On Saturday 14th June 2014 East Down AC’s Catherine O’Connor made her international debut in the ladies 8.7k (with 460m of ascending) in the Home Country Mountain Running Challenge in Keswick and couldn’t have chosen a better time to produce the performance of her life finishing first of the Northern Ireland team in 14th place overall in a time of 45:05. To add icing to the cake the team claimed bronze medals by finishing in 3rd place.
Catherine has been in tremendous form all season during the Hill and Dale series and fully deserved her call up to international level. She was backin action again last Thursday night in th penultimate H & D race, and clinched her category with another fine win. Only the peerless Diane Wilson has finished ahead of Catherine on the local scene this year and this augurs well for the cross country season which begins in October.
The men too have been maintaining good form throughout the splendid Series with Michael Cultra, Dee Murray, Phillip Vint and Gavin Oakes making significant progress on the mountains while Brian Hamilton has had a splendid season and has won the Over 65 category.
LAURA TAKES SILVER
Just a week after claiming Gold in the Age Group 800 metres championships, allegedly her least favourite event, Laura Gardiner fought out another tremendous duel in the Under 17 Girls 1500 metres before succumbing to Glaslough Harriers Amy Hamill on the final lap but retained her composure to pip Omagh’s Edel Monaghan for the Silver medal. A tremendous “double” in the space of a week and great confidence boosters in preparation for the All Ireland championships on 12 July.
Also in action at the Antrim Forum were Aoife Cochrane and Ella Carroll in the Under 15 Girls 1500 and both were pleased to record new best times for the distance, while Elisha Surginor was the Club’s sole representative in the Under 16 race and ran well to also record a new best time. In the boy’s 1500 metres Owen Edwards continued his steady improvement to claim a top 10 place in 4.54 with Daniel Atkinson 1 seconds further back and Tony Carson a further 10 seconds behind that. All who ran returned personal best times so Congratulations to all of them.
LISBURN HALF MARATHON AND 10K
Year in year out everyone complains about the Lisburn Half Marathon and 10K which are staged in mid-June. It has to be said that most of the complaints are about the heat, not a common occurrence in Northern Ireland so perhaps it’s acclimatisation that’s the real reason. Whatever it is and despite the complaints, many do return year after year to run, complain and give their well rehearsed “Never Again” slogans an airing.
However, common sense to some extent prevailed in that most of this year’s East Down participants opted for the shorter distance with only Mick McCreesh and Michael McKeown tacking the Half. Or at least those are the only two I could identify quickly from the results for although the entry forms demand to know everything about you, including what you mayhave had fpr breakfast, they do not show Club names in the results – so apologies to anyone who I may have omitted. Michael was his usual steady self, completing in 1.40 while Mick made the headlines by clocking 1.43, knocking an incredible 12 minutes off his previous time as e goes from strength to strength. 1.30 next year?
In the 10 K Brendan Teer took a very respectable 4th place in 32 minutes, in a very high quality field. Michael Cultra 38.03 was next best East Down man home with Liam Keenan 39.23 also doing well to break the 40 minutes. Stephen Heasley 46.39 and Simon McGrattan 47.33 also set new PBs and look all set for the big programme of local races coming up.
Others who did well to finish were Simone Prenter, Caoimhe and Fionnuala McGrady and Declan McGrady, all trying the delights of Lisburn for the first (and only?) time
COMING SOON
Tonight (Wed) sees the 8th running if the popular and scenic Loughinisland 5.05 mile race with3 Mile Fun Run beginning at 7.30pm. Entries from 6.00pm in the GAC Clubrooms.
On Sunday 29th the Balykinlar10K along the beach at Dundrum Bay begins at 1.00pm – note change of time due to high tide – while on Friday 11th July the action switches back to the roads around Rossglass and Killough for The Shore 10K.
The RGU 10K has switched to 30 July at 7.30pm due to the change of date for Portaferry.
Keep reading the local papers and check the club website for details of everything which is happening
JoeQuinn
23 June 2014