Californian visitor Penny McPhail dominated the race on News Year Day in the annual “Race over the Glens”, a tough 5½ mile trail race in the hilly Glenariff Forest Park near Waterfoot. Penny of course is the former Penny Hawtin, daughter of Ken and sister of Paula and last ran for North Down almost a decade ago at the Senior Champion ships in Derry. Stephanie Hambling had a brilliant run to finish 4th lady. Rather unluckily for her, the first two were visitors and the first three all masters so a category prize was remote.. With hailstones falling and two steep climbs, Stephanie ran 45:49 min with clubmates Les Wilkinson and Andrew Muir running 42:39 and 48:30 respectively.
In the ladies race, the impressive Penny led from the gun and took 1st place, clocking 43:30. Claire Mc Aulay (44:00), a runner from Scotland visiting for the festive holidays took 2nd place, while local mountain running specialist Shileen O’Kane (45:27) finished in 3rd place.. in the mens race, seven times winner Jarlath Falls was headed by local runner Jonny Steede (Ballymena Runners).
.Club Results
| Pos | No | Athlete | Cat | Finish | Chip |
M/F Pos |
|
25 |
213 |
Les Wilkinson | M55 |
42:41 |
42:39 |
25 |
|
52 |
283 |
Stephanie Hambling | F40 |
45:51 |
45:49 |
4 |
|
87 |
90 |
Andrew Muir | M35 |
48:35 |
48:30 |
79 |