The Continental Tyres National Adventure Race Series has returned and this week we head to the Lakeland’s and FEARmanagh for round 3 of 5! The cobwebs have been blown off at this stage and looks like a mighty day of racing ahead…although of course for some of us not at the front of the field racing it will be about getting around the course and enjoying our day out!! We haven’t had a form guide for quite a while and we might be a bit rusty but here’s how we think the expert and the sport Race might go!! The Magho Cliff climb section for both races look like where it will be won or lost…300m of climbing in about 1km….how hard do you go and burn the legs….whoever hit the tops first will be in pole position!

In the women’s expert it’s looking like a straightforward win for reigning Series champion Laura O’Driscoll. Fighting for the other top spots are Aoibheann Bartley, Lorraine Horan, Rosemary Rutherford….Aoibheann should have the edge for 2nd.

In the men’s expert race we see the return of Luke McMullan to Adventure Racing and our sources tell us he is flying! GFW winner Darren Quinn and Quest Kenmare winner Seb Giraud will want to firm up their place at the top of the table and given that The Race was cancelled last week they should have plenty in the legs. Garry Carroll is another man ‘flying in training’ and will want to throw his name in the hat. John Brennan, Gregory Murphy and a few other will make up the pack…we are going for Luke McMullan to win, if Darren finds his running form then he should take second and Seb third.

In the women’s sport race Imelda Rose-Gartland will be hoping for a repeat of her 2019 win although current series leader Niamh Cleary will be looking to close out the series with her 3rd victory and might be going to go all in for this race and take the pressure off before SCAR and Quest Glendalough. Caroline Roberts-Greene will fancy here chances her too and some strong running will give her every chance. We are going for Caroline for the win, Niamh a very close second and Imelda in third.

The men’s sport series remains the most competitive of the categories and Saturdays race should be no exception. John Mullin appears to be the man of the moment after showing a clean pair of heels to everybody at Tuff-inish a few weeks back….he should be setting a blistering pace from the off in this one and we can’t see anyone beating him in this race. He might be the man to finally bring some silverware back to Mayo! Series leader Bernard Smyth will want to preserve his lead at the top of the table so a top 3 finish will be critical. Kevin McGuinness, Declan Lambe, Barry King, Philip Smith, Declan Donnellan and Anthony McGibney are all in with a shout here too. Again this race will be won or lost on the cliff climb….Strava would suggest Barry and Declan L have the edge over the Mayo boys but we think Philip Smith might have it in the tank to push closest to Mullin. We are calling John Mullin to win, Philip Smith second, Kevin McGuinness third but if going well then will have the nod over Smith and push Mullin, Barry King, Bernard and the 2 Declan’s not far behind.

Disclaimer: Form guide is based on very unreliable data and even more unreliable analysis which factors in full moons, high tides, Bitcoin prices, current mart prices, European interest rates and should be viewed as no more than the rambling of an old adventure racer who has too much time on his hands. 🙂

For full Continental National Adventure Race Series details…click link above