This week saw a break in the cross-country season but no rest for the North Belfast Harriers who successfully competed in the main event in the local calendar, the Seeley Cup. In addition, the vest was donned as far afield as the Valencia marathon and with it being December, even at a Santa Dash.
(Courtesy of Athletics NI gallery)
Seeley Cup (Saturday 1st December)
The Willowfield Temperance Harriers race is always competitive and this year was no exception. The 10K distance reached capacity at 1,000 runners who competed in damp conditions on the first day of the last month. Mark McKinstry took second place overall and first in his age category (Male 35) in a PB time of 30.38! More success for NBH men in the team competitions with first place, beating off Acorns AC and Foyle Valley to take the top spot. This is the third year in a row the Seeley Cup has been in the NBH trophy cabinet! Congratulations to Mark McKinstry, Conan McCaughey, John Black, Conor Curran, Kent Swann and Neil Carty.
| 2 | Mark | McKinstry | M | M35 | 00:30:36 |
| 5 | Conan | McCaughey | M | MO | 00:31:24 |
| 10 | John | Black | M | MO | 00:31:50 |
| 27 | Conor | Curran | M | M40 | 00:33:26 |
| 42 | Kent | Swann | M | M35 | 00:33:48 |
| 67 | Neil | Carty | M | M50 | 00:34:44 |
| 95 | Mark | McAvoy | M | MO | 00:35:27 |
| 120 | David | Clarke | M | M55 | 00:36:04 |
| 133 | James | Wallace | M | M55 | 00:36:20 |
| 171 | Colin | Willetts | M | MO | 00:37:17 |
| 186 | Laurence | Johnston | M | M60 | 00:37:52 |
| 225 | Paul | Butcher | M | M40 | 00:39:01 |
| 247 | Rory | Kane | M | M40 | 00:39:15 |
| 307 | Louise | Smith | F | F45 | 00:40:28 |
| 347 | Ray | Cameron | M | M40 | 00:41:07 |
| 399 | April | Clarke | F | FO | 00:43:07 |
| 440 | Christy | Lennon | M | M45 | 00:43:57 |
| 456 | Ciaran | Browne | M | M45 | 00:44:29 |
| 471 | Joe | Smith | M | M40 | 00:44:52 |
| 482 | Brian | Stewart | M | M65 | 00:45:05 |
| 484 | Anthony | Fleming | M | M45 | 00:44:54 |
| 524 | Fionnuala | O’Hare | F | FO | 00:46:09 |
| 539 | Jason | Reid | M | MO | 00:46:28 |
| 545 | Carol | Clarke | F | F50 | 00:46:55 |
| 551 | Paul | Williams | M | M50 | 00:47:03 |
| 588 | Gerry | Anderson | M | M50 | 00:48:07 |
| 617 | Lorraine | Hibburt | F | F45 | 00:49:08 |
| 633 | Jack | Carberry | M | M75 | 00:49:17 |
| 635 | Philip | McIlwrath | M | M40 | 00:49:31 |
| 818 | Frances | Burgess | F | F40 | 01:01:42 |
| 844 | Rosy | Ryan | F | F40 | 01:25:03 |
(courtesy of Kent Swann and Athletics NI Gallery)
Crossgar Santa Run (Sunday 2nd December)
Organised by Atlas Running, this festive race started in the grounds of the Monastery, followed the paths inside of the grounds and headed out into the New Line before coming back into the grounds, one lap making up the 5K course and two for the 10K option. Three North Belfast Harriers took part. Well done to them!
| 55 | Ita Weir | North Belfast Harriers | 01:02:29 |
| 56 | Maire Jamison | North Belfast Harriers | 01:02:30 |
| 57 | Fergus Jamison | North Belfast Harriers | 01:02:30 |
Valencia Marathon (Sunday 2nd December)
NBH Colin Simpson travelled to the east of the Iberian peninsula to take part in the 38th Trinidad Alfonso EDP Valencia Marathon alongside nearly 20,000 other competitors. The conditions were ideal, temperature of 13° and a very slight wind. Colin ran a fantastic time of 3hrs 37mins 40secs – Congratulations!
Parkrun
Saturday was run day for many harriers at 11 different parks. Well done to the following NBH members: Nat Glenn took top spot with first place in Larne; and the first ladies finished in Castlewellan, Gladys Ganiel O’Neill; in Falls Parkrun, Roisin Hughes and in Larne, Penny Lindsay. Worthy of a mention also were those ladies who finished second, Janice Plumb in Larne and Sandy Carr in Carrickfergus. Excellent running by all.
Nonsuch parkrun
| 14 | 14 | Matt SHIELDS | North Belfast Harriers | 00:19:51 |
Waterworks parkrun, Belfast
Belfast Victoria parkrun
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 4 | 4 | Luke KELLY | North Belfast Harriers | 00:17:29 |
Queen’s parkrun, Belfast
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 37 | 32 | Vincent BRADLEY | North Belfast Harriers | 00:23:35 |
| 63 | 49 | Kevin LAVERY | North Belfast Harriers | 00:27:36 |
| 64 | 50 | Ciaran HUNTER | North Belfast Harriers | 00:27:37 |
| 65 | 51 | Damien GILL | North Belfast Harriers | 00:27:48 |
Falls parkrun, Belfast
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 4 | 1 | Roisin HUGHES | North Belfast Harriers | 00:21:12 |
Citypark parkrun, Craigavon
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 14 | 10 | John MCCONNELL | North Belfast Harriers | 00:21:51 |
Marlay parkrun
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 264 | 63 | Lynn MURRAY | North Belfast Harriers | 00:28:38 |
Castlewellan parkrun
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 4 | 1 | Gladys GANIEL-O’NEILL | North Belfast Harriers | 00:19:03 |
Larne parkrun
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 1 | 1 | Nat GLENN | North Belfast Harriers | 00:19:10 |
| 4 | 1 | Penny LINDSAY | North Belfast Harriers | 00:22:06 |
| 5 | 2 | Janice PLUMB | North Belfast Harriers | 00:22:11 |
| 10 | 7 | Greg LAVERY | North Belfast Harriers | 00:23:30 |
Carrickfergus parkrun
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 14 | 2 | Sandy CARR | North Belfast Harriers | 00:23:23 |
Valley parkrun, Newtownabbey
| Position | Gender Position | parkrunner | Club | Run Time |
| 24 | 22 | Robert IRVINE | North Belfast Harriers | 00:24:07 |
