[Not a valid template]Sun 1 April 2012
Barry Scarth
Julie Balmer took second female place in a half marathon, this time at the Omagh event where there was another fifteen hundred plus field. Julie was 71st overall and was first F35 in 84:28 min, a few seconds outside her time in Larne a week ago. Donna Evans was the first female. With two F35 wins in the opening races of the ChampionChip/Up and Running Series, Julie now has an unbeatable position in the first half of the series and need only wait until the second half of the season to complete another two races. Two half marathons in a week is not everone’s choice but Dennis Scott was another North Down athlete to do it. In 19th place, Dennis beat his time in Larne and ran a pb of 78:35 min. Stephen Purdie was 129th and 9th M50 with 89:20 min and Pat O’Driscoll was 5th M60 in 127:16 min. On Sunday Nick Irvine ran the Connemara half marathon – one of the toughest – and achieved a pbbof 95:59 min in 96th place.