John Lenihan won the Croagh Patrick race in a veteran's record time of 44 minutes and 33 seconds. He was helped by two factors. It was the coolest race for some time as the cloud base was down to 1,300 feet, and the race was graced by presence of his former great rival on the Irish team Robin Bryson.

Lenihan needed the win to add to his wins on Carrauntoohil and the Ballyhouras and put the Irish championship out of reach of the other aspirants. The unexpected presence of Bryson who has turned to bicycle racing with great effect for the last couple of years was a sudden shadow on the light of his ambition to win his ninth Irish title.

With the new summit only King of Mountains category thrown in on each of the Irish championship rounds, it was an extremely fast climb. The Belfast based Bryson charged off closely pursued by the rest of the 40 strong field. Entering the cloud on the upper reaches of the Reek, Robin still led the field and at the summit turn was 20 seconds clear of the Kerryman and Simon Fairmaner.

However, the descent proved to be a bridge too far for Robin, as with no mountain races under his belt this year, his descending skills were not honed to the same extent as John's. The Riocht runner who holds the record on this race, and knows the route well, took him on the tricky upper section. Later, Simon Fairmaner came through to take second and add to his brace of runner up positions on Carrauntoohil and the Ballyhouras.

This perfomance by Simon seems to have sealed his second place in the Irish championships, although if Robin takes in and wins the next two rounds on Aughavannah and Mullacleevaun, he could pip him by a point. John's time was his fastest for three years and took three minutes off Martin McDonald's 1997 veteran record. Another vet, Majella Diskin won the women's race in 65 minutes 25 seconds well ahead of Roisin McDonnell with Jane Watt third and first Over 50. The Men's Over 50s was won by Henny Brandsma

		Croagh Patrick	07/07/2001
Pos	Num	Name	Club	Cat	Time
1	425	John Lenihan	Riocht	M40	44.33
2	109	Simon Fairmaner	DSD	M	46.35
3	608	Robin Bryson	Newcastle AC	M	48.10
4	376	Francis X. Cosgrave	Blackrock AC	M	49.39
5	199	Ross Alexander	Coolquill AC	M	51.32
6	173	Gerry Lalor	Set	M	52.59
7	606	Martin McDonald	North Laois	M40	53.11
8	229	Paul Mahon	Set	M	54.30
9	607	Simon Taylor	BARF	MJ	55.07
10	206	Kevin Grogan	Rathfarnham	M40	55.18
11	612	Tommy Joe Whyte	Tuam AC	M	55.30
12	609	David Sands	.	M	57.13
13	141	Eoin Keith	SET	M	60.28
14	613	Steve Eberly	.	M	60.35
15	166	Henny Brandsma	Sportsworld	M50	61.10
16	420	James Doran	Ríocht	MJ	62.12
17	121	Vivian O'Gorman	.	M40	62.42
18	232	Murtagh Murphy	.	M	64.08
19	172	John O'Reilly	Bray Runners	M40	64.34
20	349	Vincent Higgins	Duhallow	M	64.51
21	270	Ercus Stewart	Glenasmole	M50	64.58
22	168	Majella Diskin	Riocht	F40	65.25
23	209	Gavan Doherty	GEN	M	66.15
24	241	Roisin McDonnell	Crusaders	F	68.59
25	256	Robert Cairnduff	.	M	69.00
26	175	Bruce Shenker	.	M40	69.14
27	117	Jane Watt	Crusaders	F50	71.53
28	146	Thomas Galvin	Glenasmole	M	76.00
29	162	Mick Kellet	GEN	M60	76.37
30	116	Graham Porter	Crusaders	M50	78.50
31	610	Celine Maguire	.	F	79.02
32	108	Eva Mulleady	Crusaders	F	80.11
33	412	Mark Delahunty	.	M	80.54
34	305	Paddy Lord	.	M50	82.27
35	144	Nina Philips	Crus/SET	F	87.34
36	310	Maurice Mullins	IUU	M60	92.17
37	453	Julie Hilliard		F40	97.14
38	611	Frank Harman	Mayo AC	M70	108.45

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