Matty McParland took a commanding win at the Coastal Runners Clandeboye 10k on 14th September. He led along the muddy, hilly trails through the Clandeboye Estate to Helen’s Tower and back to the finish line in Clandeboye Courtyard almost 2 1/2 minutes ahead of the second placed runner in 36:37.
Matty McParland
Justin Black and Michael Boyd were in Scotland on 20th September for the Highland Fling, a 53 mile trail race along the southern part of the West Highland Way between Milngavie and Tyndrum, with much of the course following the scenic trails along Loch Lomond. They ran together with their Bangor based training partner, Neil Kennedy and the trio completed the ultramarathon in 13:57:38.
Justin, Michael & Neil
2 more North Down AC mountain runners were in action the same day in Donegal at the Seven Sisters Skyline Race. Racing over 55km across the highest peaks in Donegal, including the 751m summit of Errigal, in even tougher conditions than usual after heavy rainfall before the race left the course particularly boggy. Seán Nickell completed the 55k route in 12:21:19 while Gareth Hardy tackled the 32k course finishing 19th in 5:14:36, a superb 30 minute course PB!
The Causeway Coast Marathon events on 20th September take place in some of the most beautiful coastal scenery in Northern Ireland. With half marathon, marathon and ultra marathon distances all finishing in Port Ballintrae runners tackled strong coastal winds throughout each event. Kim McCourt opted for the ultra distance, 1 1/2 marathons or 63km, and the early start on Portstewart Strand before running out to the turnaround point near Carrick-a-Rede and returning to Port Ballintrae in 8:37:24. Matt Ormesher took on the out and back marathon course from Port Ballintrae, through the Giant’s Causeway and along the cliff tops and beaches finishing 30th in 4:32. He put his training and racing to good use, raising over £1500 for Decorum NI in the process.
Matt Ormesher
The Mourne Mountain Marathon is a competitive event for teams of two, covering between 35km and 55km over two days. Athletes camp overnight and navigate their way between checkpoints. North Down AC’s Jonathan Gibson with Simon Hodge finished 2nd in the 55k elite class while Maol Larkin and Noel Larkin competed in the 45km C Class race finishing 25th with an overall time of 13:38.41. Chris Adgey and John Adgey were 2nd in the veteran C Class with a combined 2 day time of 13:40:44.
Jonathan Gibson and John Adgey
One of the biggest marathons in the world, renowned for being a flat course with wide sweeping corners conducive to PBs and world records, this years Berlin Marathon took place on 21st September. Warmer conditions than usual meant fewer PBs as athletes struggled to stay hydrated in the heat, however 2 North Down competitors raced with Ashley Dixon running an excellent 2:32:59 and Sarah Gibson a superb 3:14:51.
A large number of North Down AC runners were among the 6207 finishers who took to the streets of Belfast on Sunday 21st September for the Belfast Half Marathon. Dale Murray was the first of the club’s finishers in 19th place in 1:13:05 while Tara McDonough was the first female club runner, smashing her PB by an incredible 10 minutes to finish 12th female in 1:24:10.
Tara McDonough
Michael Cunningham opted for an even more scenic half marathon than most of his NDAC clubmates last Sunday, swapping Belfast for the Keswick Half Marathon. He completed the picturesque route around Derwentwater in a PB of 2:04:28.
Michael Cunningham
The first cross country report of the season is a sure sign that the cooler temperatures are here to stay; the TJ McElmeel Cross Country was held in Armagh last Sunday producing plenty of fine individual performances in the XC season opener. The NDAC boys performed well in the U 11 race with Daly Seaton taking the win. Harrison Mair was 4th and Casey Seaton came 6th. Carter Rolston 5th and Seb Mair 6th ran strongly in the U15 boys 3.5k against plenty of older boys. In the girls U15s Coco Smith made the top 10, followed by Caitlyn Dickenson. In the U18s girls, Maia Johnston made her debut club XC race finishing 12th, with Freya Lowry 21st out of 33, both up against plenty of older girls. Ethan Constable was similarly racing mostly older boys, coming home 10th in the U18 boys 5k. These age group races are always highly competitive, with a lot of the leading age group performers taking part.
In the men’s 7.5k open race, Kyle McLellan took a fine 11th out of 93 in his debut XC race in a North Down vest, despite recovering from a mid-week cold. Dean Varley showed improving fitness in 36th with John Ewing making a long-awaited return to XC in 47th (and his longest XC race ever since his 5k xc u20 days!).
Last Saturday, St Mary’s Twickenham post-grad student Thomas Patterson competed for Herne Hill Harriers in the South of England 6-stage Road Relay Championships at Aldershot. Running 19:28 for 6k (5:12/mile), he helped HHH’s B team to 20th out of 113 teams to qualify for the English National 6-stage next month.
Eco Trail Wicklow, 27/09/25
Matty McParland had another outstanding race on Saturday at the 46km Eco Trail Wicklow. The 46k course started and finished in Bray and included more than 1700m of climbing! He finished 3rd in 4:10:41.
NI & Ulster 10k Road Race Championships, The Seaton Classic, 27/09/25
With the Bangor 10k renamed in honour of a stalwart of North Down Athletics Club, a man who has contributed so much to athletics in Northern Ireland as an athlete, official and administrator in more than 6 decades, most available NDAC club members, including David Seaton himself, were out on the streets of Bangor racing or marshalling at the inaugural Seaton Classic on Saturday morning. Following the same route as in recent years runners enjoyed the traditional fast start from Castle Park down Main Street and onto Seacliff Road before the blustery wind and increasingly heavy rain showers forced athletes to settle into a hard race as they continued out to Groomsport before looping back into Bangor. Any relief at escaping the coastal winds at the 9k mark was short lived as the racers tackled the steep climb up Shandon Drive before a welcome left turn into College Avenue and a gradual downhill towards the finish line beside the War Memorial in Ward Park.
A small group of runners, including North Down AC favourite, Craig McMeechan, led the pack from the start and continued together as a group of 4 well into the final kilometre before Craig McMeechan surged ahead to take the win by 1 second in 31:13 from Andrew Milligan of North Belfast Harriers and Thomas Elfenbein 31:20 of Candour Track Club. Daniel Dines was 8th with a 1 minute PB in 32:19 with Oliver Playfair 33:55 19th and Jamie McMeechan 34:11 22nd. These 4 scoring men secured team bronze for NDAC in the Championship race. The women’s race was won by Emily Haggard-Kearney (11th overall) in 32:54, close to her personal best and only 11 seconds over the fastest time run by any woman on a 10k course in Northern Ireland, a huge achievement given Saturday’s far from ideal racing conditions! Ivana Anderson 36:47 was 4th female in her debut race in NDAC colours. Fiona McQuillan 41:59, Sarah Gibson 42:39 and Lucia Williams 42:50 also secured team bronze for the ladies team. Space doesn’t permit me detailing the individual results for 131 NDAC athletes but check them all out here https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results More PBs were achieved by club members including Mickael Lenu 35:30, Luke Dobson 38:44, Jacob Sullivan 43:27, Holly Blease 43:39 (and 1st U18 girl) and Sophie Hamilton 53:56 while James Blease 40:36 and Abbie Small 46:03 both produced excellent debut 10k results. Some NDAC runners missed their chance to race hard and chase their own target times by pacing at 5 minute intervals between 40 and 70 minutes, and thanks are due to Garry Morrow and Ashley Dixon, Dougals Gordon and Christopher Ritchie, Darren Edgar and Tom Agnew, Sarah Connolly and Cara Jefrey and Alison Wise and Andy Belshaw who all ran precise times helping dozens of other athletes to achieve their goals. Mark Walker battled through injury to maintain his record of completing this event every year since 2010.
All the runners were grateful to the NDAC committee who organised the race, although few appreciated just how much work was done over the last few months to ensure the whole event passed off smoothly on the day. North Down AC are also hugely grateful to all our sponsors who supported the race, John Minnis Estate Agents, Pure Running, Cosimac, Release Sports Massage, Electronic and Security Services, Gordons Chemists, Bangor Aurora Aquatic and Leisure Complex, Athletics NI and Ards & North Down Borough Council. It was also a pleasure to see so many runners wearing t-shirts supporting our charity partner, Cancer Focus Northern Ireland.
Please check out the photo galleries from Steven Donegan and David McMeechan on the Seaton Classic 10k Facebook page where you’ll find hundreds more race photos at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575308625758
male podium with David Seaton, Emma McNeill (Director, John Minins Estate Agents) and Wendy Phillips (President, Athletics NI)
