Rachel Gibson, Tommy 5k, Seaham 02/11/25
The Co Durham town of Seaham’s annual 5k race on the Sunday before Remembrance Day takes in roads and trails and the seaside promenade, finishing at the Tommy sculpture at the War Memorial. Rachel Gibson was 1st lady, and 2nd overall, just 5 seconds behind the winner, in 19:03.
Jill Connolly & Claire Tonry, Tollymore Trail races, 08/11/25
There are few races more scenic at this time of year than the Tollymore Trail events. With 10k, half marathon, marathon and ultramarathon options runners are treated to spectacular autumnal forest trails along the riverside and its historic bridges as well as plenty of elevation in the foothills of the Mournes.
Clare Russell raced in the 10k completing the challenging loop in 1:05:31.
In the Half Marathon Claire Tonry was the first lady in 12th place overall in 1:39:21.
Jill Connolly raced 3 loops of the hilly half marathon course finishing first lady and 16th overall in the Ultramarathon in 6:29:15.
NI & Ulster Uneven AG XC Championships, 09/11/25
Finn Valley AC hosted the NI & Ulster Uneven Age Group Championships in Stranorlar, Co Donegal on Sunday on a fine day for cross country racing.
In the u11 boys, Daly Seaton was 1st, Casey Seaton 6th, Harrison Mair 12th, Rory McCullough 28th and Finn McCullough 33rd. These great performances led to the team coming first overall. In the u13 girls Molly Rankin was 71st and in the u13 boys Robin Anderson was 43rd and Adam Downey 77th.
Sophie Rankin was 8th, Coco Smith 20th, Catherine McBrinn 23rd, Eve Sloan 32nd and Caitlyn Dickenson 39th in the U15 girls race ensuring the North Down team finished 3rd.
In the U15 boys, Carter Rolston (7th) and Seb Mair (9th) booked their place on the Ulster team for the All-Ireland xc champs on 7th December. In the U17 girls, Maia Johnston moved through the field well for 17th with Freya Lowry 27th (of 50 finishers), while in the U19 girls Holly Blease came home 11th to qualify for Ulster team representation at the all-Ireland. In the U17 boys, over 4.5k, James Blease toughed it out for 54th with John Kinney 63rd.
In the men’s novice champs Kyle McLellan took on the battle for podium spots, finishing just 1 second behind the winner to take silver, followed by Aaron Beggs 21st, Dean Varley 42nd, Andy Lowry 55th and Luke Dobson 67th (with 89 finishing), bringing the North Down mens’ team home in 5th out of 14 teams.
In other cross country racing, Luke McDowell (representing Glasgow Uni H&H) finished 88th (of 412 finishers) in the Scottish 4k short-course XC champs at Lanark racecourse on Saturday 8th, making a big improvement on his 172nd place in 2024.
Athens Marathon, 09/12/25
Donald Smith headed off on a Greek Odyssey to the Athens Marathon to run the original marathon route from Marathon to Athens. Legend has it that after the Athenians defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490BC, Pheidippides ran from the battle site to the Acropolis to announce victory to the Athenian rulers and declared, “Victory! Rejoice we conquer,” before dropping dead. His epic run was commemorated in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and the Athens Marathon now follows his route from the battle site to the finish line in the Panathenaic Stadium. In challenging running conditions along the hilly route Donald completed the marathon, which the race organisers call “the authentic,” in 3:58:20.
