Air Ambulance 5k, Belfast City Airport 12/09/24
In a week where lots of North Down AC runners raced on roads, mountains, trails and athletics tracks, Alan Massey added a runway to the list of available running surfaces. He was among over 400 runners who took off in a 5k fundraiser for the NI Air Ambulance at George Best Belfast City Airport on Thursday evening, in a 5k race raising funds for the NI Air Ambulance. Alan finished the 5k in 20:19.
Ulster Schools Combined Events, 12/09/24
Rankin Round Relay, 14/09/24
The Denis Rankin Round is a challenge taking in all of the Mourne peaks over 400m. The circuit is approximately 90km and includes more than 6500m of ascent and must be completed within 24 hours. Although usually undertaken as a solo challenge, on Saturday relay teams of 5 runners set off from the traditional start point at the gates of Donard Park at 5am and tackled the challenge in a clockwise direction. The North Down AC team of David McKeague, Mikael Lenu, Jonathan Gibson, Mark Weir and Gareth Hardy finished 2nd overall in 14:26:07.
Causeway Coast Ultra Marathon, 14/09/24
Matty McParland and Donald Smith headed to the north coast on Saturday 14th September for the Causeway Coast Ultra Marathon. The Causeway Coast events included a marathon, half marathon, 10k and half marathon and marathon distance walks. All the events finished in Port Ballintrae. The ultra marathon began at 7am on Portstewart Strand and followed the coast through Portrush, past Dunluce Castle, Port Ballintrae and the Giant’s Causeway and along the coastal paths to Ballintoy and the turnaround point at Larrybane before turning into seemingly the same headwind they’d battled on the way out. Matty finished the 63.3k ultra marathon – 1 1/2 marathons – in second place in 5:43:31 and Donald finished in 7:56:47.
https://www.26extreme.com/results/causeway-coast-marathon-2024/
Rock the Lakes and Lough, Craigavon 15/09/24
Rock the Lakes returned to Craigavon on Sunday 15th September with 5k and 10k runners following courses around the lakes from the leisure centre while half marathon runners enjoyed the extra trio out to the trails around Oxford Island before returning to the lakes. North Down AC were represented in each race with Alex Brennan 31:53 outsprinting Andrea Green 32:06 to the finish line in the 5k. Sandra Hall 54:07 earned bragging rights over Mick Hall 54:35 in the 10k race and Cliff McCausland ran a 2:01:49 half maratho, before adding on another 6 miles as part of his training for his next marathon!
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
Richmond Half Marathon, 15/09/24
Steve Wise was another half marathon finisher, this time in Richmond in south west London. Despite a fall he finished the half marathon through Kew Gardens and Richmond Park in 1:39:51, taking 1st place in the M65 category in the process.
https://run-fest.com/richmond-runfest-2024-results/
Sarah Gibson, Helen Byers & Roberta Dornan take silver for NI. Dumfries Half Marathon, 15/09/24
In a busy weekend for half marathons Helen Byers, Sarah Gibson and Roberta Dornan headed to Dumfries where the race incorporated the British Masters Half Marathon Championships. The half marathon was a cool down for Helen who competed in the 2 mile Serpentine Swim in London the previous day, completing the 2 mile course in 1:29.
The North Down AC trio were racing in Northern Ireland colours rather than merely representing their club, and each produced a superb run to earn a silver medal for NI in the team event.
Sarah took gold, winning the F50 category in 1:30:41 while Helen’s 1:39:45 secured a silver medal in the F45 category. Roberta Dornan finished 4th in the same age group in 1:46:18. https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:04e5744d-3e06-44dd-a321-f7f0475ec4c4?fbclid=IwY2xjawFUr4dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHcf4ZocTiRe4QyYOhWgfljSpvxmOTRH9K5OMDV2unmchCW2BxUWnsaT_DA_aem_WqxVckIisd-siQvgI2cR-w&mibextid=xfxF2i&viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover
Ashley Dixon wins Clandeboye 10k, 15/09/24
North Down AC were well represented on the Clandeboye trails through the estate from the courtyard to Helen’s Tower for the Clandeboye 10k trail race on Sunday 15th September. Ashley Dixon 35:22 and Oliver Playfair 36:55 led the field out from the start and finished first and second respectively. Kim McCourt breezed through the trails on her second race of the day having already completed the Donaghadee Sea Sprint triathlon in the morning!
Darren Edgar 40:41 4th and Tom Agnew 8th 43:43 joined Ashley and Ollie in the top 10 followed by Mitchell Brown 44:04 and Brian Geddis 45:45.
Lisa Tomalin 46:14 once again took a podium spot finishing 2nd female in 46:14.
Steven Boyd 46:20, Rab Martin 47:46, Una Kilmartin 49:07 and Claire Scott 50:16 were the next finishers ahead of Kim McCourt 1:07:16 and Pat O’Driscoll 1:35:15.
https://www.facebook.com/coastalrunnersNI
Tom Agnew