As summer starts to give way to autumn and temperatures begin to drop there were plenty of opportunities for running and racing this week. The Antrim Coast half marathon proved the most popular event and saw several fine performances from NBH athletes, and there was a new M60 1500m NI and Irish record set on the track by Davey Clarke.
Antrim Coast Half Marathon (sun 29th)
Formerly the Larne half marathon, this event has now achieved international recognition and was able to attract a high quality elite field as well as a strong field of club athletes. Many of these had not participated in a half marathon for some time as a result of the recent restrictions on events due to the Covid pandemic. So, early on Sunday morning, in cool, dry weather conditions, the stage was set for fast racing. The course took in the centre of Larne, a loop of the harbour, and the beautiful run out the coast road to Ballygally before turning for home and finishing near the Larne leisure centre.
The elite race provided the first highlight of the day as Yalemzerf Yehualaw (Ethiopia) set a new world half marathon record of 1:03:44, beating the previous mark by 18 seconds. Also in the elite event Conan McCaughey, representing NI, ran 1:06:23 to take 24th place in the men’s race, and evergreen Gladys Ganiel, also representing NI, ran 1:17:01 to take 16th place in the ladies race.
The mass race started after completion of the elite race, and after a short delay which only served to heighten the anticipation, they were off. The famous harriers hoops were in evidence throughout the large field as almost 50 club athletes took on the challenge, all grateful for the excellent support along the route from fellow club members. Davey Clarke and coach/athlete Nat Glenn did a fine job supporting some of the faster runners as they acted as pacers for 1h:30mins.
As the runners reached the finish many were celebrating new PBs, others delighting in achieving target times or enjoying the achievement of completing the half marathon distance. John McGuigan, Louise Smith, April Clarke and Paul Butcher all recorded fine new PBs.
The full results for NBH athletes were:
| Bib | Name | AG | Halfway Split | Gun Time | Chip Time |
| 1045 | David Hamilton | M | 0:35:35 | 1:11:04 | 1:11:01 |
| 1161 | Phil Clarke | M | 0:35:58 | 1:11:20 | 1:11:15 |
| 1125 | Adam Smyth | M | 0:36:01 | 1:11:56 | 1:11:53 |
| 1053 | Mark Mcavoy | M | 0:36:39 | 1:13:13 | 1:13:10 |
| 2537 | Jack Steenson | M | 0:37:48 | 1:16:10 | 1:16:08 |
| 2034 | John Mcguigan | M | 0:40:12 | 1:19:46 | 1:19:31 |
| 2134 | Patrick Mcauley | M | 0:39:32 | 1:20:20 | 1:20:15 |
| 2050 | Louise Smith | F | 0:39:43 | 1:20:50 | 1:20:40 |
| 2432 | Daniel Girvin | M | 0:39:47 | 1:21:56 | 1:21:49 |
| 3596 | Arran Rutledge | M | 0:42:12 | 1:23:19 | 1:22:59 |
| 1024 | Aidan Mccormack | M | 0:41:47 | 1:23:35 | 1:23:24 |
| 2203 | Gavin Mccaffrey | M | 0:41:47 | 1:23:35 | 1:23:24 |
| 3559 | Tracey Atkinson | F | 0:41:41 | 1:24:22 | 1:23:30 |
| 2166 | Kevin Mccann | M | 0:43:03 | 1:25:00 | 1:24:32 |
| 2423 | Paul Butcher | M | 0:42:14 | 1:25:00 | 1:24:44 |
| 2608 | John Fogarty | M | 0:42:53 | 1:27:09 | 1:26:56 |
| 2386 | James Benson | M | 0:44:01 | 1:27:38 | 1:26:43 |
| 1063 | Colin Mcdowell | M | 0:43:14 | 1:28:00 | 1:26:49 |
| 2019 | James Trainor | M | 0:44:01 | 1:28:02 | 1:27:54 |
| 2036 | Natasha Henderson | F | 0:44:01 | 1:28:40 | 1:27:40 |
| 3127 | Sarah Jane Mcfadden | F | 0:44:01 | 1:29:06 | 1:28:07 |
| 2135 | April Clarke | F | 0:44:00 | 1:29:08 | 1:28:08 |
| 2202 | Gabriel Mcavoy | M | 0:43:18 | 1:29:16 | 1:28:18 |
| 3055 | Ryan Armstrong | M | 0:46:13 | 1:30:34 | 1:29:15 |
| 2114 | Paul Hutchinson | M | 0:48:23 | 1:37:55 | 1:36:17 |
| 2219 | Ray Cameron | M | 0:49:29 | 1:39:13 | 1:38:48 |
| 3121 | Fionnuala O’hare | F | 0:48:26 | 1:39:40 | 1:38:01 |
| 3112 | Diane Taylor | M | 0:49:47 | 1:40:09 | 1:38:50 |
| 3579 | Greg Mcclure | M | 0:50:21 | 1:40:48 | 1:39:38 |
| 5801 | Paddy Mccambridge | F | 0:48:12 | 1:42:07 | 1:41:25 |
| 5940 | Gerard Magee | M | 0:51:21 | 1:43:50 | 1:43:30 |
| 3152 | Thomas Taylor | F | 0:51:15 | 1:45:03 | 1:43:44 |
| 3151 | Emma Taylor | F | 0:53:59 | 1:47:40 | 1:46:20 |
| 5875 | Joseph Gallagher | M | 0:53:42 | 1:47:50 | 1:45:41 |
| 3111 | Andrew Taylor | M | 0:53:07 | 1:48:30 | 1:47:10 |
| 5087 | Ivan Mcallister | M | 0:53:13 | 1:49:47 | 1:47:37 |
| 3077 | Jack Carberry | M | 0:55:11 | 1:52:32 | 1:52:12 |
| 3193 | Gerry Anderson | M | 0:54:52 | 1:55:06 | 1:53:46 |
| 2204 | Vincent Mccaffrey | M | 0:51:34 | 1:57:02 | 1:56:16 |
| 5111 | David Hurst | M | 0:53:15 | 1:57:12 | 1:55:02 |
| 5016 | Karlene Graham | F | 0:58:12 | 1:59:39 | 1:57:30 |
| 5097 | Laura Connolly | F | 0:59:38 | 2:05:33 | 2:03:24 |
| 5099 | Thomas Mckinstry | M | 1:04:55 | 2:09:25 | 2:05:35 |
| 8523 | Philip Mcilwrath | F | 1:03:20 | 2:12:53 | 2:07:51 |
| 6041 | Jason Reid | M | 1:05:01 | 2:13:08 | 2:09:11 |
| 5234 | Michelle Mcloughlin | F | 1:08:18 | 2:28:18 | 2:26:10 |
| 7354 | Michael Murray | F | 1:06:40 | 2:46:59 | 2:41:59 |
| 2065 | Robbie Speers | M | 1:21:36 | 3:09:54 | 3:06:03 |
Open 1500m/5000m (Sat 28th)
Mary Peters track was the venue on Saturday for a series of open 1500m/5000m races and an invitational 800m. Congratulations to Davey Clarke on setting a new 1500m M60 NI and Irish record of 4:31.49.
Results of the races involving NBH athletes were:
| SENIOR MEN 1500M Race 1 | ||||
| Position | First Name | Last Name | Club | Time |
| 1 | Matteo | Mary | Waterford AC | 4:03.48 |
| 2 | Kieron | White | Crusaders A.C. | 4:03.67 |
| 3 | Dean | Ryan | Newbridge AC | 4:07.14 |
| 4 | James | Ashley | Lagan Valley AC | 4:10.32 |
| 5 | Elliott | O’Beirne | Crusaders AC | 4:25.38 |
| 6 | Stephen | Orr | Orangegrove AC | 4:26.08 |
| 7 | Nick | Irvine | North Down AC | 4:26.25 |
| 8 | Davy | Foster | Willowfield Harriers | 4:27.77 |
| 9 | Juma | MacMillan | North Belfast Harriers | 4:31.15 |
| 10 | David | Clarke | North Belfast Harriers | 4:31.49 |
| 11 | Jake | Lennox | Annadale Striders | 4:33.01 |
| 12 | Aron | Cole | Foyle Valley AC | 4:33.19 |
| 13 | Nigel | McKibbin | Dromore AC | 4:34.54 |
| 14 | Rodney | Campbell | Foyle Valley AC | 4:45.01 |
| SENIOR MEN 1500M Race 2 | ||||
| Position | First Name | Last Name | Club | Time |
| 1 | Gary | Crummy | Newry AC | 3:58.04 |
| 2 | Brett | Rushman | Hartes Phoenix | 3:58.53 |
| 3 | Craig | McMeechan | North Down AC | 3:59.16 |
| 4 | Peter | Gracey | Beechmount Harriers | 3:59.65 |
| 5 | Cathaoir | Purvis | North Belfast Harriers | 4:05.54 |
| 6 | Jack | McCausland | City of Lisburn AC | 4:11.44 |
| 7 | Sean | Terek | City of Lisburn AC | 4:13.48 |
| 8 | Jake | Stafford | Willowfield Harriers | 4:15.53 |
| 9 | Ronan | Fitzpatrick | Queens University AC | 4:17.48 |
| 10 | Isaac | McCollum | North Belfast Harriers | 4:18.39 |
| 11 | Brandon | McKeown | East Antrim Harriers | 4:18.83 |
| 12 | James | Gilliland | Willowfield Harriers | 4:19.32 |
| 13 | Diarmuid | Hanna | Ballymena & Antrim AC | 4:20.89 |
| SENIOR MEN 5000M | ||||
| Position | First Name | Last Name | Club | Time |
| 1 | Oran | O’Hare | Foyle Valley AC | 15:43.99 |
| 2 | Kyle | Thompson | Loughview AC | 16:03.32 |
| 3 | Jonathan | Spratt | Annadale Striders | 16:09.77 |
| 4 | Daniel | Molloy | Newcastle AC | 16:13.42 |
| 5 | Oliver | Cook | PACE Running Club | 17:00.63 |
| 6 | Daniel | Girvin | North Belfast Harriers | 17:22.87 |
| 7 | Ian | Lockington | Victoria Park and Connswater | 18:28.13 |
| 8 | Seamus | Burke | Dromore AC | 19:10.00 |
| 9 | Niall | Rankin | Dromore AC | 19:20.12 |
| SENIOR MEN 800M – Invite | ||||
| Number | First Name | Last Name | Club | Time |
| 1 | Luke | McCann | UCD AC | 1:47.96 |
| 2 | Philip | Marron | Ratoath AC | 1:51.60 |
| 3 | Andrew | Milligan | North Belfast Harriers | 1:51.85 |
| 4 | Colin | Smith | Mulligar Harriers | 1:51.91 |
Strangford Festival 5k/10k (Fri 27th)
Run as part of the Strangford Festival these races proved popular on Friday evening with over 100 competing in the 5k and almost 80 in the 10k. Kieran Callaghan represented the club in the 5k, posting a time of 25:15 in 27th place.
parkrun (Sat 28th)
Results from Saturday’s parkrun events were:
| Waterworks parkrun, Belfast 28/08/2021 #504 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 2 | Conor O’RAWE | 157 | 70.94% | 18:11 | PB 17:32 |
| 7 | Aaron RUSH | 40 | 62.78% | 20:36 | New PB! |
| 10 | Matt SHIELDS | 375 | 81.74% | 20:54 | PB 17:44 |
| 16 | Cormac LEHENY | 3 | 71.31% | 22:08 | New PB! |
| 18 | David CURRAN | 126 | 66.87% | 22:14 | PB 18:42 |
| 20 | Conal MCCAMBRIDGE | 59 | 58.02% | 22:14 | PB 15:59 |
| 25 | Joseph GALLAGHER | 13 | 72.65% | 22:40 | PB 22:01 |
| 29 | Dara CASSIDY | 11 | 63.00% | 23:01 | PB 22:17 |
| 43 | Gabriel MCAVOY | 30 | 58.25% | 24:21 | PB 18:39 |
| 45 | Laurence ROGERS | 59 | 59.89% | 24:26 | PB 21:23 |
| 53 | Tony REID | 473 | 62.07% | 25:24 | PB 21:50 |
| 65 | Gordon GLENN | 101 | 56.55% | 26:05 | PB 21:04 |
| 66 | Kevin MCCANN | 135 | 57.00% | 26:05 | PB 21:37 |
| 68 | Greg MCCLURE | 421 | 63.62% | 26:07 | PB 18:41 |
| 81 | Orán STEELE | 18 | 55.47% | 26:48 | PB 24:27 |
| 91 | Chris O’DONOGHUE | 68 | 49.06% | 27:37 | PB 24:31 |
| 97 | Lucinda MCAVOY | 33 | 58.03% | 27:55 | PB 26:32 |
| 104 | Lyle CARLETON | 179 | 55.16% | 28:35 | PB 21:22 |
| 107 | Heather WILSON | 63 | 51.51% | 28:44 | PB 26:53 |
| 114 | Gillian RODEN | 91 | 52.70% | 29:02 | PB 27:23 |
| 118 | Catherine SEAWRIGHT | 66 | 55.23% | 29:20 | PB 25:28 |
| 123 | Evelyn PALMER | 27 | 64.75% | 29:33 | PB 27:41 |
| 125 | Gerry ANDERSON | 164 | 51.13% | 29:34 | PB 22:13 |
| 129 | Stella HARRISON | 335 | 64.27% | 30:11 | PB 26:03 |
| 138 | Sandy CARR | 274 | 48.89% | 31:28 | PB 22:55 |
| 139 | Grainne STEPHENS | 78 | 47.01% | 31:29 | PB 30:59 |
| 150 | Margaret STEPHENS | 290 | 59.42% | 32:39 | PB 28:23 |
| 159 | Roy RAINEY | 22 | 42.99% | 35:10 | PB 32:33 |
| 164 | Michelle MCLOUGHLIN | 127 | 42.18% | 36:02 | PB 24:00 |
| 177 | Bernadette DUFFY | 244 | 47.41% | 42:07 | PB 29:29 |
| 181 | Denise RAINEY | 102 | 35.98% | 45:29 | PB 34:48 |
| 182 | Denis LOUGHRAN | 143 | 43.24% | 45:29 | PB 35:00 |
| Derry City parkrun 28/08/2021 #361 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 6 | John Gerard MURPHY | 465 | 67.90% | 22:04 | PB 19:45 |
| Belfast Victoria parkrun 28/08/2021 #471 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 6 | Max REID | 80 | 79.83% | 17:46 | New PB! |
| 30 | Alex REID | 26 | 71.31% | 22:08 | New PB! |
| 57 | Ray CAMERON | 177 | 57.29% | 24:56 | PB 19:37 |
| 60 | Paul BUTCHER | 7 | 56.64% | 25:13 | First Timer! |
| 91 | Joe WILSON | 111 | 59.75% | 27:05 | New PB! |
| Queen’s parkrun, Belfast 28/08/2021 #421 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 2 | Neil CARTY | 23 | 82.19% | 18:32 | PB 17:13 |
| Falls parkrun, Belfast 28/08/2021 #388 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 12 | Roisin HUGHES | 121 | 68.00% | 22:58 | PB 20:27 |
| 40 | Philomena DONALDSON | 242 | 62.99% | 31:42 | PB 29:48 |
| 48 | Eadaoin DONALDSON | 198 | 42.45% | 35:06 | PB 29:45 |
| Antrim parkrun 28/08/2021 #313 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 1 | Gavin MCCAFFREY | 153 | 72.30% | 18:14 | PB 16:21 |
| Larne parkrun 28/08/2021 #328 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 5 | Nat GLENN | 127 | 69.66% | 22:15 | PB 17:48 |
| 7 | Janice PLUMB | 118 | 76.03% | 22:36 | PB 20:34 |
| 10 | Carol CLARKE | 65 | 78.65% | 22:43 | PB 21:54 |
| Carrickfergus parkrun 28/08/2021 #309 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 19 | Hugo REILLY | 6 | 56.61% | 24:35 | First Timer! |
| 27 | Maya REILLY | 5 | 59.01% | 25:37 | First Timer! |
| 51 | Jason REID | 119 | 44.69% | 29:30 | First Timer! |
| Bangor parkrun, Northern Ireland 28/08/2021 #307 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 222 | Philip MCILWRATH | 241 | 25.47% | 56:32 | PB 27:12 |
| 223 | Rosy RYAN | 240 | 28.23% | 57:23 | PB 42:51 |
| Stormont parkrun 28/08/2021 #248 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 77 | Kieran CALLAGHAN | 123 | 52.15% | 26:22 | New PB! |
| Colin Glen parkrun 28/08/2021 #216 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 35 | Jim CLINTON | 481 | 51.50% | 31:08 | PB 24:42 |
| Orangefield parkrun 28/08/2021 #94 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 17 | Colin SIMPSON | 277 | 59.31% | 25:41 | PB 23:04 |
| 42 | Fergus JAMISON | 70 | 48.72% | 31:49 | PB 29:58 |
| Knockbracken Reservoir parkrun 28/08/2021 #13 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 44 | Thomas MCKINSTRY | 252 | 58.13% | 26:26 | First Timer! |
| Hillsborough Forest parkrun 28/08/2021 #10 | |||||
| Pos | parkrunner | parkruns | Age Grade | Time | Comment |
| 27 | Martsje HELL | 38 | 65.43% | 22:51 | New PB! |
