The Weekly News – 29/07/2019

CROSSGAR 10K on SATURDAY

The latest renewal of this popular 10K race proved to be a high quality event with the top 12 finishers all under 40 minutes. The winner was  North Belfast’s Gareth Lyons 34.11, from the evergreen  Tommy Hughes Termoneeny Running Club 34.53 in 2nd place with Dromore’s Wesley McDowell third in 35.09. First of East Down’s 9 participants was Dee Murray 38.44 in 11th place followed by Paul Lloyd in 41.03 and Eamon Kelly who is starting to make his mark at this level in 47.11. Next was Paddy McDonald 48.55, comfortably inside the top 50 mark, with Donal Smith, George Kerr and Gavin McConvey all having time to spare inside the hour, with John Smith, good to see him back in Club colours again, and Noreen Kerr, enjoying themselves in the pleasant summer heat, just over the 60 minutes but with still plenty behind them in the field of 128 finishers. Donal’s comment “Very warm, very tough route, with a sharp climb near the end that was as soul destroying as it was tough. It was like one of the hills those Tour De France chaps have been scaling all week!!” Those “hills” are called mountains Donal, specifically the Alps, and from my memory, are just a wee bit steeper than the Crossgar route along Drakesbridge Road!

EDAC at the Crossgar 10K - Back L-R Paddy McDonald, John Smith, Paul Lloyd, Donal Smith, Gavin McConvey

EDAC at the Crossgar 10K – Back L-R Paddy McDonald, John Smith, Paul Lloyd, Donal Smith, Gavin McConvey

LONGWOOD MARATHON (EAST of IRELAND SERIES) VICTORY

The old saying “Cometh the hour, Cometh the man“ certainly rang true on Saturday when Phillip Vint, running in his  67th marathon realised that the next person in front was the race leader who like several other competitors was visibly wilting in the stifling heat, and sensing that he was running much more strongly than his opponent, Phillip carefully harnessed his resources and blasted past him with just 2 miles left to go and dug in for his first ever marathon win!! Paul Murphy was second across the finish line, 64 seconds behind with Gregory Paul O’ Beirne a further 4 minutes back in 3rd.

Phillip turns into home straight on Saturday with price on his head

Phillip turns into home straight on Saturday with price on his head

What a tremendous feeling this must have been for the long term endurance athlete, even if his time 3.21.08 is way below his best, it only has to be faster than anyone else’s on the day,  nevertheless he has ticked another significant box in terms of his running ambitions by finally appearing at the top of the listings. So Well Done Phillip, from everyone in the Club.

NIALL TAKES on the “HILLS  of DONEGAL”

After his recent successful attempt on the Denis Rankin Round, Niall Gibneydecided that he still had gas in his legs and where better to run it off than the Seven Sisters Skyline in Donegal. Apparently he was meant to be on holidays there and this just happened to be on!  It was an out and back 50km route with some 4000m of ascent which doesn’t make it sound like an ideal holiday activity to most but Niall assures me that it was a fantastic day out. The runners went from the bottom of Errigal over Mackoght (Little Errigal), 3 mountains known as the Aghlas then Laragh followed by an eerie scramble up iconic Muckish. The return route took in the same mountains with an extra thrown in – a  long scree scramble up the north face of Errigal and a descent on the other side with 5km through the  Guinness estate to finish at Dunlewy. The weather was “typical Donegal” i.e. wet, with poor visibility but thankfully the course was fully marked. Our man made it home in 9 hours and 26 minutes and was placed an impressive 27th overall out of 120 starters. Not sure what his next plan is but I’m sure it will involve running up and down a mountain or two as he not only enjoys this terrain but is darned good at it! Well done Niall.

Niall Gibney in Donegal for the Seven Sisters Skyline Race

Niall Gibney in Donegal for the Seven Sisters Skyline Race

(GAL)BALLY MARVELLOUS FOR DONAL & SUZY

Donal Smith of the “have vest will travel” motto is on a mission to recruit other members into this brigade, so when both sister Suzy and daughter Kelly had their birthdays in the last week, he bought them a gift that keeps on giving – namely an EDAC vest! He reasoned that with the opportunity to wear those on their backs they would have no excuses not to show up at races. Suzy was then pressed to christen hers on Sunday with a trip to County Tyrone to where the duo travelled with other running buddies known as the “KInlar Punters” to check out the Galbally Runners 5 Mile and 5K Race. Donal declared that it was “Real tough, real warm, real hilly, amongst the toughest we’d experienced”. Sounds a bit like Crossgar on Saturday Donal? “That aside everything else about the event was simply superb, especially the post race burgers, beer, ice cream and more”. Another one to recommend in the future by the sounds of things?

Donal and Suzy Smith at Galbally Runners 5 Mile5K Race in County Tyrone

Donal and Suzy Smith at Galbally Runners 5 Mile5K Race in County Tyrone

STRANGFORD FESTIVAL 5 &10K

The organisers of this year’s Strangford Festival races which take place on Friday 23rd August at 7.00pm wish to make it known that online registration for the 5K Fun Run is now also available at www.athleticsni.org as well as for the 10K and that everyone interested in taking part should try to enter beforehand in order to avoid delays on the night. Further information can be obtained from Brendan Kerr on 07863900138 or by email to bkerr674@stgenevieves.belfast.ni.sch.uk.

LECALE WAY 10K ON 17th AUGUST 2019

Atlas Running, the organisers for the Lecale Way 10K scheduled for Saturday 17 August have advised that the race start time has been put back until 3.00pm to cater for the tides. Further information from Adrian Daye atlas@atlasruning.co.uk

 

Joe Quinn & Alison Carroll

29 July 2019