This weekend was an unusually quiet one as main fixtures were either out of town or on the mountains. However, it was a good opportunity to get some training miles done ahead of this weekend’s inaugural Belfast City Half Marathon, an event which has attracted almost 4000 pre-entries.
Heather wins Castledawson 10km
North Belfast Harriers’ Heather Foley, a fourth place finisher at the Laganside 10k, was the first lady across the line in 39:10. Former international Suzanne Higgins (nee McCormick) of Lagan Valley AC shortly was 2nd in 41:52 while Nuala Kelly (Sperrin Harriers) was third place in 45:52.
Great North run
Thomas McKinstry made the journey to the Great North run taking part with some of the greatest names ever in the history of distance running. Thomas had a good run finishing in 2:17:43 in aid of Cancer Research. Kilian Woods also too part finishing in 94:41 for a new PB.
Parkruns
Three Harriers ran at Victoria Parkrun on Saturday and it was Claire Connor who was top finisher in 6th place with 18.37. Patrick McShane (20:24) and Drew Crawford (31.06) also ran. Cathy McCourt ran very solidly at Wallace Parkrun (18.47) indicating that she may be ready to return to racing action soon while Ciaran Hunter ran at Queens Parkrun (26.27), Jim Clinton ran at Falls Parkrun (29.33). Three Waterworks regulars – Mark Shields (19.57), Athanasia Sevastaki (21.08) and Paul William (21.43)ran at Ormeau Parkrun.
At the Waterworks Parkrun Joe McAllister (St Malachys) treated spectators to a rare “sub 16” and in doing so, dragged Brendan Grew to a new personal best of 16.45. Other harriers included Laurence Johnston (17.55), Simon Reeve (18.49), Tony McCambridge (19.17), Gerry Gribbon (19.19), Greg McClure (20.09), John Murphy (21.36), Eamon Sheridan (21.43), Niall Armstrong (23.35), Nuala Muldoon (23.46), Piaras McShane (23.52), Sean McShane Junior (24.00), John Burns (24.28), Conor O’Rawe (25.13), John O’Hare (25.34), Christine Douglas (31.33), Aaron McCann (37.10) and Norman Patterson (41.10).
Training
This weekend – 22nd September – will mark the official end of the recent phase of intensive training. Anyone who has following Simon’s schedule is now advised to take 7-10 days complete rest. This will allow everyone time to rest, recover and recharge ahead of the next phase of training. A new training schedule will be implemented from 1st October and will be circulated via email and facebook.
If you intend to run during the “rest period”, please do so at a very easy pace. Alternatively, try out some activities like pilates, yoga, swimming, core, stretching, circuts or gentle gym work. This will significantly reduce the likelihood of fatigue and injury recurrence. During this rest period, club captains will identify and agree on priority races for Autumn & Winter 2013/2014.
Amendments
Harriers on TV
Finally, UTV Live have confirmed their interview with North Belfast Harriers will air this week. They have not confirmed the date but it is likely to be on either the six o’clock news (as a sport item) or on the Friday evening magazine show (8pm).
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