weekly roundup 27/07/25: Portaferry 10 mile race, Dee 5k, Giant’s Trail 10k, Track & Field – Watford Open Meet, Irish Masters t&f, Lakeland 100, Hillsborough Festival of Running

Portaferry 10 Mile Road Race, 22/07/25

Portaferry’s annual gala week provides a whole range of community activities and entertainment for all ages, but the highlight for North Down AC runners is always the 10 mile road race. Starting and finishing in Portaferry the course loops through the town before runners are treated to fantastic sea views and rolling hills. As ever the club was well represented with runners tackling the 2 x 5 mile relay as well as the 10 mile race.

In the relay NDAC’s Maol Larkin and his running partner David Conlon were first in 58:22 with Andy Lowry and seven Donegan finishing 2nd in 58:40. Team Cirque de Sore Legs comprising Nicola Downey and Alex Downey were the first mixed team and 7th overall in 1:07:47. Lindsay Doulton and Valerie McDonough were the 3rd female team in 1:10:34 narrowly pipping clubmates Lisa Tomalin and Helen Byers 1:10:54 to the finish line. George Emerson and Joanne Scott rounded off the NDAC relay teams in 1:38:34.

Ashley Dixon was 2nd in the 10 miler in 54:13 with Kyle McLellan 55:24 3rd. Ross Murray 57:56 was 8th and Finn Johnson 59:13, 1st M45 Declan Magee 59:40 and Aaron Beggs 59:56 all ran under 60 minutes, with Aaron taking an incredible 12 minutes and 12 seconds off his previous best time!

Colin Walker 1:04:37 ran a 3 minute PB with Eamonn O’Reilly 1:09:53 and Keith Gilmore 1:12:56 ahead of Donald Smith who also took his PB down by over 3 minutes. Luke Hamilton’s 1:14:47 and Matt Ormesher’s 1:15:33 were both 5 minute PBs. Stephen Wise 1:16:24 was 1st M65 followed by Sarah Wilson 1:17:24, Una Kilmartin 1:18:29, Roberta Dorman 1:19:29 and Allister Patton 1:19:48. Sophie Hamilton was 1st F20 in 1:27:55 in her first 10 mile race. Emma Hegarty 1:28:45, Chris Connolly 1:29:32 were followed in by Cara Jeffrey who set a benchmark of 1:35:04 in her new age group!

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

Steve Wise, Eamonn I’Reilly, Cara Jeffrey, Matt Ormesher, Sophie Hamilton, Joanne Scott, George Emerson, Luke Hamilton, Donald Smith

beachfront action shots: PC Richard Cowan

Donaghadee 5k, 23/07/25

A large contingent of North Down racers headed 6 miles from Bangor to Donaghadee for the Dee Runners annual 5k race through the town. Athletes lined up on the pier and followed a 2 lap course around the Commons, lapping the lighthouse at the end of the first lap and finishing outside the Community Centre.

Simon Seaton was the first NDAC finisher in 8th place in 17:49 and Robert Duncan was 12th in 18:35 2 places ahead of Christopher Ritchie 18:42. Sebastian Mair 18:51 and Carter Rolston 18:54 were 16th and 17th. Clair Quigley was 3rd female in 21:11 followed by Colin Lowry 21:33, Abbie Small 21:45, Paul Lynas 22:03 and Sarah Connolly 22:09. Lindsay Doulton 22:26 showed no fatigue from Portaferry. NDAC spectators had high hopes of a podium spot for Andrew Muir, with rumours that bib numbers reflected race seeding, however the man wearing #1 explained that he was merely fastest on the keyboard when entries opened, posting a still speedy 22:30. Gerard Adair 22:39, Toby Eager 23:52, Michael Cunningham 25:01, Courtney Thompson 25:32, Nicola Ingram and Ralph Ingram both 25:57 were closely followed by Selina Patchy 26:453, Dave Press 27L02, Stefan Butler 27:16, Liesl Parker 27:33, Phil Archer 27:37 and Christina Steele 27:39. Lorraine Lowry 28:41, Jill Eager 28:43, Steph Gamble 29:12 were followed by another Portaferry relay finisher George Emerson 31:29. Charlie Miller 31:59, Donna Sinclair 32:07 and Helen Beattie 32:01 were followed over the line by pat O’Driscoll 34:08.

Christopher Ritchie, Sebastian Mair & Carter Rolston

Giant’s Trail 10k, 25/07/25

Starting and finishing at Queen’s University’s playing fields at Upper Malone Road in Belfast, the Giant’s Trail Race brought runners along the scenic trails and towpath of the Lagan Valley Regional Park. On a warm evening the challenging combination of forest trails, pastures and the Lagan towpath saw runners run past the 5000 year old Neolithic Giant’s Ring. Several North Down AC runners were racing hard, only 2 or 3 days after tough runs in Portaferry and Donaghadee.

Aaron Beggs was the first NDAC finisher in 3rd place in 39:11. Aaron McAuley 43:08 was 14th and 3rd M45 followed by David Massey 43:40. Fiona McQuillan was 3rd female in 47:20. Clair Quigley was 2nd F45 in 49:26 followed by Tim Cooke 50:28, Matt Ormesher 51:03 and 1st F35 Heather Beattie 52:39. Sarah Wilson 52:51 crossed the line ahead of 1st F60 Glynis Boyle 53:37 and 3rd F45 Claire Scott 53:45. Gerard Adair 53:47 was ahead of Eibhlin Largey 55:35 and Wendy Neely 57:18. Michael Cunningham 58:37, Paula Simpson1:03:15 and Emma Hegarty 1:03:52 rounded off another enjoyable evening of racing.

Aaron Beggs, Fiona McQuillan and Glynis Boyle

Watford Open Meet, 23/07/25

At the Watford open meet on Wednesday night Thomas Patterson took his season’s best for 1500m to 4:03.33s after having to lead the race mid-way when the pace slowed.

Irish Masters T&F, Tullamore 26/07/25

Sarah Gibson took 2 bronze medals at the Irish masters T&F Championships in Tullamore on Saturday, racing in the F55 800m where she finished in 2:55 and the 3000m in 12:14.

Lakeland 100, 25/07/25

2025 Lakeland 100

On Friday night I set off from Coniston with hundreds of other runners for a 105 mile loop around the Lake District. With this race having a 50% failure rate, I knew this was going to be the biggest challenge yet.

The first hurdle to overcome was going to be nausea. Starting a race at 6pm, heading straight up into the mountains, is a recipe for a dodgy stomach. I had stomach cramps for the first 2 hours but by keeping the pace steady and eating little and often, it thankfully settled.

Next hurdle – managing my feet. The first third of this race consists of lots of boggy trails, broken up by steep rocky descents. I had done my research and was aware of this. However I don’t think I appreciated just how battered your feet get when they are soaked through for 9 hours straight. At the 30 mile mark the skin on the bottom of my feet was cracking open, and each step felt like running over broken glass. I continued on for 20 more miles, but decided to call it a day at the 50 mile mark. The thought of 55 more miles in that much pain completely broke me.

On one hand a disappointing DNF, but as always I will take away the lessons learned and will use them in future races. Now time to recover in the sticky toffee pudding homeland!

Hillsborough Running Festival 10k, 27/07/25

The annual Hillsborough Running Festival has 10k and half marathon races on traffic free trails around the beautiful gardens and lakes of Hillsborough Castle. Fresh from his race in Donaghadee earlier in the week, Pat O’Driscoll was back in action at the 10k race where he took top spot in the 10k V75 category in 1:15:21.