On Friday evening the Mary Peters Track hosted the 4th annual One Mile event driven by NIRunning and backed by the British Milers Club. North Down had a healthy attendance and had representation in most of the races.
In the age group races Hollie Massey stole the show with a win in the U12 race finishing in 6:33. Ella Andrews managed a very credible 6:12:39, 4th in the U14 race despite having a fall early on with Thomas Patterson 5:15:48 and Jamie McMeechan 4:58:82 also finished 4th in their respective U16 and U20 races.
Terry Coyne competed in the first of the senior races with 8:01 and Clare Russell made a go of it in Race 4 with a 7:14 finish. Race 5 was split in 2, A and B which was recognised as 6 min – 7 min mile pace. In the A race Valerie McDonough recorded 6:05:65, Donald Smith, 6:19:62 and Helen Byers 6:32:81. The B race saw Philip Mulligan finish in 5:49:30 and David McMeechan complete in 5:55:10.
The next category, 5 mins – 6mins was the most popular with 3 races. David Massey was our only entrant in the A race and recorded a very strong 5:20:92, whereas in the B race three of our athletes ran. Eamonn O’Reilly finished 2nd in the field with 5:21:91 followed less than a second later by Alan Massey in 5:22:73 and then Colin Walker coming in with 5:36:93. In the C race the aforementioned Thomas Patterson came in 3rd with his 5:15 and Darren Hamilton won the race with a frustrating 5:00:18 when it looked all the way that sub 5 was on the cards.
Our athletes then produced some quick times in the elite races which were split into two races. The first race included Francis Marsh who recorded 4:44:67 and then in the second there were four of our athletes including Rachel Gibson who finished with 4:56:60 and in the process broke the ladies record. Nick Irvine came in just ahead of Rachel with 4:55:07, Jamie McMeechan 4:58:82 and Gareth Watton 5:04:22.
http://www.nirunning.co.uk/Night%20of%20Miles%202016%20Official%20Results-1.xlsx