Hill & Dale Race 8, Loughshannagh 06/06/24
There’s always some debate about the hardest race in the series, but this race from the Ott car park taking in Slieve Loughshanagh, Down and Carn mountains on a circuit of Lough Shannagh is always near the top of every mountain runner’s list of the toughest short race in the Mournes. It’s not the longest race but 600m of ascent ver 7k ensures every athlete knows they’ve put in a hard evening of running!
7 of North Down AC’s hardiest runners joined the race on Thursday 6th June. First to finish once again was Gareth Hardy in 55:18, Clair Quigley was the next finisher in 1:03:14, once again taking first F45. Kevin Mulligan 1:08:26 was followed by Gerard Adair in 1:14:05 and Claire Scott in 1:14:55. Glynis Boyle once again claimed 1st F60 in 1:17:36 while John Adgey, despite a fall claimed 1st M80 in 1:20:56 with Trevor Patterson 1:23:57 completing the line up.
With just 2 more races to go over the next 2 Thursday evenings Clair Quigley, Glynis Boyle and John Adgey lead their respective age groups in the series standings while June McMinn who has had to take a break from Hill & Dale to concentrate on her Ironman 70.3 triathlon in Switzerland, remains in 2nd place in the F65 age group.
https://www.webscorer.com/190404?pg=results
CS Lewis 5 Mile Challenge, 07/06/24
North Down AC was well represented at the annual CS Lewis 5 mile race on Friday 7th June. Starting and finishing in CS Lewis Square in East Belfast by the statues of some of the characters made famous in CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, nearly 500 runners raced along the Connswater Greenway and around Victoria Park. The first club member back to see Aslan, Mr Tumnus and the White Witch was Aaron McAuley, 3rd M45 and 12th overall in 29:09. Chris Downey 32:04 was 27th while Clair Quigley showed no fatigue from her race in the Mournes the previous night to finish 3rd female in 33:12 in 42nd place and Sarah Gibson 34:17 rounded off the top 50 finishers. Luke Hamilton 35:02 had another excellent run in 35:02 while another runner who used the Hill & Dale race as her warm up , Glnis Boyle was 2nd F55 in 36:36. Sarah Wilson 37:04, Heather Beattie 38:09, Paula Simpson 38:17, Phil Archer 39:39, Julie Preston 43:05, Emma Hegarty 44:12 and Judith Gillespie 45:27 were followed by Klara Anderson 45:47, Helen Beattie 49:28, George Emerson 50:57, Sophie Hamilton 50:39 and Pat O’Driscoll 53:53.
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
NI & Ulster Age Group Championships, MPT
At the NI & Ulster age group championships over the weekend, there were some
great performances from club athletes. Sophie Rankin took part in a new event this
year, which was a 1k walk for U13-year-olds. Sophie won this event in a time of 6.07.
It was also a good weekend for Caitlyn Dickenson who got two PBs having
completed the 800/1500m double in the U14 girls. In the 800m she finished in 2.38,
whilst in the 1500m she recorded a time of 5.40. In the U15boys, Ethan Constable
lowered his 1500m PB to 4:43.54 and in the same race James Blease finished in
5.19.38.
In the U16 boys, Alex Downey doubled up with a 2:12.09 PB at 800m and 4:30.25 at
1500m. In the U17 girls, Holly Blease was just outside her PB with 5:19.09 in the
1500m. In the U18 boys, Ollie Playfair got his 1500m PB down to 4:21.56 (finishing
4th ). Ethan Isles took double silver in the U19 800m (2.00.08) and 1500m (4:12.58)
in tactical races, with Luke McDowell lowering his 800m PB to 2:04.88 (finishing
4th ) in the same 800m. Also in the U17 girls, Anna Moran took gold at Javelin
(25.60m PB) and silver at Long Jump (4.91m PB) along with a 29.29s clocking over
200m.
Caoimhe Fenlon set PBs in 3 disciplines qualifying for the All Ireland finals in July in each event; she was in the U15 80m hurdles with a PB of 13.27 and she took a bronze in the shot with another PB of 9.83m. Her 3rd PB came in the long jump where she took silver with a new PB of 4.70m.
