Donegal athlete wins Westport Sea2Summit Adventure Race

The horrendous weather on Friday certainly didn’t intimidate the competitors and thankfully the most fantastic racing conditions broke through on Saturday morning for over 2,000 competitors for what is the last and the largest adventure race of the season.

The worthy winner of the Supreme Event was Shaun Stewart who finished in a time of 2:46:20.

The punishing 56.5km course took the Donegal man through an intense journey of road running, mountain cycling and the challenging uphill run to the summit of Croagh Patrick before finishing with a 4k run into the centre of Westport.

Shaun had a nail biting battle throughout the entire race with Cavan native Killian Heery and they were neck and neck right up until the last kilometre or so.

“It’s a great event, it’s my fifth time here so I needed to win today! Weather was perfect, it’s an honest race with a hard bike section. Killian pushed me all day long right down to the last run.” revealed Shaun

First Supreme Lady over the Line was Isobel Oakes who smashed the women’s record with an amazing time of 3:10:42. Topping this success, she was also the fastest lady on the mountain and on the bike.

The title for the Mens Spirit was an out and out battle between two local men, Brendan Conway and Paul Feeney.

Commented Brendan: “It was very hard on the first run but by the time I got to the reek, I just kicked off. Its the best race of the year without a doubt.”

Now firmly established as Ireland’s largest adventure race, the extreme sporting challenge of Westport Sea 2 Summit has attracted the elite and novice of adventure race enthuasists from all over Ireland and beyond including England, France,Denmark, the United States and Canada.

Westport Sea 2 Summit is more than just a race for so many. It’s a setting in which memories are made and where competitors can support charities that are very close to their hearts.

Marie Normanly is one such lady.

“A year and a half ago, I lost my husband Tom to cancer. He loved doing Sea 2 Summit, he has done it several years in a row. We decided to raise funds for Shout, a charity in Sligo that helps families deal with cancer diagnosis.

Tom absolutely loved Sea 2 Summit so a group of close friends and half of the parish of Tourlestrane have come with us this year. Shout was such a positive experience for him that it was a no brainer as a fundraiser.”

Full race results are available on www.westportsea2summit.ie.