weekly roundup 03/05/26 Rachel McCann, Belfast Marathon, Milton Keynes Marathon & 10/05/26, Lagan Valley Super 6, Hill & Dale, Ards Runways Run, Watertown Wander, Belfast Classic, Samaria Gorge Half Marathon

03/05/26

Rachel McCann has secured qualification for the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing. A familiar figure in the Ireland vest, McCann joined teammates Sophie Becker, Arlene Crossan and Sharlene Mawdsley as the Irish women’s 4x400m relay team delivered an impressive performance in Botswana. The quartet won their heat in a time of 3:23.83, sealing their place at the global championships.

Thomas Steele delivered a strong performance at the Milton Keynes Marathon, finishing comfortably inside the three-hour mark with a time of 2:51.

North Down athletes delivered a series of standout performances at the Belfast City Marathon, with a strong contingent finishing well inside key time barriers.

Leading the club home was Dale Murray in an impressive 2:40:11, followed by crowd favourite Aaron Beggs, who built on his Boston Marathon exploits with a time of 2:48:53. Francis Marsh (2:53:08) and Matthew Norman (2:55:29) also impressed, as all four athletes finished comfortably under the three-hour mark.

Ben McCrory produced an excellent run on his marathon debut, clocking 3:06:33, just ahead of Chris Ritchie (3:06:45). Another debutant, Andy Wilson, also caught the eye with 3:10:11. Claire Tonry was the club’s first female finisher in 3:15:03, with Finn Johnston (3:15:57) close behind. Sarah Gibson completed a remarkable treble of marathons in 13 days, Boston, London and Belfast finishing in 3:18:42, narrowly ahead of Douglas Gordon (3:18:43).

Daniel Conway impressed on his first outing over the distance with 3:25:14, while Paul Carson recorded a personal best of 3:26:07, improving by 46 minutes. Max Bloomfield (3:29:49) rounded off the group of North Down athletes finishing under 3:30.

Seán Nickell (3:32:42), Jacob Sullivan (3:35:38) and Jeremy Tomalin (3:41:14) led the next wave of finishers. Nicola Ingram delivered a particularly strong debut performance, crossing the line in 3:43:43, while Ashley Dixon completed the club’s sub-four-hour finishers in 3:48:04.

Among the remaining runners, John Ferguson (4:02:34), Robin McLaughlin (4:05:35), and Stuart Anderson who paced a friend to 4:07:22, were joined by Adrienne Neil (4:07:32). Michael Stevenson took a break from coaching duties to finish in 4:24:59, followed by Richard Garrad (4:36:42), Kim McCourt (4:42:50), Cliff McCausland (5:06:17), Stefan Butler (5:27:13), Andy Belshaw (5:36:58) and Michael Cunningham (5:41:15). Hannah Dunne completed her debut marathon in 6:09:25.

There was further success in the Belfast City Marathon Relay, where the North Down men’s team of Steven Donegan, Garry Morrow, Jamie Toole, Michael Le Nu and Ricky Jordan secured an impressive third place with a combined time of 2:29:45.

The women’s “Diva Dashers” team—Noreen McCausland, Alison Wise, Jill Aicken, Valerie Blayney and Lynne Kerr—saw their winter training rewarded with a time of 4:04:41. Team Eventorz, comprising Christopher Ballentine, Marion Beattie, Sinead Mooney and Nicole Bell, completed the mixed relay in 3:46:13. Other club relay participants included Holly Blease, Sophie Hamilton and Heather Beattie, who featured in school teams representing Sullivan Upper, Regent House and Towerview Primary. Karen and Jenny keery running with Transplant Sport Northern Ireland, while Jill Eager also took part as part of the Tribe North Down and Ards team, underlining the club’s strong presence across all categories.

10/05/26

North Down AC athletes have once again been busy racing and challenging for top spots at track and field, road, trails and mountains at home and abroad, with wins and age group wins across the age groups.

The first event of the week was the second of Lagan Valley AC’s Super 6 series at the Mary Peters Track on Thursday evening.

In the U12 boys’ 400m, Harrison Mair was 2nd overall in 1.10.50. In the same race,Fox Neill was 7th in 1.17.89, whilst in the second race Thomas Close also took 7th place in 1.19.08.In the U14 boys’ 200m, Lewis Johnston was 5th in the first race in 32.90 and Woodie Cram was 7th in 32.95.

Robin Anderson was 12th in the U14 boys’ 1500m in 5:11.46.

In the U16 girls, Jessica Liddle had a busy evening, finishing 2nd in the high jump with a jump of 1.45m, 4th in the shot with a throw of 6.58m and 2nd in the second 200m race in 29.20. Kristyn Edwards finished 7th in the second 200m race in 30.35.

Caitlyn Dickenson was 8th in a PB of 5:09.49 in the U16 girls’ 1500m and Eve Sloan also recorded a PB as she finished 12th in 5:22.32.

In the U16 boys’ 1500m boys’ Seb Mair and Carter Rolston resumed their regular battle for positions with Seb finishing 2nd in a 4:26.76 PB 2 places ahead of Carter in 4:33.03. Isaac Hall was 14th in a 4:59.71 PB.

In the U18 men’s 200m, Tomas Montgomery was 2nd overall in 23.51. In the shot put Dominik Lipowski finished 1st with a throw of 13.05 and Jason Smith was 2nd, throwing 12.48m.

Emma Reid was dominant in the U18 women’s shot winning by some distance with a throw of 11.19m.

In the senior men’s 200m, Harrison Jamison was 2nd overall in 22.81 and Matthew Knight was 4th in 23.41.

In the senior men’s 1500m, Malte Kunze took the lead mid-race to push the pace after a pedestrian start by the leaders (5min pace at 300m), holding on for 4th in 4.30.79.

North Down AC were also well represented at the third of this season’s Hill & Dale races on Thursday evening. Following the cancellation of last week’s race at Slieve Martin in Rostrevor due to wildfires in the Mournes, 12 NDAC mountain runners were among the 306 athletes who lined up beside the Carrick Little car park on the Head Road and raced to the top of the 3rd highest mountain in the Mournes, the 747m summit of Slieve Binnian. Abby Andrews was once again the club’s first finisher in 38:41 followed by Seán Nickell 41:17, Clair Quigley 41:27, Lisa Tomalin 41:29, Kevin Mulligan 43:30, Donald Smith 43:51, Eibhlin Largey 44:36, June McMinn 44:33 and Sophie Hamilton 49:27. John Adgey was 1st M80 in 51:11 followed by Trevor Patterson 53:50 and Ian McCreary 57:16.

https://www.newcastleac.org/?p=18662

Ian McCreary, Trevor Patterson, Donald Smith, Clair Quigley, Seán Nickell Kevin Mulligan Hune McMinn, Lisa Tomalin, Sophie Hamilton

Despite tricky crosswinds that would have challenged the pilots of any light aircraft taking off from Ards Airfield, the North Down AC runners remained grounded at the Ards Runways Run on Friday evening; the first destination of the evening was the 2k race where North Down’s junior athletes were in dominant form. Daly Seaton was 1st in 6:41 followed by Casey Seaton who was 2nd in 6:48. Lewis Johnston 7:01 was 4th one place ahead of 2nd girl, Eve Sloan 7:06. Fox Neill 7:20 was 8th and Soren Neill was 27th in 8:41.

in the 5k Dean Willis was the first NDAC runner home in 9th place in 18:31 followed by David Massey 18:39, Sinon Boyle (1st M60) 18:43, Christophe Ballentine 18:58, Harrison Mair 19:27, Caitlyn Dickenson (2nd female) 19:48, Keith Gilmore 20:22, Paul Lynas 21:01, Lois Harkin 20:56, Jordan McClean 21:33, Sarah Wilson 21:56, Heather Beattie 22:23, Claire Scott 22:36 and Marion Beattie 22:48. Katlyn Massey 23:05, Beth Mulree 23:51, Denis Stewart 23:56, Catherine McKee 24:23, Christina Hannah 25:07, Emma Hegarty 25:37, Angela Fawthrop 25:51, Caroline Gilmore 26:26, Paula Simpson 26:39, Sinead Mooney 27:48, Jill Eager 27:49, Jonny Ballagh 29:03 and Jennifer Boal 29:12.

Thirteen more club members opted for the long haul route – Jonathan Gibson was 4th overall in the 10k in 36:22 followed by 1st M45 40:20, Andrew Scott 41:13, Sarah Benton 43:01, Abbie Small 44:55, Allister Paton 45:27, Hollie Massey 48:24, Ben Macrory 50:30, Michael Barr 51:28, Adrienne Neill 52:40, Jenna Jordan 52:40, Gabrielle Logan-Hermon 55:12 and Nicola Stevenson 55:11.

https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results

It was a return trip to the Mournes for some of NDAC’s Hill & Dale runners on Saturday as they took on a new race on the NI Mountain Running Association’s calendar, the Watertown Wander 10k. Starting and finishing at the site of the Mourne construction village of Watertown below the Silent Valley dam, the runners tackled a challenging 10k route on the trails to the left side of the dam.

Jodi Smith was the first finisher from North Down in 36th place in 1:11:50 followed by Abby Andrews 1:16:26, Deirdre Johnston 1:19:11, Claire Scott 1:27:21, June McMinn 1:30:19, John Adgey 2:04:13 and Trevor Patterson 2:04:14.

In the Belfast Classic meet on Saturday at MPT, the North Down AC middle distance group had mixed fortunes. Craig McMeechan was tripped from behind into a bad fall in the men’s A 1500m just as he was moving up the field. In the men’s C 1500m Thomas Patterson looked to have the win until the photo finish verdict put him second by 100th of a second but setting a new pb of 3:57.41. In the same race, Daniel Dines opened his track season with 4mins 10.07. In the 800m races, Dean opened up his track season with 2: 09.75. Rachel Gibson won the women’s B 1500m after taking the lead with 200m to go, setting her fastest time for two years with 4:36.07, some 2 seconds clear of second place.

Rachel McCann was 4th in the Womens International 400m in 53.03.

Matthew Knight 2nd 51.28 and Tomas Montgomery 3rd 51.70 both set PBs in the Mens D 400m race.

In the Mens C 1500m Richard Thomas Patterson was 2nd in 3:57.41 and Daniel Dines was 11th in 4:10.07.

The North Down AC mixed 4 x 400m relay team of Matthew Knight, Tomas Montgomery, Rachel Gibson and Isla Wiltshire were 4th (behind Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) in 3:54.14.

Isla Wiltshire handing over to Tomas Montgomery (pc John Glover)

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Cara Jeffrey and Luke Hamilton raced in the beautiful Samaria Gorge Half Marathon in Crete on Sunday. The gorge is the largest in Europe, a national park and a UNESCO world biosphere reserve. With more than 1400m of elevation in warm, humid conditions, Luke finished in 3:45:22 and Cara completed the gruelling event in 4:40:11.