weekly roundup 29/04/25: Ballygalget Easter 5k & 10k, Bay Road 5k, LVAC Fab 5, Hill & Dale, Devil o’the Highlands, NDAC takeover Crawfordsburn parkrun, Annalong Horseshoe, Connemara Marathon, Manchester Marathon, London Marathon, Annalong Horseshoe, Irish Road Relays

Ballygalget Easter 5k &10k, 20/04/25

The Ballygalget GAC’s annual Easter Sunday 5k and 10k road races around the lower end of the peninsula saw great results for the 2 North Down AC runners who made the trip to Portaferry. Gerard Adair was second in the 5k in 22:42 while Kyle McLellan won the 10k in an impressive 34:21.

Kyle

Gerard

Bay Road 5k, 23/04/25

2 of North Down AC’s younger athletes headed to Derry/Londonderry  for the Bay Road 5k on Wednesday evening, Sebastian Mair ran an excellent new PB of 18:07 and Sophie Rankin finished in 19:19.

LVAC Fab 5, 24/04/25

The second Fab Five meeting took place on a sunny but cold Thursday evening at the Mary
Peters track in Belfast. Despite entries for a few events closing very early, a good number of
club members took part with some impressive results.
In the u12 boys’ 1000m, Harrison Mair was 4th in 3.26.44.  In the u14 girls’ 800m, Eve Sloan
was 19th in 2.52.58. Eve also took part in the 200m, finishing 2nd in race 4 in 31.49. In the u14
boys’ 800m, Isaac Hall was 6th in 2.28.39.
In the u16 girls’ 200m, Devon Booth was 5th in race 1 in 29.04, and Nyla Hughes was also 5th
in race 2 in 29.63. In the u16 boys’ 200m, Travis Truedale was 4th in race 1 in 25.94. In the
u16 boys’ 800m, Seb Mair was 13 th in 2.24.29. The first medals of the evening came in the
u16 girls’ shot, where Emma Reid and Caoimhe Fenlon replicated their 1st and 2nd positions
of the first meeting with throws of 10.73m (a PB) and 8.18m respectively.
Moving on to the u18 and senior events, Anna Moran was 6th in race 2 of the 200m in 29.59.
In the men’s 200m, Tomas Montgomery was also 6th in race 5 in 24.95. Three club members
took part in the u18 and senior men’s 800m with overall positions as follows: Josh McDowell
18th (2.09.12), Dean Varley 22nd (2.12.24) and John Ewing 25th (2.13.86). There was another
medal in the u18 and senior men’s javelin, where Andrew Brown finished 2nd with a throw of
39.72m. Anna Moran also took part in the women’s javelin. In the u18 girl’s triple jump, Nyla
Hughes competed against older girls, finishing 5th with a jump of 8.96m. Finally, in the u18
and senior men’s triple jump, Karl Martin picked up the second gold medal of the evening,
with a jump of 12.44m.

Hill & Dale Race 3, Slieve Martin 24/04/25

The third Hill & Dale race of the season took place at Slieve Martin on Thursday evening. This year the revised clockwise course made for an even more challenging option with a tough gravel path up the hill and a slippery grassy downhill. The distance may have been relatively short at approximately 4 miles, but nearly 570m of ascent made for the toughest race of the series so far, and one of the steepest climbs the runners will experience over the rest of the Hill & Dales. As ever the wrong North Down AC contingent placed well in with age group wins for F65 June McMinn, Fj Sophie Hamilton and M80 John Adgey in his welcome return to racing following recent illness.  

David McKeague was the first North Down runner to finish in 41:18 followed by Ben Jenkins 50:10, Clair Quigley 53:11, Abby Andrews 54:46, Jeremy Tomalin 54:59, Claire Scott 59:13 and June McMinn 1:00:21. Lisa Tomalin recorded 1:00:45 on her first H&D race followed by Glynis Boyle 1:01:09, John Adgey 1:07:15, Kim McCourt 1:13:57, Ian McCreary 1:17:29, Sophie Hamilton 1:22:12 and Cara Jeffrey 1:22:14.

https://www.newcastleac.org/?page_id=17978

Devil o’ the Highlands Ultramarathon, 26/04/25

Donald Smith returned to his native land for another ultramarathon on Saturday 26th April; the Devil o’the Highlands covers the final 42 miles of the West Highland Way from Tyndrun to Fort William  and takes its name from one of the iconic climbs on the route – the Devil’s Staircase between Glencoe and Kinlochleven. Donald completed the race in 9:05:36. As part of his post-race cool down he spent a further 2 days in the Scottish Highlands bagging Munros with club mate Seán Nickell! https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/HighlandFling/2025/Devil/

NDAC take over at Crawfordsburn Country parkrun, 26/04/25

Last Saturday North Down AC took on the volunteering roles at Crawfordsburn parkrun, as well as supplying plenty of runners too! Like all free weekly parkruns Crawfordsburn relies on friendly volunteers each week to ensure that participants are safely marshalled around the course and their 5k times are processed and sent out to the runners, joggers and walkers shortly after they finish. The parkrun core team are hugely grateful to North Down AC for their assistance. 

Annalong Horseshoe, 27/04/25

The NI Mountain Running Association’s long distance championship race, the Annalong Horseshoe was held on Sunday 27th April. The 20k race with over 2000m of ascent started and finished at the gate on the Carricklittle track and heading for venue Chimney Rock, Donard, Commedagh (summit), Cove, Lamagan, Binnian (north tor.)

David McKeague was back in mountain running action after Hill & Dale and finished 11th in 2:58:26 and Gareth Hardy finished 22nd in 3:38:54.

Connemara Marathon, 27/04/25

On the last Sunday of April the club’s marathon runners were spoiled for choice, and friends, family and clubmates had numerous links to trackers as they charted the progress of the yellow and blue clad marathoners around their various courses.

First up was Aaron Beggs in Connemara, a stunningly beautiful but notoriously difficult course with a mostly uphill second half to Maam Cross, this year made even more difficult by a strong headwind. The hills and wind didn’t slow the speedy North Down man too much as he finished 7th in 3:01:32. 

Manchester Marathon, 27/04/25

The Uk’s second biggest marathon, the Manchester Marathon, was also held on Sunday. Among the 36,000 runners were 3 North Down AC runners who both cruised from Old Trafford to the finish on the Oxford Road in the city centre in superb times on a warm day; Dougie Gordon completed the course in 3:40:17, Jamie McGimpsey finished in 3:34:50 and Roberta Dornan ran 3:50:23.

https://www.manchestermarathon.co.uk/event-info/results/?_gl=1*13p7fq2*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTY2MDg2NTU2NC4xNzQ1OTMyNTkw*_ga_G31TKF7J24*MTc0NTkzMjU4OS4xLjAuMTc0NTkzMjU4OS4wLjAuNTE1NDE1NzA5

London Marathon, 27/04/25

More than 56,000 people took part in the London Marathon this year. By 18:35 BST on Sunday, the number of runners to have completed it had beaten the previous record of 55,646 set by the New York Marathon in November.

12 of North Down AC’s finest were among the record breaking number of finishers, with several breaking their own personal records in the process, despite the heat and crowds.

Garry Morrow was the first of the club’s finishers in 2:30:10 with Ashley Dixon 2:32:33, Matty McParland 2:36:37, Dale Murray 2:45:57, Andy Lowry 2:51:09 all smashing the 3 hour mark. Jonathan Gibson 3:06:46 was followed by Robert Duncan 3:20:50 and Sarah Gibson completed her 2nd marathon in 6 days, returning from Boston to record 3:32:55. Wendy Neely joined them in the sub-4hr club with a new PB of 3:58:44.

Beth Mulree recorded the most impressive PB of the day, taking 40 minutes off her previous best to finish in 5:15:10 followed by Cliff McCausland 5:31:37 and David Milligan 5:48:52.

At Saturday’s The London Mini-Marathon Carter Rolston representing NI placing 64th (9:29) in the British U13boys road race championship over 2.6k between Horse Guards Parade and the Mall. 

Irish Senior Road Relays, 27/04/25