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Portaferry 10 Mile report by Colin Walker

Tuesday 21st was the Portaferry 10 Mile road race.
During the day the weather was fine, by mid afternoon drizzly rain had started and as the start of the event approached the rain began to come down in sheets.
The discussions started to take place of what to wear? Club vest over a T-shirt or over long sleeved under armor, Welly boots would’ve been a fair choice of footwear….
Upon arrival at Portaferry it wasn’t looking much better.
This event was looking up to a potential 10 mile run in the pouring rain.
Following registration, which was very quick, painless and very well organized.
Time to get changed and go for a warn up.
Thankfully by now the rain had stopped although it was still grey overhead and once again conversation Club vest on its own or something underneath?

 

Some familiar faces were there from Bangor Park-run.

I done a warm up with a person I only know as Frank from Park-run.

We went for a run down to the main road into Portaferry and back again.

Upon arrival back at the sports hall the club members had gathered and we started to make our way to the start line.

As we listened to the pre-race brief the main thing I heard was “some roads have been used as cattle crossing and as such there may be some on the road obstacles to cross”.

The two wheel chair competitors started the event and they were off. The race was underway and it was at this time I realized the bad weather we had been experiencing all afternoon had gone and the sky had turned blue and it was quite warm.

As we made our way down through the square it was lined with spectators clapping and cheering us on, it was very good start to a good race.
As the leaders started to pull away even at this early stage I could see the tall outline of the clubs very own Terry Eakin.
I settled myself down into a pace I felt comfortable enough with to push myself enough to stay where I was and not fall back.
As Andrew Muir made his way past I looked to my left and right to discover I was in a 4 person wide line made up of Simon and Alison Robinson and Valerie McDonagh.
We passed a few other competitors one of which exchanged a few words asking was this the North Down only line?
I recognized his face and his club shirt from Orange Grove AC.
As we pushed on, the view to our left was of the narrows and the vessels sitting out on the water.
I could see ahead, the course and the line of competitors.
I kept glancing at my watch to check my pace to ensure I wasn’t going to hard.
I fell into a pace and pushed my way through.
I glanced around me to see I was now on my own.
i was in a world of my own, the road surface was good, the hills were only slight inclines.
I past the point where David Seaton was and he was giving out good encouragement.
I approached the 8 mile mark and had been informed before the race a hill was due about here.
I found it at 8.5 miles and it continued for half a mile.
I climbed up and as I approached the top it leveled out, as quickly as I climbed up it started to drop down.
As I made my way back down to the square the race winner Brendan Teer East Down AC was at the side of the road cheering finishers through.
I ran down  into the finishing funnel, I seen a number of friendly faces smiling at me and I know I was smiling back with the biggest of smiles.
For me I had never run the Portaferry 10 Mile before, I had never run a 10 mile event before.
I waited at the finish line and welcomed in the other runners from North Down AC.
Waiting at the finish line we started to get cold, we made our way back up to the sports hall to change, get warmed up and get a bite to eat.
We were greeted with Tea/coffee, Sandwiches, baps, buns and sweets.
I seen a few faces I recognized and asked them how they got on.
Not long after we arrived Pat O’Driscoll joined us and some pictures taken.
The prize giving commenced and Brendan Teer from East Down AC was the 1st person across the finish line with a time of 53:28.
North Down AC brought a number of trophies with Terry Eakin getting 1st male in his category, Valerie McDonagh and Alison Robinson getting 1st and 2nd respectively in their category with Sarah Benton getting 1st woman in her category.
And Steve Wise got 1st male in his category
Overall this was a well attended both by competitors and support by North Down AC and to come away with so many trophies it was a good race one I will look forward to next year – Colin Walker.