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weekly roundup 20/10/24, Galway Marathon, Saintfield 10k, Palma Half Marathon & 9k, Bobby Rea International XC, Crater Rim Ultra, World Triathlon Championship Finals

Les Wilkinson, Galway Marathon 05/10/24

I missed this one a couple of weeks ago.

Les Wilkinson ran the Galway marathon on 5th October. The looped marathon course began at the Claddagh in Galway and followed laps through Salthill and around Galway Golf Club before finishing back in the city centre. Les finished 1st M60 in 3:50:41.

https://rungalwaybay.com/results/

Saintfield 10k, 20/10/24

Several club members took on the Saintfield 10k on a blustery Sunday afternoon after an early morning course inspection to ensure that Storm Ashley posed no danger to the competitors. The undulating 10k loop headed south from the town into a headwind before runners got a bit of a breeze on their backs on the way home. First of the North Down AC runners to finish was Tom Agnew in 15th place in 41:06, Steven Boyd 43:45, Sarah Connolly 46:00 and Sarah Wilson 47:38 were the next runners back to Saintfield. Marion Beattie 50:47 and Paula Simpson 53:05 were followed by Nicole Bell 1:05:52 who crossed the line 1 second ahead of Jill Eager, with Pat O’Driscoll also taking part. 

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

 

Palma Half Marathon & 9k, 20/10/24

A number of North Down AC members swapped the weather warnings at home, and the prospect of a muddy cross country race, for guaranteed sunshine in Mallorca where they lined up for the Palma Half Marathon and 9k races on Sunday.

First NDAC finisher in the half marathon, and 1st M60, was Philip Mulligan in 1:29:20 ahead of Steve Wise 1:43:24, followed by Claire Scott 1:45:13, Matt Ormesher 1:49:03 and Jill Aiken 1:53:12.

Eight club members raced in the 9k event with Catherine Roberts first to finish in 43:34 ahead of Lynne Kerr 52:49, Ian McCreary 55:00, Gordon Matchett 55:51, Alison Wise 56:24, George Emerson 01:01:18, Heather Matchett 01:02:08 and Mags Mathieson 01:02:26.

https://sportmaniacs.com/en/races/tui-palma-marathon-mallorca-2024/6714f4b2-5cc4-43df-8f08-4ee9ac1f2cf6/results#rankings

NI & Ulster Even age group Championships & Bobby Rea International XC, 20/10/24

This year’s annual NI & Ulster Even Age Group Championships and the Bobby Rea Cross Country race, including the Northern Ireland International ross Country were held at the Billy Neill MBE Country Park on Sunday 20th October.

The Bobby Rea Memorial Cross Country is held annually in memory of the former Chairman of the Athletics Northern Ireland, coach and founding member of Abbey AC, who passed away in November of 2006. The race is one of the fixtures that are part of the Athletics NI Cross Country League.

North Down AC’s youngest athletes put in excellent performances in the age group races with Daly Seaton finishing 1st in the U10B race over 1000m and leading home Harrison Mair, Casey Seaton and Finn McCullough to ensure 1st place for the NDAC under 10 boys’ team.

Daly Seaton

Robin Anderson came 6th in the U12 boys to qualify for the all Ireland championships next month. The U12G team of Rose Reavy, Molly Rankin, Alan Santos and Isla McQuillan finished 12th over 1500m while the U14G, Coco Smith, Sophie Rankin, Caitlyn Dickenson and Eve Sloan were 6th in their 2500m race. 

Robin Anderson

Full results of the NDAC  U16boys were Alex Downey 8th, James Blease 43rd, John Kinney 54th (great debut race in club colours) (69 finished). In the U18 girls, Holly Blease was 19th, Becka Laffin 27th and Anya Phillips 33rd  (in just her 2nd race and first season in club colours). We were just one scorer short to score a team in either, but hopefully we’ll have more teams finishing next year. Alex, Holly, Becka and Anya all qualify for the all Ireland XC on Sun 17th November in Irvinestown. 

https://ani.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2024/GBR/bobby-rea/scores/

In the 6k senior women’s race Katie Moore was the first NDAC finisher in 24:30 (16th ) followed by Sarah Grant 25:30, Rachel Gibson 25:46, Jodi Smith 27:39, Valerie McDonough 27:57 and Clair Quigley 27:58. Fiona mcVicar 28:45, Lindsay Doulton 29:02, Roberta Dornan 29:40, Nicola Ingram 29:44, Olivia Cumming 29:45 and Heather Beattie 31:12 were followed by 1st W65 June McMinn 31:15. Ruth Warmington 32:58, Karen Jerry 35:41 and Kim McCourt 35:59. Sophia Hamilton was 1st U18 in 36:14, outrunning her mum, Cara Jeffrey 37:46 and Jennifer Johnston 43:50.

In the senior men’s 8k race Vincent Mutai, Nick Griggs and Jamie Battle were chased hard by local club athletes with Craig McMeechan the first NDAC finisher in 16th place in 27:02. Daniel Dines 28:27, James Budde 28:52, Alex Donald 30:31, Jamie McMeechan 30:49 and Francis Marsh 31:47. Andy Lowry 31:54, Dennis Scott 32:02, Michael Le Nu 32:35, David McKeague 33:02, Colin Walker 34:30, Tim Cooke 36:45, Luke Hamilton 37:13, Nick Anderson 38:34 and Robert Martin 40:04 all ran strongly too. 

Daniel Dines

Dennis Scott – all the way to the line

Jamie Coulter-Smyth wins Crater Rim Ultra, Christchurch, 20/10/24

Jamie Coulter-Smyth tackled one of the classic Christchurch trail runs, opting for the 22k Kiwi Challenge – a tough trail run over the Port Hills and spectacular scenery of the Crater Rim, including more than 750m of climbing. Despite a fall and the lead group taking a wrong turn, adding several hundred metres to their overall distance, Jamie dug deep to hold onto 1st place in 1:46:25.

https://www.craterrimtrailrun.com/results.html

 

World Triathlon Championship Finals, Torremolinos Andalucia
 
Simon Boyle qualified for the World Triathlon Championship Finals in his first season of triathlon and travelled to Spain to compete in both the Sprint and Olympic distances.
In the sprint distance on Thursday comprising a 750m swim, a 20k bike ride and a 5krun, Simon finished in 1.26.34, 64th out of 115 in his age group
🏊‍♂️ 18.12
🚵‍♂️ 38.28
🏃 23.24
Simon didn’t have much time to recover as he was competing in the Olympic distance on Saturday. This comprised a 1.5k swim, a 40k bike ride and a 10k run. Simon completed the three events in 2.47.41.
🏊‍♂️ 32.41
🚵‍♂️ 1.22.20
🏃 45.05