[Not a valid template][Not a valid template]The North Down relay squad of James Budde, Brian Barron, Nick Arkensparr, Mark Weir and Simon Seaton were 5th on Monday in the Belfast Marathon Relay. Running cryptically as Tuesday”s Child (I think they meant Thursdays”), the team finished in 2:34.01 hrs. The ladies team of Roberta Dornan, Lynne Kerr, Jill Dowie, Hilary Kernaghan and Ange Perrott came in at 3:35.28 hrs despite a series of mishaps. Their tale of woe included a 10 min delay for Roberta at the start and a bus driver who took Jill three times round the city before finding the changeover 20 minutes after the athlete had arrived. The girls all ran blinders and ran 3:06, afterwards finding both them and North Down B and C listed on the computer as North Team A and Teams B and C.Of the soloists Andy Belshaw defied the windy conditions with by far his best marathon time of 3:20.02 hrs. Others doing the full distance included Nichola Connery 3:36.23, Terry Eakin 3:47.01, Mike Stitt 4:04.08, Paul Galloway 4:20.10 and Pat O”Dricoll 5:17.17. This was Pat”s 20th marathon; all run in a North Down AC vest (he is claiming this as a North Down AC vest record) – his 10th Belfast Marathon, he is aged 61 and his subtle number was 601. Paul defied a few sleepless nights but new fatherhood kept his adrenaline levels high.
