In another packed week of events NDAC athletes have excelled on the track and at throwing events as well as racing distances between 5k and ultramarathons!
Lagan Valley AC’s Fab 5 Series of track and field meetings have become the Super 6 Series, the first of which took place on a cold, but dry Thursday evening at the Mary Peters track in Belfast. As always, there were some great performances by North Down AC athletes.
In the u12 boys 100m, Harrison Mair was 1st in the 3rd race in 15.00, and finished 2nd overall. Thomas Close was 4th in the 2nd race in a time of 16.81. Thomas also took part in the shot put, coming 10th with a throw of 4.15m.
In the u14 boys 800m, Lewis Johnston was 13th in 2:44.51, whilst Woodie Cram was 19th in 2:56.08.
In the u16 boys 100m, Travis Truedale was 1st in the 1st race and 1st overall in 12.17. Also running in the 1st race was Jago Campbell, who finished 6th in 14.60. In the 800m, Seb Mair was 1st in 2:13.30 with a huge PB of 11 seconds and Carter Rolston was 6th in 2:18.20. There was another 1st place in the long jump for Zac Fox who won the event with a jump of 6.02m.
In the u16 girls 100m, Catherine McBrinn was 3rd in the 3rd race in a PB of 14.09, whilst Eve Sloan also ran a PB to finish 5th in the 2nd race in 14.60. Catherine and Eve also ran in the 800m, finishing 3rd in 2:24.38 and 10th in 2:32.39 respectively. Also running was Caitlyn Dickenson, who was 9th in 2:30.84. In the long jump, Nyla Hughes was 4th with a jump of 4.22m.
In the u18 men’s 100m, Ben McCracken was 5th in the 1st race in 12.39. Ethan Constable was 2nd in the 800m in 2.08.90, whilst in the u18 women’s 800m, Maia Johnston was 7th in a PB of 2:34.56. In the u18 men’s long jump, Dominik Lipowski was 2nd with a jump of 4.85m. Dominik also competed in the hammer, where he won the event with a PB throw of 45.29m.
In the senior men’s 100m, Harrison Jamison and Euan Monro were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the 1st race and overall. Harrison ran in 11.55 and Euan in 11.80. In the 800m, Josh McDowell was 9th in 2.10.29. In the long jump it was 1st and 2nd for Roger McMullan (6.32m) and Harry Jackson (5.94m) respectively. In the senior women’s 100m, Eve Walsh Dann was 4th in 14.91. Eve also took part in the long jump, finishing 3rd with a jump of 2.79m.
Some of the throwers were back in action on Sunday at the Irish National Spring Throws in Dublin. In the Men’s 5kg shot put Daniel Lipowshi was 3rd (and 1stU17) with a throw of 12.88m and Jason Smith was 5th and 3rd U17 throwing 11.41m. Emma Reid threw 36.06m to finish 4th in the women’s 1kg discus and Dominic Lipowski was 3rd in the men’s 1.5kg discus with 46.59m.
The Larne 10 Miler attracted a large group of North Down AC runners on Saturday with a few testing themselves along the coast road ahead of upcoming marathons as well as taking on the challenges of running along the windy coast road. Francis Marsh was the first of the club’s finishers in 21st place in 1:00:26, maintaining his clean sweep of M60 race wins. Melissa Eccles was the first NDAC female finisher in 56th place and 1st F35. Daniel Conway 1:08:54, Fiona McQuillan 1:12:16, Clair Quigley 1:13:47, Matt Ormesher 1:15:24 and Sarah Wilson 1:16:32 were followed by Emma Fox 1:18:39, Nicola Ingram 1:18:53, Heather Beattie 1:21:34, Beth Mulree 1:27:35, James Gage 1:27:52 and Emma Hegarty 1:33:31.
The Sperrin Harriers Half Marathon on Sunday marked the Co Tyrone club’s 20th anniversary and 2 North Down athletes made their way to the undulating roads around Cookstown to join in the celebrations. Marion Beattie completed the half in 1:53:48 and Vicky McKelvey ran 1:54:43.
Club President and ultrarunner, Mark Weir ignored the various public transport options between Northern Ireland’s 2 largest cities and the bypass around Dungiven to tackle We Run Wild’s Belfast to Derry race on Saturday. Starting from CS Lewis Square the course took the back roads through Randalstown, Castledawson, Tobermory, Moneyneany and Claudy to the Craigavon Bridge. Mark finished the 73 mile course in 4th place in 14:37.
Several more of the club’s runners were up for a wild challenge at the Belfast Zoo 5k on Sunday morning. The hilly course on the slopes of Cavehill past the animal enclosures saw Carter Rolston finish 3rd in 20:11. Caitlyn Dickenson was 16th overall and 3rd female in 23:26, 1 place ahead of Sarah Connolly 23:29. Sarah Gibson 24:55, Dennis Scott 27:41, Paula Simpson 33:14 and Michael Barr 33:54 all finished without monkeying around.
Spring marathon season has well and truly arrived and Jonathan Gibson raced the Brighton Marathon on Sunday, battling strong winds on the south coast to finish in 2:58:56.
Dougie Gordon and Donald Smith enjoyed visiting Paris in the springtime for the Paris Marathon. The scenic marathon route started on the Champs Élysées and provided runners with a sightseeing trip past the city’s iconic landmarks before finishing in beside the Arc de Triomphe. Dougie finished in 3:15:23 and Donald battled an injury to finish in 3:50:18.