Over 700 runners undertook the undulating Ards Half marathon route on Friday evening with a, not surprisingly, big North Down attendance.
With James Budde and Dennis Scott in half marathon training mode and their sights set on the London marathon next spring, this was a good arena for them to see how they are going. Finishing within 4 seconds of each other and recording 1:16:52, James and 1:16:56, Dennis they achieved 6th and 7th places. So not too shabby at this early stage.
Ben Caughers came in a little under 5 minutes later in 1:21:29 which gave him 19th place and Adam Ferguson completed in 1:22:53 while Eamonn O’Reilly was 32nd when he crossed the line in 1:25:26. David Massey set a long overdue HM pb when he clocked 1:26:27, which was 36th followed by Andrew Muir who was delighted with his sub 90 min, 1:29:31 – 56th. John Gracie was next to finish in 1:34:55, 85th and Keith Gilmore made it inside the top 100 when he stopped the clock on 1:36:94 which was 94th.
Sarah Benton was our first lady in with 1:42:07 which was 175th, Jill Aicken made it home in 1:48:29, 280th and Claire Garrad hit the tape in 1:51:11 to claim 317th place.
Nicola Downey continued her progress on 1:54:26 with husband Chris offering moral support throughout the trip before Melanie Patton returned to the shorter half distance, after her successful Edinburgh marathon, and crossed the line in 1:55:46.
Steven Donegan 1:37:42 Gerry O’Boyle 1:37:53
Philip Mulligan 1:39:39 John Ferguson 1:39:31
Frankie Rea 1:42:23 Johnny McGrath 1:42:51
Scott Nelson 1:43:47 Michael Taylor 1:43:40
David McClements 1:49:01 Cliff McCausland 1:49:28
Mick Hall 1:52:49 Chris Harrison 1:55:26
Joanne Kelly 1:56:17 Caroline Crothers 1:57:29
John Nolan 1:58:02 Elaine McDonnel 1:59:11
Gordon Matchett 1:59:11 Ian McCreary 2:05:13
Glenn Frazer 2:16:00 Gavin McDonnell 2:17:39
Heidi Rodgers 2:25:05 Helen Wyse 2:25:07
