In another packed week of events club members have been busy racing in cross country and road races between 5k and 50k
On a cold and windy St. Patrick’s Day more than 40 club members lined up outside Belfast City Hall for the annual Spar Craic 10k, following a route through the city centre into west Belfast and back through Botanic to the finish line in Ormeau Park. Established in 2015 with significant input from our own David Seaton the event has quickly grown from an initial 350 competitors to one which sells out all 6000 available places.
Matty McParland was the first North Down AC runner to finish in 14th place in 33:45. Dale Murray was next in 19th in 34:26. Jason McMinn 36:43, Steven Donegan 36:53 and Thomas Steele 37:16 all came well inside the top 100 and Ben McCrory 39:07 and Colin Walker 39:25 finished comfortably under 40 minutes. Courtney Thompson 40:38 was NDAC’s first female finisher followed by Christopher Ballentine 40:42, Mitchell Brown 42:02 and Jordan McClean 42:11. Stephanie Graham missed a PB by 3 seconds in 42:20 with Chris Couchman 42:23, Jacob Sullivan 42:48, Keith Gilmore 43:06, Paul Lynas 45:09, Erin McConnell 45:10, Max Bloomfield 45:55, Abbie Small 46:03, Sarah Benton 47:46, Colin Hennessey 50:07, Pamela Phillips 50:11, Beth Mulree 51:18, Donald Smith 51:25 Zara Fulton 52:00, Graham Massey 52:18, Dave Press 53:30 and Christina Hanna 52:45 the next club finishers. Mick Hall 53:24, Karl Scott 53:26, Sandra Hall 53:55 and Phil Archer 53:56 had close finishes ahead of Catherine McKee 54:18, Emma Hegarty 54:54, John Thompson 55:37, Elaine McDonnell 56:11, Andrea Green 56:12 and Stefan Butler 56:44. Jennifer Brook 1:01:52, Jill Eager 1:02:07, Charlie Miller 1:02:40, Caroline Gilmore 1:06:21 and Ian McCreary 1:09:18 were followed across the finish line by the man who started at the back and passed more than 400 runners, Pat O’Driscoll 1:15:11.
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
On Saturday Seán Nickell raced in the Anglo Celtic Plate in Limerick. In addition to the 100k race including national teams from the home nations, the event included a 50k race. Seán finished 6th overall in the 50k in 4:27:22 winning the NI & Ulster 50k.
https://www.popupraces.ie/race/31st-anglo-celtic-plate/
The Dunboyne 10k in Co Meath is a landmark event in the Irish racing calendar, attracting a strong field of athletes. Francis Marsh and Tara McDonough were the 2 North Down AC representatives among approximately 1600 finishers. Francis finished 111th and 1st M60 in 35:52 and Tara was 12th female in a PB of 36:23.
https://myrunresults.com/events/dunboyne_55th_road_race_10k_2026/6087/results
