Nopesport

Aislinn Austin & Rachel Majumdar

Team Nopesport continued their mission of showing that orienteers can hold their own in all disciplines this weekend. This time the team headed to N. Ireland to compete in the Mourne Mountain Marathon. Two teams travelled, an all girls team of Aislinn Austin and Rachel Majumdar who competed in the C course, and an all guys team of Rory Finlay and Stewart Caithness who entered the B class.

Day 1 started from Tollymore forest park, a popular start for the MMM. It proved to be the start of a long day for all with the shortest time on the C course turning out to be just over 5hrs for the 21km. The girls had a slight drama with Aislinn's shoe as one of the heels sheered off! But with a little enginuity and a bit of string she strapped it back on and continued on. The all girls TNS team performed well and finished 2nd just 11mins down and in good spirits for the next day despite the long 1st day.

For the TNS all boys team it proved to be and even longer day as they were out for 7hrs 43mins on their 26km course, coming in in 12th place. The team found little niggles along the way and with a few running repairs they were able to keep a good consistant pace throughout the day. The team expected to be a lot further back so were encouraged to be less than an hour down.

The evening was spent fuelling up, a little more running repairs, some good chat and a quick night cap before it was off for some much needed rest.

The mass start for the B was at 8.15 with C starting just 15mins later so it was up, breakfast, pack-up and Aislinn make herself a new shoe for day 2! The mist was down for the start which TNS hoped would play into their hands. Both teams ran well again on day 2 in particular the girls who ran strong and consolidated on their day 1 and earned themselves a well deserved 3rd place overall and 1st all womens team! The boys team thought they'd had a good run too as they finished 1st out of all the B teams but were gutted to find out they had missed a control and were disqualified. Despite this the boys were proud of their efforts around what proved to be yet another gruelling B course.

The Pairing of Brian Ervine and Des Woods won the Elite course. In doing so Brian Ervine recorded his 10th Mourne Mountain Marathon victory.

Overall another good weekend for Team Nopesport and another top result courtesy of Rachel Majumdar and Aislinn Austin which was dually celebrated by all in true Team Nopesport style! Big thanks to the team and well done.

Full results can be found here

Stewart Caithness & Rory Finlay