels ‘Supreme’ and ‘Spirit’. While not everybody who set off managed to complete the course, 558 entrants did finish the gruelling 56.5km Supreme course, while there were 1410 competitors who completed the 30km Spirit event. Both races include a run from Westport Town to Westport Quay, a cycle to Croagh Patrick, an ascent of the mountain, a further cycle and finally a run back to Westport Town along the Greenway from the harbour. In the Supreme event athletes must ascend to the summit of Croagh Patrick (whereas in the Spirit category they go to the shoulder), and the second cycle is an extremely challenging course including a climb up the dreaded Maum, around by Drummin and back to Westport. By comparison, the second cycle in the Spirit event sees participants coming off the Reek and returning along the coast road to Westport Quay, from where they run to the finish line along the town Greenway.

Winners
Now officially Ireland’s largest adventure race, the winner of the Supreme event was Kevin Keane from Cork, who came over the line in a time of 2:50:08. First Supreme lady over the line was Dena Hogan in a time of 3:16:56, smashing the women’s record by eleven minutes.
Records were also broken in the Spirit race with Jonathan Caulfield over the line in a time of 1:36:03, while local girl Aileen McNamara beat her personal best of last year in a time of 1:52:01, to retain her first place position.
Taking part for the third year running was former Irish international soccer star Kevin Kilbane, who took on the Spirit event in aid of this year’s charity partners, the John Giles Foundation and The Down Syndrome Centre.
“I love coming back to my roots in Mayo. It’s a fabulous event for the town of Westport and huge effort and commitment is put in by everyone to host it. Word is spreading fast because this is truly one of the greatest events anyone can do,” he stated.
A huge number of volunteers and marshals stewarded the event, with help from the Civil Defence, Mayo Mountain Rescue and the Gardaí. Some tumbles and falls were recorded, and medical assistance was required by several participants. While there were plenty of aching limbs at the finish line, there was also many content participants and weary but smiling faces. Talk on Sea2Summit 2017 has already begun from eager locals.