weekly roundup 21/07/24. Sophie Rankin – Cork City Triathlon, Dale Murray wins Portaferry 10 miler, Sea 2 Sky, Spelga Skyline, Cameron McCracken SIAB, Carmarthen, Irish Runner 10 Mile Road Race, National Outdoor B Championships & Inter Club Relay, National Outdoor Juvenile Championships

Sophie Rankin, Cork City Triathlon 14/07/24

Sophie Rankin racing for Down Triathlon Club took part in the Triathlon Ireland Youth Series (12-13 year old race) at the Cork City Triathlon last Sunday. She completed the 400m swim in the River Lee followed by a fast and fast 8k cycle and what was supposed to be a 2.2k run around the Pairc Uí Chaoimh GAA stadium in 36:38. She led the race out of T2 and held her lead until the last 200m of the run course which frustratingly turned out to be 2.5k. Despite a superb 8:56 run split was pipped to the line by 2 triathletes , one of whom is the Irish XC champion, who both produced incredible 7:51 runs. Sophie finished 3rd in her age group and 2nd girl.

https://www.sportsplits.com/races/cork-city-triathlon-2024/events/11

Sophie and the other triathletes from across the island of Ireland had the opportunity to spectate and be inspired by fantastic performances from elite triathletes from across the world racing on the same course immediately before her race in the Europe Triathlon Cup. North Down AC’s Donald Smith was one of the Europe Triathlon technical officials at the international senior and junior races.

Portaferry 10 Mile Road Race, 16/07/24

The annual Portaferry 10 miler is a favourite race for many North Down AC members; the traditional midweek evening slot as part of the town’s gala week draws runners from far and wide to run a testing, undulating loop starting and finishing in Portaferry and taking in much of the beautiful surrounding countryside.

Dale Murray won the race in a fantastic time of 55:02 while second place went to club mate Ashley Dixon 55:26. Thomas Steele 59:30 joined them in the top 10, winning a prize as the first local. Simon Seaton 1:02:50 won the M45 age group. Sarah Gibson was the first lady home from the club, taking 2nd W50 honours in 1:08:38. Clair Quigley 1:09:11 was chased to the line by Eamonn O’Reilly 1:09:14 followed by Steve Wise 1:14:01, Luke Hamilton 1:15:56 and Sarah Wilson 1:16:43. It would take a photo finish to separate Zara Fulton and Olivia Cumming with identical gun times and chip times of 1:20:29. Matt Ormesher, battling injury, finished in 1:20:43 ahead of Paula Simpson 1st W55 1:24:05, Claire Scott 1:25:12, Alison Wise 1:45:49 and Noreen McCausland 1:46:22.

The 10 miler includes a relay option with the changeover point at half way; North Down AC were well represented in the relay results too with Declan Magee making up the second half of the winning team. Flo Mada and Declan won the relay in 59:36 with the second placed team of Alasdair Mair and Mickael Lenu not far behind in 1:00:04. The winning ladies relay team of Helen Byers and Lisa Tomalin were 10th overall in 1:10:03 while Team Husky – Sophie Hamilton and Cara Jeffrey left Loki the husky behind on a warm evening to complete the course in 1:42:12.

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

Sea 2 Sky, 19/07/24

Event organisers Born 2 Run’s latest race was the Sea 2 Sky 5k and 10k in Newcastle on Friday evening. The 10k started and finished on the seaside town’s promenade while the 5k started in Donard Forest and finished back in Newcastle with the 10k. As the name suggests both routes involved plenty of climbing while recent rain left the course much tougher than usual as athletes were slowed to single file to pass a particularly tricky, muddy section.

Isla Wiltshire completed the 5k in 25:31.

Sarah Wilson was the first north Down AC runner to finish the 10k in 50:45, a course PB and taking 3rd F40 in the process. Keith Gilmore was next to finish in 52:08 followed by Joy Neilly 57:05, Emma Hegarty 1:14:54 and Caroline Gilmore 1:22:36.

https://www.born2runevents.com/sea2sky-results/

Spelga Skyline, 20/07/24

4 more North Down AC athletes headed to the Mournes on Saturday for the Spelga Skyline race, taking in 9 summits over approximately 23km and 1650m of elevation around the skyline as seen from the start/finish area at Spelga Dam. On a good day runners might have enjoyed the fantastic views from Slievenamuck, Meelmore, Loughshannagh, Muck, Slievemoughanmore, Pierce’s Castle, Rocky, Hen and Cock, however rain, low cloud and boggy ground conditions sapped energy from the racer’s legs as they relied on their navigational skills to progress around the long, technical course.

Mark Weir was the first NDAC runner to finish in 4:17:42 with Clair Quigley 1st F40 in 4:28:11. Gareth Hardy finished in 4:47:31 and Trevor Patterson in 6:32:04.

https://www.nimra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Spelga-Skyline-2024-Results.pdf?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2yWPEaDL7vOr7kcIAKCUUQikgzYJdbaVzgj2LWdtumNhIojKe4x0heDtY_aem_6TpyzO4k4UxtTMHF3HI1ww

Cameron McCracken, SIAB Carmarthen, 20/07/24

Cameron McCracken was representing Team Ireland in the 100m hurdles at the Schools International Athletics Board meeting on Saturday 20th July. The track and field competition for elite school age athletes from across the British Isles is hosted by each of the home nations in rotation and this year it was the turn of Welsh Athletics to host the meet in Carmarthen. Cameron finished 5th in 13.63.

https://wales.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2024/GBR/siab/event/T16/1/1/

Irish Runner 10 Mile Road Race, Phoenix Park, 21/07/24

4 more North Down AC runners travelled to Dublin on Sunday 21st July for the Irish 10 mile championships, producing fine performances as they raced around Phoenix Park . First of the quartet to finish was Sarah Gibson, 4th F50 in 1:09:38. Helen Byers was 5th F45 in 1:12:56 while Roberta Dornan stepped up from track races last weekend to finish 14th in the same age group in 1:19:38. Paula Simpson was 9th F55 in 1:26:36.

https://www.myrunresults.com/events/biofreeze_irish_runner_10_mile_2024/4985/results

National Outdoor B Championships & Inter Club Relay 20/07/24 & National Outdoor Juvenile Championships Day 2, Tullamore 21/07/24

http://results.athleticsireland.ie/results_20072024/textfile.txt

http://results.athleticsireland.ie/results_21072024/textfile.txt

It was a busy weekend in Tullamore, as the Irish Age Group relays were held in conjunction with the Irish National B Championships on Saturday 20th and Day 2 of the Irish Age Groups took place on Sunday 21st.

The standout performance of the weekend came in the U15 Girls high jump, where Paige Shaw continues to go from strength to strength as she comfortably took the gold medal with a superb clearance of 1.62m, which was not only a massive new lifetime best and U15 club record, but also propelled her to =8th in the UK U15 rankings.

Jamie Moffatt was back to his best following a recent injury and performed very well, despite severe delays to the programme and some persistent rain. After running 10.74s (+2.1w) in his heat, he went even quicker again in the final, where he was a comfortable winner, taking gold in a new championship record of 10.70s (+2.1w). Unfortunately, he was denied a new PB as both times were marginally wind-assisted.

Curtis Hughes had the unenviable task of running two 400m races within hours of each other, and finished second in his heat of the U17 Boys 400m in 53.75s to qualify comfortably for the final where he was unlucky to miss out on a medal and had to settle for 4th in a time of 52.42s.

Emma Reid had a very consistent series of throws in the U15 Girls shot putt (2.72kg) and her best effort of 9.98m meant she finished in 5th place. Ben Kirk continues to make big improvements in his first season competing for the club and, once again, improved his PB to 11.41s in his heat of the U17 Boys 100m and lowered it again to 11.37s when finishing 8th in the final. Conor Adair wasn’t far off his PB when he came 5th in his heat of the U19 400m but his time of 52.22s wasn’t quite enough to progress to the final.

For the first time in many years, NDAC entered teams in the relay championships, and the U17 Boys team of Ryan Hamilton, Josh Liggett, Curtis Hughes & Ben Kirk had great success, narrowly missing silver by 0.1sec when winning bronze in the 4x100m with a quick time of 45.48s. Later in the day, the same quartet took an emphatic gold in the 4x400m relay with another excellent time of 3:43.06.

Meanwhile, the U15 Girls relay team of Nyla Hughes, Rachel Chacko, Lucy Kernaghan & Erin Coard ran 55.37s to qualify for the final of the 4x100m, where they finished 6th in a time of 56.63s.

The Irish National B Championships are for anyone who didn’t qualify for the Irish Age Groups. Nyla Hughes finished 4th in her heat of U14 Girls 80m in a time of 11.57s (just missing out on a place in the final) and 10th in the long jump with a best effort of 4.07m, while Sophie Rankin finished 7th in her heat of the U14 600m & 18th overall, in a time of 2:04.98.

U15 4x100m team