Wednesday evening saw the 5th race in the Pure Running Half Marathon series and the 7th race in the Novosco 10k series played out in Lisburn.
With over 1100 athletes in the Half marathon event North Down had 13 runners.
First home was Colin Walker in 84th position with a positive 1:33:03, which sets him up nicely for next weeks’ Ards half. Following on from her duathlon success last weekend Louise Watson was the 2nd ND runner to cross the line in 1:42:09. Helen Byers appeared to use the assistance of the pacer to good effect returning in 1:44:42, followed one second later by Neil O’Driscoll, 1:44:43.
Remaining finishers were:
Scott Nelson 1:45:58
John Ferguson 1:49:14
Heidi Rodgers 1:50:11
David McClements 1:52:21
James Barr 1:53:34
Claire Garrad 1:53:39
Melanie Patton 1:57:14
Ian McCreary 2:04:19
Gavin McDonnell 2:22:09
Of the 1800 odd finishers of the 10K event 15 were from North Down AC.
Francis Marsh eased home first and claimed 1st O50 with 34:24 and 7th place overall.
Jamie McMeechan arrived a little under 2 mins later, pb’ing in 36:08 and 16th place.
Darren Hamilton was next in 30th position clocking 38:08 and was followed by Jodi Smith, fresh from her 2nd place finish in Ballymena two weeks ago, to again finish 2nd with 39:17.
Terry Eakin made it home in 40:30 and was 1st O65. David McMeechan trailed Terry by 31 secs, crossing the line in 41:01, and Julie Balmer, continuing her return to racing, finished with 42:47. Frankie Rae, running under the guise of Valerie McDonough and raising a few eyebrows in the process, stopped the watch on 43:01.
Remaining finishers:
Ivan Mellon 49:35
Elizabeth McMeechan 50:42
Valerie Blayney 53:48
David Balmer 56:54
Alex Mellon 57:15
Diane McCaughan 58:04
Tracey Hodgson 58:04
Kathryn Blomley 58:12
Patricia Nickell 1:04:44
NOTE – Apologies to any athletes who may have been omitted, the Championchip results sheet does not include club identities of runners.