The annual Ards 5 mile road race follows a single loop from Londonderry Park along the Portaferry Road to the rolling hills on Finlays Road and back towards Newtownards from Loughries. It’s always a popular and highly competitive Friday evening race and this year’s event was no exception. 11 seconds separated the first 3 places with North Down AC’s Craig McMeechan taking 3rd place in 26:06. Aaron McAuley was the club’s next finisher in 12th place in 30:36 1 place ahead of Davis Massey 30:55. Fiona McQuillan won the women’s race in 31:07 and 15th place overall. Sarah Gibson and Clair Quigley both crossed the line with identical gun and finish times with Sarah taking the place ahead of Clair in 33:47. Jodi Smith was next to finish in 33:52 ahead of Tim Cooke 34:30, Andrew Muir 36:04, Keith Gilmore 36:15, Rab Martin 36:34, Kevin Mulligan 36:42 and Steven Boyd 36:35. Paula Simpson 39:08 led Emma Fox 39:32, Wendy Neely 40:38, Jill Aitken 40:44 and Nicola Ingram 40:51. The next batch of NDAC finishers included Olivia Cumming 41:48, Claire Scott 41:55. Lisa McMeechan 42:12, Jenny Keery 43:43 and Karen Keery 43:51. Emma Hegarty was next club finisher in 45:34 ahead of Michael Cunningham 45:41 and Ian McCreary 45:55. Sophie Hamilton and Caroline Gilmore shared identical chip times of 47:39 and Pat O’Driscoll ensured no clubmates were left behind on the course as he crossed the finish line in 52:32.
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
Thank you to David McMeechan for the photo album.
