CHRISTMAS CRACKERS

GREENCASTLE 5 MILES

Tom Dowey travelled furthest in search of some cool running over the Christmas period, undertaking the almost North Pole distance to Greencastle, Co Tyrone for their famous Boxing Day 5 miles race – and clearly, neither journey nor pre-dawn start did him any harm as he clocked an impressive 40.17 to take 6^th place in the M60 Category and 329^th overall in he field of over 1000 runners and walkers

TURKEY TROT

A little later in the day Neil Andrews took 13^th place in the Turkey Trot which this year had the added attraction of an additional 1.4 miles beginning along the Trassey Track and taking in bits of Slieve Bernagh, Meelmore and the oxymoronishly ( I just made that one up because it describes my memories of the place!) named Happy Valley. Close behind Neil came Ciaran Denvir in 14^th and Dee Murray 19^th .Michael Cultra in 40^th place led the next trio from East Down, followed by Johnny Erskine and his Dad Jim in 46^th and 51^st positions respectively out of 77 finishers. A good day all round.

CASTLEWELLAN CRACKER

On Saturday East Down runners contributed to at least 21 pairings in the increasingly popular challenge which requires designated pairs to run together and to finish together. Nothing difficult in that you might think but read on. I was unable to run this year due to the debilitating effects of a cold virus which has taken up residence in the head of the Quinn’s household, apparently due to some rumour of there being no room at any of the Inns, as far away as Bethlehem, apparently. Anyway I went to Castlewellan to watch the spectacle and learnt several useful bits of information.  I found out where that Start line is and was there to hear Deon McNeilly’s dreaded words, “ You’ll only get soup afterwards if you produce your race number”!!This probably reduced the resultant demand by 50% as the numerous supporters, groupies and hangers on who had been accustomed to trying out the vegetable broth in previous years recoiled not only from the prospect of being branded unworthy before their peers while queueing with fake numbers, spoon and roll in hand for a Dickensian hand out, but also at the thought of having to rob a nearby bank to pay the cost of providing an additional unplanned meal for themselves and their offspring. Austerity rules!!

However on the positive side it was indeed an impressive sight as almost 1400 runners set off in all colours of running /festive/ fancy dress gear, and continued to sport all manner of smiles as they passed me by on Mill Hill en route to the Park.

T- SHIRT

PS – I have a Lisburn half marathon T shirt, which was thrust upon me by a well warmed up young lady on the way past. I’m sorry I was trying to remember so many names and faces that I cannot recall who gave it to me – but give me a call and I’ll get it back to you.

A(ARON) to Z(AK) of the RUNNING FRATERNITY?

 

In the lead at that point were the 3 pairings who would ultimately make up the top 3 finishers, the only question being asked was which one would win.  The combination of Seamus Lynch & Ian Bailie, probably the two best mountain runners in the country, looked on paper to be the strongest but they were being menacingly challenged by the blind date enthusiasm of their Newcastle clubmate Zak Hanna and East Down’s Aaron McGrady with the potentially coupon wrecking duo of Raheny’s Ian Conroy and Dundrum South Dublin’s Killian Mooney waiting to pounce on any slip ups.

But in the end the classic act won with Lynch and Bailie coming home over a minute and a half ahead of the less experienced Hanna / McGrady combo with the  Dubliners taking 3^rd place a minute further back. Surely the 2^nd placed will have their day in the sun in the not too distant future?

Another Newcastle/East Down pairing in the personage of David McNeilly and Brendan Teer ran very well together to take overall 6^th place while the first all East Down pair were Paul Burns and Martin Willcox in 26^th place.

Davy and Joanne Foster were the first “proper couple” to finish in 81^st place overall not far behind the dynamic duo of Gavin Hynds and Niamh Kellett (66th) while

Paul Carroll (Annadale) and daughter Edie (East Down) could feel well satisfied with their overall 144^th place. Cheryl Denvir and James Magennis were inspired by the chance to dress up..

as was Catherine Gilchrist..

And even those who complained at how tough it was seemed to look happy enough at the time!

Well done to all who “cracked” the Cracker – it was a challenge indeed.

2	Zak Hanna	Newcastle AC*	Aaron McGrady	East Down AC*	Male Under 80	00:58:SS
6	David McNeilly	Newcastle AC*	Brendan Teer	East Down AC*	Male Under 80	01:03:SS
26	Paul Burns	East Down AC*	Martin Willcox	East Down AC*	Male 80 – 99	01:09:SS
62	Dermot Cahill	East Down AC*	Joe Napier	East Down AC*	Male 80 – 99	01:15:SS
66	Niamh Kellett	East Down AC*	Gavin Hynds	East Down AC*	Mixed Under 80	01:15:SS
68		East Down AC*	Catherine O’Connor	East Down AC*	Mixed Under 80	01:15:SS
80	Paul Lloyd		Dee Murray	East Down AC*	Male 80 – 99	01:17:SS
81	Davy Foster	East Down AC*	Joanne Foster	East Down AC*	Mixed Under 80	01:17:SS
144	Paul Carroll	Annadale Striders *	Edie Carroll	East Down AC*	Mixed Under 80	01:24:SS
150	Jonny Kelly	East Down AC*	Cahal Kielty	CrossFit Infected	Male 80 – 99	01:25:SS
166	Neil Curran	DUB Runners*	Gary Cull	East Down AC*	Male 80 – 99	01:27:SS
173	Jim Erskine	East Down AC*	Johnny Erskine	East Down AC*	Male Under 80	01:28:SS
197	Chris Smith	East Down AC*	James Smith	Acorns AC	Male 80 – 99	01:31:SS
282	Conor Findlay	East Down AC*	Toby Moore-Stanley	Unattached	Male Under 80	01:41:SS
310	Wendy Findlay	East Down AC*	John Findlay	East Down AC*	Mixed 100 – 119	01:44:SS
323	James Magennis	East Down AC*	Cheryl Denvir	East Down AC*	Mixed 100 – 119	01:45:SS
332	Lisa Milligan	East Down AC*	John Manley	East Down AC*	Mixed 100 – 119	01:46:SS
367	Gareth Amos	East Down AC*	Janine Murray-McGreevy	East Down AC*	Mixed Under 80	01:52:SS
406	Tom McClean	East Down AC*	Kim Surginor	East Down AC*	Mixed 80 – 99	01:57:SS
506	Roisin Gaffney	East Down AC*	Deirdre Mount	East Down AC*	Female 100 – 119	02:10:SS
531	Catherine Gilchrist	East Down AC*	Bridgeen Burns	Unattached	Female 80 – 99	02:13:SS

BACK TO BACK MARATHONS

While all this was going on and indeed before “all this” had even started Phillip Vint was completing marathon number 50 and his umpteenth this year, in 3.46 (12^th overall finisher) on Saturday accompanied by Stephen McCartan, Gareth Kelly, both 3.53  Michael Cultra 3.59 and Linda Cunningham 5.33.

Of course Linda was also entered for the back to back marathon on Sunday 31^st December and I have no doubt she did it – just can’t find results at the moment.

Another noteworthy effort at the weekend was Clare Carson’s completion of back – to – back Half marathons, her first ever attempt at this type of torture and with the first one completed in 1.55. she probably nailed number 2 in around the 2 hour mark. Sean  Sealey, Joanne Carson, Kevin Kelly and Helen Vint wisely settled for round one only.  Plenty to be going on with in the days following Christmas!

CARMEL AT THE LOUGH

Carmel Tumelty continues to travel the world, or certainly most of NI, in her pursuit of records and she was the lone East Down runner in the Lough 5 Miles in Loughmacrory? No I don’t know either, on Sunday and she hit another pb with a 43.24 clocking

Best wishes to everyone for a HAPPY, HEALTHY AND INJURY FREE NEW YEAR IN 2018.