Ardglass 10k, 31/07/24
3 North Down AC members made their way to the picturesque harbour village of Ardglass on Wednesday 31st July for the annual 10k road race. Sarah Gibson was the first of the trio to finish, taking the podium as 2nd female in 42:46. Susan Black was 7th female in 49:14 and Pat O’Driscoll completed the run in 1:13:00.
ANI Open Meet, 01/08/24
North Down AC’s track athletes were back in action at the Athletics NI Open Meet at the Mary Peters Track on Thursday 1st August; Craig McMeechan finished 7th in the 1500m A race in a season’s best of 3:53.06. Daniel Dines set a PB of 4:09.12 in the 1500m B race while in the C race Luke McDowell also recorded a new PB of 4:21.33. Oliver Playfair is recovering from a virus but still ran an excellent 4:27.16 in the same race.
Rachel Gibson ran 4:58.54 in the women’s 1500m and Becka Laffin was racing the 800m where she clocked 2:49.90.
Maze 10k, 02/08/24
Ricky Jordan and Melissa Eccles tackled the Maze 10k comprising a 2 lap course around the Eikon Exhibition Centre at the site of the former Maze Prison on Friday 2nd August. Ricky completed the 10k in 37:39 and Melissa finished in 40:40.
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#top
Seven Sevens, 03/08/24
David McKeague was the sole mountain man to head down to the Mournes for the Seven Sevens Race, following the classic route to and from Donard Park. This year’s race was run in an anti-clockwise direction and David and the other mountain runners summited the 7 highest peaks in Northern Ireland starting with Slieve Donard then Slieve Commedagh, Slieve Bearnagh, Slieve Meelmore, Slieve Meelbeg before crossing the Ben Crom Dam to ascend Slieve Bearnagh and Slieve Lamagan from where they returned to the start/finish line in Donard Park in Newcastle. The route is approximately 19 miles with more than 8600 feet of ascent. David finished in 17th place overall, and 3rd in the M45 age group in 5:25:10.
https://www.nimra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Seven-Sevens-Race-2024-Results.pdf
Waterfoot to Ballycastle Trail Marathon, 03/08/24
Jill Connolly ran a trail marathon organised by the excellent event organisers, We Run Wild NI, on Saturday 3rd August. Starting by the seaside in Waterfoot runners quickly found themselves climbing through Glenariff Forest Park and beyond into open countryside, forest trails, mountain views and navigating seemingly never ending leg-sapping sections of bog. When the runners had a chance to look up they were rewarded with views of the Irish Sea and Scotland then Rathlin Ireland before a steep descent back through forest to the finish line at Ballycastle. Jill was 17th overall and 2nd female, covering the course in 5:44:12.
https://werunwildni.com/results.html
Irish National U20 &U23 Championships, Tullamore 03/08/24
Wins and Podiums for North Down AC at Run the Trails, Mountstewart 03/08/24
The Run the Trails races at Mount Stewart are hosted by our neighbours at Scrabo Strider who easily managed the logistical challenges involved in organising 4 separate events, a 2k, 5k, 10k and half marathon, in the same evening. North Down AC were represented across the 5k, 10k and half with club members producing some fantastic results; first up in the 5k was Carter Rolston who finished 4th in 20:43.
North Down AC athletes convincingly won both the male and female 10k with Aaron McAuley taking the win in 39:15 while Clair Quigley was 7th overall in 44:47.
Luke Hamilton’s 47:01 was a new course PB. He was followed by John Harvey 51:35, Gerard Adair who also got a course PB in 52:52 and Heather Adair who joined the course PB club in 54:01. Wendy Neely 55:46, Ian McCreary 1:01:02, Sophie Hamilton 1:02:58 and Glenn Frazer 1:06:04 also ran the 10k.
In the half marathon Sarah Wilson was the first club member to finish, and second female behind Mary Slocum in 1:48:47. Paula Simpson completed the hilly trail half marathon in 2:01:52 and John Ferguson rounded off the NDAC finishers in 2:04:23.
Helen Byers took very little time out of her holiday to race the Cork 10k on Sunday 4th August. Starting near York Racecourse the flat and fast route passed many of the historic landmarks of the city including the ancient city walls and York Minster. Helen completed the 10k in 44:06.
https://chiptiming.co.uk/events/run-for-all-york-10k-2024-2024/5841/
Sarah Gibson – Irish Masters T&F Championships, Santry 04/08/24
Sarah recovered quickly from her speedy 10k on the roads at Ardglass to take on 3 separate track distances at the Irish ~Masters Track and Field Championships at the Santry Stadium on Sunday 4th August. She came 5th in the W50 age group in the 1500m in 6:16.10, 2nd in the W50 3000m in 12:27.73 and 3rd in the 800m in 3:13.73.
http://live.athleticsireland.ie/menu.html
Paula Simpson, Broughshane 5 miler, 05/08/24
Paula Simpson joined 340 other runners in the pouring rain at the Broughshane 5 mile road race on Monday 5th August . Despite the far from ideal running conditions 2 days after her most recent half marathon Paula completed the 5 mile race in 39:12.
