NBH Race Report 21-27 May 2018

Harriers athletes enjoyed much success this week competing on the roads, mountains, trails, track and on the Prince of Wales Avenue at Stormont. Taking advantage of the many race options available (not to mention the fine weather), there were many excellent performances to report including race wins, podium finishes, age category wins, new PBs and funds raised for some worthy charities.

Sonia Millar and Gail Hill ran Liverpool RnR half marathon on Sunday 20th May. They finished together in 2hrs 16mins which was a 4 minute PB for both.

On Tuesday evening at the Mary Peters track James Trainor ran 4m17.71s in the mixed 1500m event to finish a close runner-up to Martin Cox (Carmen Runners) who took the win in 4m06.13s.

The popular Bann 10k took place on Wednesday evening with the warm conditions adding to the challenge posed by the undulating course. Four Harriers made the trip and it proved to be worthwhile with Andrew Annett taking runners up spot in 32m34s, just behind Paddy Hamilton of Slieve Gullion (32m24s). Winning the M55 category and 4th overall Laurence Johnston came home in an impressive 37m54s. John Murphy and Gordon Glenn completed the quartet of Harriers competing. Full results were:

Also on Wednesday evening the Buncrana 5km saw some fast racing with a fine win by Project Africa’s Eric Keoch in 14m35.1s with our own Mark McKinstry in runners-up spot in 15m00.8s.

The latest round of the Hill and Dale series in the Mournes took place on Thursday with an out and back race over Pigeon to the top of Moughanmore. Three club athletes competed with Neil Carty claiming the M50 category win and overall 8th place. Full results were:

The latest edition of the ladies-only event saw the introduction of the half marathon distance to the usual 5k and 10k races. On a warm and sunny evening there was a party atmosphere at the Crawfordsburn Country Park where each of the races would finish. The half marathon saw 200 competitors start from the Dirty Duck in Holywood, following the coastal path to Bangor and back to the finish; a similar number of 5km athletes ran from Rockport School along the coastal path to the finish. The largest event, the 10k, had around 800 ladies who started at Seapark, again following the coastal path to the finish. There was NBH representation in all three events with Una McConnell the highest placed finisher with a time of 1:39:25 for 5th place in the half marathon. Full results were:

Superbly organised by Count Antrim Harriers as part of the Ballyclare May Fair Festival, the annual 10k/5k took place on Saturday morning. Renowned also for the quality of the post-race refreshments it was no surprise to see a good turn out of Harriers to contest this one. First to cross the line was Mark McKinstry in his second outing of the week, recording 33m06s for the 10k. Next up was Davey Clarke continuing his fine form to take 3rd place overall and a comfortable M55 age category win in 36m51s. International marathon runner Gladys Ganiel continued her preparation for the European marathon championships (Berlin, August 2018) by finishing in overall 4th place and comfortably winning the ladies race in 37m02s.

There were also excellent runs by Carol Clarke to take 1st place in the F50 category in the 10k and Luke Kelly who was 5th overall in the 5k and first in the MJ category.

Full results were:

A small contingent of the club’s endurance junkies joined around 100 other runners at Stormont on Saturday morning to take part in a 6-hour challenge in support of Barnado’s. Organised by the East Antrim Marathon Series (EAMS), competitors could choose to run or walk one lap, complete a 10k, half, full or ultra marathon. Each lap started near the main gate and saw participants make their way up the Prince of Wales Avenue, then round Carson’s statue before returning to the starting point. The warm conditions and north easterly breeze added to the challenge.

The 6-hour race was won by NBH man Greg McClure who completed 35 full laps for a total distance of 38.2 miles and a total of around 2,800ft of climbing (roughly the height of Slieve Donard!). Robbie Speers also completed the 6-hour event, while Gordon Glenn settled for a marathon run. Nichola Swann looked strong throughout her half marathon, while Thomas McKinstry completed 2 hours (10 laps).

This year the marathon took a new route through Edinburgh city centre before heading out to East Lothian and finishing as usual in Musselburgh. Mia McDowell represented NBH in fine style, achieving a new PB time of 3h 46m 29s.

The picturesque setting of Cutra Castle in South Galway was the setting for this off-road half marathon on Sunday. It was the first race in this year’s Castle Run series which consists of races (and accompanying triathlons) at castle venues in the UK, Ireland and France. Martsje Hell showed fine form to record a 2nd place finish in the ladies race (and 9th overall) in a time of 1:29:04.

Completing a busy week of racing, the latest event in the ChampionChip/Pure Running half marathon series took place on Sunday morning in Newry. This year’s route saw around 600 runners take on an out and back course towards Warrenpoint and back. The club was represented by 10 athletes with Eamon White the overall race winner in 1h12m50s, over 2 minutes ahead of runner-up Gerard Heaney (St Peter’s AC).

Full results were:

parkrun

Saturday’s parkrun events saw 50 Harriers take part at 11 different venues. The results were: