NBH Victorious in the Seeley Cup

The harriers were celebrating in style this weekend after the men’s team secured victory in Saturday’s prestigious Seeley Cup. The ladies team also ran strongly to claim a fine second place. With a total of 47 NBH athletes competing in the sell-out race and coaches and other club members supporting around the course it was a great occasion for everyone associated with the club.

In the men’s race, with 6 to score, the leading NBH athletes were Andrew Annett (31:18), Mark McKinstry (31:25), Lindsay Gordon (31:29), Philip Goss (32:27), John Black (32:50) and Joe Malone (33:28). Such strength in depth (with all 6 in the top 30 places) saw a comfortable victory over City of Derry AC Spartans.

In the ladies race with the top 3 to score, the NBH ladies finished a narrow second to Beechmount Harriers thanks to Gladys Ganiel (36:19), Louise Smith (39:24) and Sarah-Jane McFadden (41:05).

Congratulations also to club athletes who ran new personal bests including Sandy Plumb (45:20), Una McConnell (43:13), Elaine Holmes (48:59), and Emma Sheehy (47:08).

In the veteran categories there were further fine performances from David Clarke 2nd M55 (35:51), Gladys Ganiel 1st F40 (36:19), Louise Smith 1st F45 (39:24), Penny Lindsay 3rd F50 (41:27) and Jack Carberry 2nd M70 (46:20).

The Seeley Cup is traditionally the last major road race of the season, this year also incorporating the NI and Ulster 10k Road Championships. As such it attracted the province’s top athletes ensuring a fast, competitive race from the off. The multi-lap format, along with the small climb entering the park from the Ormeau Road side added to the challenge of judging race pace with many competitors having to dig really deep on the 2nd and 3rd laps to hang onto their positions.

Full results for club athletes were:

Pos	Firstname	Surname	Cat	Time
6	Andrew	Annett	MO	0:31:16
8	Mark	McKinstry	MO	0:31:25
10	Lindsay	Gordon	MO	0:31:29
17	Philip	Goss	MO	0:32:27
18	John	Black	MO	0:32:50
28	Joe	Malone	MO	0:33:28
67	Marc	Jennings	MO	0:35:19
85	David	Clarke	M55	0:35:51
97	Gladys	Ganiel	F40	0:36:19
104	Colin	Willetts	MO	0:36:21
111	Chris	Shaw	MO	0:36:27
118	James	Wallace	M55	0:36:38
130	Mark	Diamond	M45	0:37:08
131	Laurence	Johnston	M55	0:37:10
217	Christopher	Murray	M35	0:38:52
223	Louise	Smith	F45	0:39:24
312	Sarah-Jane	McFadden	FO	0:41:05
332	Penny	Lindsay	F50	0:41:27
377	Joseph	Smith	M40	0:42:45
388	Colin	Simpson	M50	0:42:50
389	April	Clarke	FO	0:43:11
405	Greg	McClure	M60	0:43:34
416	Una	McConnell	F40	0:43:13
427	John	Steele	M50	0:43:39
430	Neil	Carty	M50	0:44:18
432	Geoff	Swann	M50	0:44:06
447	Carol	Clarke	F50	0:44:43
474	Anthony	Fleming	M40	0:45:15
481	Sandy	Plumb	M50	0:45:20
493	Mark	Shields	M50	0:45:47
495	Ciaran	Browne	M45	0:45:38
529	Jack	Carberry	M70	0:46:20
574	Emma	Sheehy	F45	0:47:08
591	Gary	Blythe	M45	0:48:19
616	Katrina	McAuley	F35	0:48:26
632	Gerry	Anderson	M50	0:49:08
634	Elaine	Holmes	F50	0:48:59
646	John	Beggs	M50	0:49:33
657	Philip	McIlwrath	M40	0:49:45
660	Sandy	Carr	F35	0:49:35
681	Christy	Lennon	M45	0:50:13
739	Thomas	Norton	M35	0:52:46
783	Joanne	McAllister	F40	0:54:47
800	Eadaoin	Donaldson	FO	0:56:12
815	Paul	Armstrong	M50	0:57:16
880	Cecilia	Gourley	F55	1:08:08
893	Rosy	Ryan	F40	1:27:49

The Seeley Cup was the final race of the keenly contested 2017 Novosco 10k Grand Prix series which is based on the best 6 age graded performances over the 15 races of the series. Congratulations to Davey Clarke who topped the final standings with 88.72% and to Laurence Johnston in 5th place with 85.47%.