NBH Race Report 10-16 February 2020

In a week sandwiched between storm Ciara and storm Dennis, NBH athletes nevertheless put in some remarkable performances, from the speedsters at the Armagh international to the endurance specialists at the EAMS 6-hour at Jordanstown and the Atlas Last One Standing at Castleward.

Armagh International Road Races (Thu 13th February)

This well established event attracted many top international and local club athletes to the Mall at Armagh on Thursday evening. The races were all fast with nearly 140 men breaking 15 minutes in the international 5k and over 50 ladies running under 10 minutes for the 3k. The harriers had 6 competitors in the male 3k, all of whom remarkably set new PBs, and one competitor in the ladies 3k. Congratulations to Matthew Lavery and Luke Kelly who both achieved 3rd place in their respective junior category. Full results were:

Love EAMS Valentine’s Day 6-hr Challenge (Fri 14th February)

The running lovers gathered early on Valentine’s Day at the Loughshore Park, Jordanstown  for the annual 6-hr challenge. In generally wet and windy conditions the competitors completed as many laps as possible (or as desired!) within the 6 hour window, with each lap consisting of the 4.2 mile loop via the lough shore path to Gideon’s Green and back. Greg McClure and Thomas (Tucker) McKinstry competed and their results were:

Last One Standing, Castleward (Sat 15th – Sun 16th February)

Underfoot conditions wouldn’t have been out of place at a cross country race and strong winds and rain courtesy of storm Dennis added to the physical and mental challenge of LOS, Castleward on Saturday. Starting at 12 noon, the event took place on a 4.2 mile loop on trails and paths round the Castleward estate. Competitors had to complete 1 lap every hour and be on the start line, ready to start the next lap on the next hour. Runners not on the start line earned a DNF (Did Not Finish!) medal. This process continued until there was only one runner left who had to complete one more lap on their own to be declared the winner.

Coleen Thompson and Sandy Carr were the brave souls who represented the harriers, Sandy completed 16 full laps (67.2 miles), and Coleen completed 13 (54.6 miles). Coleen said after her experience “the worst conditions I’ve ever run in, think at one point we were swimming through muddy puddles deep enough to lose a small child in! “. Congratulations to both on their extraordinary performances.

Novosco Grand Prix Awards

The awards were presented for the Novosco Grand Prix 2019 series at a recent ceremony at the Titanic hotel. This series is based on age graded performances across a series of 10k races throughout the road racing season. The club claimed the top team award, with Davy Clarke finishing in third place, making this his third consecutive top three finish in the Novosco series. The team prize was based on the top 6 runners from each club, and Davy was well supported by Laurence Johnston (4th), Gareth Lyons (8th) and Carol Clarke, April Clarke and Fionnuala O’Hare who all also had a fine series. Final standings were:

parkrun (Sat 16th February)

Saturday’s parkruns attracted a healthy crop of NBH runners and the results were: