Craic 10k, Belfast 17/03/24 – North Down Athletic Club

St Patrick’s Day wouldn’t be complete for many of North Down AC’s athletes without the traditional Craic 10k around the city. Starting outside the city hall and looping the city centre before heading west via Divis Street and the Fall Road, runners return to the city centre via the Grosvenor Road and race through Shaftesbury Square and the Botanic Gardens before passing parts of the Stranmillis Embankment that may have been familiar to a few runners who also ran the Queen’s 5k in the opposite direction on Wednesday evening. The final quarter of the race to the finish is inside Ormeau Park allowing spectators plenty of opportunities to spot family, friends and club mates among more than 4100 finishers in the biggest 10k in Northern Ireland. First of the North Down runners to cross the finish line was 7th placed Dale Murray in 33:40. Simon Seaton 36:42, Alan McConnell 37:16 and Colin Walker 38:33 all achieved top 100 performances. Mitchell Brown 40:27 was followed by the club’s first lady, Clair Quigley 41:21, Dan Trimble 41:48, Brian Geddis 42:36 and Keith Gilmore 42:08. Sarah Connolly 44:01, Andrew Muir 44:14 and Luke Hamilton 44:58 all completed the busy route in less than 45 minutes closely followed by Jacob Sullivan 46:38, Phil Archer 49:17, Abbie Small 49:19 and Paula Simpson 49:50. Emma Hegarty 52:02, Julie Preston 53:18, Mick Hall 53:56, Sandra Hall 54:53, Andrea Green 56:15, Stefan Butler 56:37, Julie McCready 58:21, Glenn Frazer 58:35, Natasha Hughes 59:03, Caroline Gilmore 59:16, Sophie Hamilton 59:35, Sinead Agnew 59:38 all broke 1 hour as the volume of runners meant that the finish funnel was beginning to become congested. Klara Anderson 1:00:26, Christine Steele 1:00:37, Ian McCray 1:03:12, George Emerson 1:03:36, Pat O’Driscoll 1:11:29 and Valerie Sullivan 1:24:50 all ran strongly to enjoy the craic.

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[Dale Murray]