To mark 50 years since Mary Peters triumph in Munich a series of races were held on Sunday ranging from 5K up to full marathon, and including a 20 mile race as preparation for an autumn marathon. And since the qualifying date for achieving a good for age time for next year’s London marathon expired at midnight on 2nd October this provided an ideal opportunity for some to realise that goal.
In the marathon Sarah Gibson continued her good form with a first place finish in 3:30:35 which was well inside the London time of 4:00. Cara Jeffrey finished in 3:59:43 which was unfortunately 6 minutes outside her qualifying time of 3:53.
Our only runner in the 20 mile event was Paula Simpson who clocked 3:03:43. The half marathon produced another North Down winner in the form of Aaron McAuley who broke the tape in a pb of 1:28:08. Leslie Wilkinson was 7th overall but won the O65 age prize in 1:35:31 while Alastair Hamilton completed in 1:53:29 after suffering an injury during the race. Noreen McCausland finished in 2:25:28 and Pat O’Driscoll managed 2:41:20.
Over in the 10K race Cliff McCausland recorded 50:47 and in the 5K edition Brian Geddis was well up in 14th and won his age category with a time of 19:53.
Full Results: