Hill & Dale race 1

Last Thursday saw the first race in the Hill and Dale series, this popular event is hosted by Newcastle AC with the first race of the ten in this series being held in Castlewellan Forest Park. The course covers approximately 8.5 km of lake side, forest trails with hills and summiting Slievenaslat and looping back around the castle to the finish. The conditions were fair, but after all the recent rain the ground in places was still wet, muddy and slippery.

319 James Cuffey coming over the top of Slievenaslat

 EDAC always has a small contingent of runners that take on the challenge and this year some of the old faces came back to test themselves. James Cuffey who had a great first season last year was back for more and had a strong opening race crossing the line in 29th in 41 min 49 sec, a great opener from James. Mountain man Niall Gibney is an old hand at the Hill and Dale and will be pleased with his first race finishing in 73rd spot in a time of 44 min 50 sec. Kieran Keown took on his first Hill and Dale race in EDAC colours and had a great run out in 201st position in 52 min 15 sec.

539 Niall Gibney heading down hill

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Dundalk 10k and Half Marathon
Saturday morning saw the launch of the first Dundalk 10k & Half Marathon
organized by Bear races in Partnership with Dundalk Business
Improvements District Scheme (BIDS). The event is offering both local and
visiting athletes the opportunity to experience Dundalk’s vibrant town centre
and picturesque suburbs through a uniquely designed route. The Race
starts and finishes in the heart of Dundalk Town. There were 250 entrants
allowed for each event, but all the athletes not only had the distance to
tackle they had to contend with Storm Kathleen, so with a strong wind
blowing in their faces for the second half of the route it was going to be
tough going. EDAC had father and son team Wayne and Daniel Giles
taking on the stormy conditions. Daniel was on the start line for the Half
Marathon and took on the two and a half laps of Dundalk town center, even
with the very windy weather Daniel came in 30th position in a time of 1 hr
29 min 48 sec, a great run from him. Dad Wayne took on the shorter
distance and was happy with his run in tough conditions finishing in 128th
spot in a time of 56 min 50 sec. Both said it was a well run event and is
definitely one for next year.

Omagh Half Marathon
Sunday morning saw EDACs Seamus Savage take a trip to mid Ulster for
the 25th Omagh Half Marathon. The race takes in most of the town and
starts and finishes at the leisure center. The course is known for its hills
and being undulating, and with a strong wind it was going to be tough going
for Seamus who decided to run at the last minute, he was happy with his
time of 1 hr 39 mins but admitted it was hard work.

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Anna Gardiner, together with seven fellow Irish athletes, travelled to the Serbian capital,
Belgrade, to compete in the World Cross Country Championships at the weekend.
An unseasonably hot and sunny day with temperatures reaching 27 degrees, conditions in the
city’s Friendship Park made for fast running throughout. The course made up of 2k loops and
was flat so manmade obstacles of raised inclines, hay bales and manmade muddy sections were used to make it more interesting and more like typical cross-country courses. A far cry from the muddy races over the last cross-country season in Ireland. These conditions possibly favoured the East African runners and their class was on show. They took all but one of the twenty-seven medals on offer across five races of the day. Kenya getting eleven, Ethiopia, ten and Uganda five.

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Sunday morning saw athletes from across NI heading to Portadown for the annual running festival, which involves a 10k and half marathon. The Half Marathon starts and finishes at Portadown Rugby club with the fast flat route taking in one large loop of the People’s Park. A number of runners would have been using this race as final preparation for the London and Belfast Marathons.

Start of the Portadown Half Marathon

EDAC had two runners taking on the Half Marathon, Gordy Graham, who has not had a competitive race in over seven months and was not sure what form he was in, with a top quality field Gordy will be very happy with his fourth position and a time of 1 hr 13 min 33 sec. Great running thats 3 min 31 sec per Kilometer.

Dee Murray also toed the line for the Half Marathon, an old hand at this distance he ran a steady 1 hr 28 min 39 sec in 101st position out of 684 runners, great preparation for the Manchester Marathon in April. A great effort from both of the guys.

Dee Murray moving through the field at the Portadown Half

The Deep RiverRock Queen’s 3k, 5k Open and 5k Elite races were held on Wednesday 13th  March in Belfast. The Championship 5k race, a new race, was open to participants who had previously recorded with a time of 20 minutes or less with the standard 5k being an open race. The weather was ideal for all races with little wind, no rain and relatively mild temperatures.  

Proceedings started with the 3k race which involved 1 & 2/3 clockwise laps starting on the Annadale Embankment, running over both the Ormeau and King’s Bridges before finishing outside the PEC gates on the Stranmillis Embankment. 

Alex, Jacob, Thomas and Cara before the race

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The 24th edition of Jimmy’s 10K and Relay took place on Sunday 10th March bringing much excitement to the streets of Downpatrick. This popular race, the brainchild of Joe Quinn MBE is an annual event which pays tribute to Jimmy Murray – an inspirational coach who was a founder member of East Down Athletics Club. The Club is in a 3 year partnership with local business Finnebrogue who not only lend generous financial support to the event but supply copious amounts of their some of their extensive range of products, namely sausages and bacon. The post race hot dogs flew out of the newly renovated Finnebrogue food truck like snow off a ditch! Continue reading →