Wednesday night saw the last round of the Burma Challenge and it was all to play for with little or nothing setting the top teams apart. This round was the relay round where all five members of the team took part, each running just shy of 1k. The fastest team on the night was Lisheen with Paul Phelan, Esther Hogan, Sean Lloyd, Nathan Bowe and Niall Moore powering around in 17.08. Just 3 seconds behind were Cooleeney where Eileen Hackett, Aoife Campion, Naomi Morrissey, John Hogan and Adrian McGinley did their best to catch the leaders. Third place on the night went to Longorchard who were represented by Martin Flynn, Karen O’Driscoll, Patricia Ryan, Ber Spillane and Liam Kelly who clocked 17.26. Lisdonowley were next to finish with Teresa Everard, Anna Ryan, Sinead Tynan, Craig Durnin and Mark Cummins finishing in 17.45 and just five seconds later were Killoran with Billy Treacy, Ann Brennan, Seamus Concagh, Ger Brennan and Paddy Doyle. Boulabeha and Rahealty crossed the line together in 18.12 and these were represented by Maura Murphy, Bee Hayes, Mary Quinlan, Edmond Hayes, Henry Cummins and Arlette Phelan, Breda Moore, Tim Doyle, Susan Fogarty and Philip McBain respectively. Moyneard were next to finish with Sharon Kiely, Catherine Campion, Jim Cummins, Liz Power and Jack Moore running 18.25 while finishing on 18.36 were Moyne who had Martin Campion, Tom McGrath, Aisling Maher, Mark King and Patrick Bowe in their ranks. Moynetemple finished on 18.44 with Bernie McGrath, Karen Kiely, Sharon Cantwell, Ray Power and Roisin Daly while Manselstown were just yards behind in 18.45 represented by Pauline O’Connell, Peggy Eviston, Eamonn Hayes, Diarmuid Molumby and Paul Bowe. Finishing on 19.08 were Derryfadda with Evelyn Cornally, Claire Doyle, Catherine Dunne, Kieran Britton and Richard Daly with Castletown finishing on 19.10 followed by Kylemakill on 19.42 and both teams were represented by Patricia Cummins, Della Hunter, Deirdre Kearney, Harry Hogan, Brian Carroll and Kay Flynn, Catherine Britton, Lisa Quinlan, Bill Hogan and Thomas Moore.
The top three teams on the leader board going into the final round were Moyneard, Longorchard and Killoran and both Longorchard and Killoran made a brave bid for victory improving their times by over a minute on Moyneard but at the end of the night Moyneard came out on top with a combined time of 173.22. Longorchard finished second on 174.43 with Killoran third on 179.08. Fourth place went to Lisdonowley on 180.47, fifth to Castletown on 183.38 while Cooleeney moved up to sixth place in 185.27. In seventh was Moyne in 185.40 while Kylemakill dropped down to eight on a time of 186.24. Ninth place went to Lisheen on 187.43 while Derryfadda finished in tenth on 190.52. 11th place went to Manselstown on 191.56 with Rahealty 12th on 192.34, Boulabeha 13th on 192.49 and Moynetemple 14th on 199.26.
Another element to the Burma Challenge is the Family Challenge and this year we had 13 families taking part. Liz and Ray Power have won this challenge over the past five years but had to relinguish the title to Roisin and Richard Daly who finished on a combined time of 53.45 to 59.05 for Liz and Ray. Third place went to Breda and Jack Moore on 62.02 with Ann and Ger Brennan finishing fourth in 63.27. Bee and Edmond Hayes finished fifth in 64.05 while Catherine and Kieran Britton finished sixth in 66.14. Catherine and Martin Campion finished next on 67.11 followed by Claire and Tim Doyle on 67.32. Patricia and Mark Cummins finished ninth on 67.42 while Esther and Harry Hogan finished tenth on 69.45. Eleventh place went to Bernie and Tom McGrath in 72.43 with Kay and Martin Flynn twelfth in 78.18 and Paul and Arlette Phelan finishing on 81.55.
The top three teams were presented with their trophies afterwards as were the winners of the family challenge. A sincere thanks to all participants for making the 2015 Burma Challenge a success and hopefully we will see you back again on 1st June for our 5k and 10k fundraising event. Our thanks also to the ladies for the catering after each of the rounds, to those who brought cakes and biscuits and to anyone who helped out in any way during the past four weeks.
