Saturday saw the 35th annual running of the Joe Seeley cup around Ormeau Park at the traditional time of year when it really is hit or miss with the weather. Fortunately this year the weather was perfect for running – no wind and it was dry. So the scene was set for personal best times before the race even started and our athletes duly obliged.
This was also the final race in the inaugural Novosco 10k series where registered runners had to complete 6 races within the set 10k calendar this year. Sitting 8 points clear prior to this race NDAC confirmed their spot at the top finishing 48 points clear of Dromore AC as a consequence of the finishing times today.
With 41 ND runners registered to run today in the 1000 strong field we had a reasonable turnout. Francis Marsh and Dennis Scott were reliably contesting the front section of the race with Francis claiming first runner home in 34th place recording 33:45, two seconds clear of Dennis in 35th.
Much to the relief of Francis, Dennis and James Budde, Jamie McMeechan pb’d with an excellent 35:12 giving him 65th place and Darren Hamilton followed in 95th spot, also setting a new personal record of 36:28. David Massey continued his upward trend with a 40 second pb of 37:17. Darren and David were two of our 5 race athletes completing their 6th race today and undoubtedly contributed massively to the team success.
Nick Irvine continued the positive trend with 37:59 marginally breaking his previous best and was tracked by our first female finisher Jodi Smith with yet another best time of 38:01.
Eamonn O’Reilly PB’d with a 38:11 time before Colin Walker crossed the line, raising his own personal best to 38:47 along the way. Brian Geddis, who is relatively new to the scene, was undoubtedly happy with his 39:55 outing.
Valerie McDonough was our second female home in 42:48 and Helen Byers enjoyed the conditions to record another pb breaking her old standard at Comber earlier in the year by over 30 seconds – 45:18.
With the club winning the Novosco Grand Prix it was inevitable that this success would have been driven by some fantastic individual performances. Francis Marsh finished the individual rankings in 3rd overall with an age graded 87.71% total and Terry Eakin was 6th overall with a grading of 86.96%. These two guys were in the money winning categories and were supported by the tight grouping of Jodi Smith 21st (78.99%), Dennis Scott 22nd (78.20%) and Frankie Rea 23rd (78.19%). The remaining five counters on the 10 qualifying team were Darren Hamilton 35th (74.27%), Jamie McMeechan 37th (74.05%), David McMeechan 39th (73.43%), Valerie Blayney 43rd (72.11%) and David Massey 45th (70.95%). Well done to all of our entrants in this years’ series which is rewarding for all of our runners, similar to the park run percentage gradings, where age is no barrier.
Seeley Cup
Novosco grand prix leaderboard