North Down AC were the best represented club at the annual Scrabo Hill Race on Thursday evening, and definitely the best represented at the prize giving afterwards! There were 96 finishers on the technical 2 lap course around Killynether Woods and the lower part of Scrabo Hill with long ascents and short, technical descents over the 7.2k course, before the second lap turned runners right onto the final climb to the finish line at the tower.
Jonathan Gibson was the first NDAC finisher in 6th place in 31:51, winning 1st M40 in the process, 1 place ahead of club mate David McKeague 32:15 who was 1st M45. Finn Johnson 32:29 joined them in the top 10 in 9th place. Richard McCullough 33:49 was 2nd M40 followed by Jason McMinn 35:04, David Massey 37:55 and another AG winner, Simon Boyle who was 1st M60 in 38:02. Jamie Andrews 38:53 was the first finisher from the Andrews household and 1st M55 in 38:53. Lee Gibson ran 40:06 ahead of Abby Andrews 40:45 who was 4th female and the second member of the household to win the V55 age group! Mitchell Brown 40:54 was ahead of Donald Smith 43:21, Claire Scott 43:25, Sarah Wilson 43:59 and Helen Byers 44:32. Heather Beattie continued the age group wins taking 1st F40 in 45:17 and June McMinn rounded off a successful evening for the club in one of the toughest local races by taking 1st F65 in 46:24.
https://www.nimra.org.uk/index.php/scrabo-hill-race-2026/
The sixth and final meeting of Lagan Valley AC’s Super 6 series took place on a
slightly cold Thursday evening at the Mary Peters track in Belfast. A large number of
club members took part and there were some great performances by North Down
AC athletes.
In the u10 boys’ 600m, Cillian Armstrong picked up a gold medal by finishing 1st in
1.58.14. In the same race, Soren Neill finished 7th in 2.21.53. Cillian also got a gold
medal in the long jump, with a jump of 3.35m, whilst Soren came 9 h (2.44m).
In the u12 boys’ 400m, Harrison Mair topped off a great series by winning in a time
of 1:12.24. Also running was Fox Neill, who was 8 h in 1:16.98. Fox also took part in
the long jump, finishing 11th with a jump of 2.80m. In the u12 girls’ 400m, Isla Little
finished 12th in 1.19.74. Isla also competed in the long jump, coming 5th with a jump
of 3.25m.
In the u14 girls’ 100m, Megan Walker came 2nd in the third race in a time of 14.12,
which was the 4 h fastest time overall. In the u14 boys’ mile, Robin Anderson was 6th
in 5:27.63.
In the u16 girls’ 100m, Eva Dickson was 4th fastest overall in 13.96. Also taking part
in this event were Jessica Liddle (14.12) and Eve Sloan (14.90). Jessica then picked
up a gold medal in the high jump with a jump of 1.55m. In the mile race, Lucy Brown
was 5th in a PB of 5:36.28, whilst Caitlyn Dickenson was 8th (PB of 5:51.48) and Eve
Sloan was 13th (PB of 6:15.87). In the u16 boys’ high jump, Jago Campbell made it a
club double by winning with a jump of 1.55m. In the mile it was a silver medal for Seb
Mair, who finished in a PB of 4:52.02. Isaac Hall was 8th in a PB of 5:20.64.
In the u18 men’s hammer, Dominik Lipowski won the silver medal with a PB throw of
45.72m. Dominik also competed in the high jump finishing 5th with a jump of
1.40m. Tom Ramsey competed in the 100m, finishing 7th in 14.53.
In the senior men’s mile, the club picked up another gold medal when Ethan Isles
won the race in 4:36.39. Euan Monro finished the 100m in a PB of 11.77, which
was the 5th fastest time. Also running was Harry Jackson (12.03) who also took
part in the high jump, finishing 2nd with a jump of 1.50m.
A huge thanks to Lagan Valley AC for putting on this series of meetings.
The Campus 5k around the University of Ulster’s Coleraine campus always produces fast times around the flat course and 3 different races allowed runners to select the most suitable race for their estimated race times. 3 North Down men raced in the elite sub-18 minute race with Craig McMeechan finishing 4th in 14:46, Daniel Dines 8th in 15:15 and Josh McDowell was 51st in 16:56.
In race 2, the 18-22 minute event, Sarah Connolly smashed her 5k PB, breaking 20 minutes for the first time, in 19:48.
In the junior 1 mile event preceding the 5k races Lewis Johnston was 3rd overall and 1st u14 male in 5:30.
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
Friday night also saw a hillier 5k race in the grounds of Stormont. More than 400 runners, including executive ministers and MLAs joined runners from corporate teams in the charity event organised by the NI Chamber of Commerce, which raised over £7000 for the Cancer Fund for Children.
Paul Lynas was the first NDAC finisher in 21:44 followed by Andrew Muir 22:00, Stefan Butler 26:55 and Charlie Miller 30:11.
United in a common cause, MLAs Caiomhe Archibald, Andrew Muir, Robbie Butler and Brian Kingston
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
All attention turned to the Antrim Coast on Sunday with 2 events attracting large fields; the Antrim Coast Half Marathon following a flat loop through the town before an out and back along the coast to the turnaround point at Ballygally. The field of top class international runners were led by Kenya’s Isaia Lasoi who won the half in an incredible 58:26. Jamie Coulter-Smyth was the club’s first finisher in 54th place with a huge PB of 2 minutes 59 seconds in a time of 1:10:15. Garry Morrow was 80th in 1:12:33, 3 places ahead of Craig McMeechan 1:12:50. Jamie McMeechan ran 1:16:40 and Jonathan Gibson also broke 80 minutes in 1:19:20. Ricky Jordan 1:20:52 and Kris McKee 1:22:17 were followed by Jacob Sullivan 1:38:03. Sarah Wilson was the first North Down female in 1:43:30. Despite being sick during the race, Matt Ormesher managed a creditable 1:47:06 in less than ideal circumstances, Olivia Cumming finished in 1:47:35. Dave Press crossed the line in 1:58:41 and Graham Massey completed his first half marathon in 1:59:01. Gareth Jackson ran 2:04:46 and Angela Fawthrop completed the course in 2:07:58.
https://myrunresults.com/events/antrim_coast_half_marathon_2026/6218/results?class=half%20marathon
Oliver Playfair was once again the first of the club’s runners to reach the finish line at Storming the Castle. After running through Carrickfergus and the Marine Highway, Oliver stormed over the line at Carrickfergus Castle in 5th place in 33:37. David Massey finished comfortably under 40 minutes in 39:34 followed by Daniel Clarke 42:36. Sandra Hall took 1:21 off her previous best 10k time to set a new PB of 49:50 ahead of Mick Hall 52:32 and Heather Beattie 54:44. One second separated Gabrielle Logan-Hermon 55:56 and Nicola Stevenson 55:57 and Heather Beattie rounded off the NDAC finishers in 1:05:39.
In the 2k event ahead of the 10k, Lucy Kane was 2nd in 8.26.
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
Lucy Kane