What a busy week once again for North Down AC athletes; multisport specialists to road runners and trail runners covering distances between 5k and 85k and events across the sea in Rathlin and across the world in Australia!
The NI and Ulster Combined Events Championships were held at the Mary Peters Track at the weekend with great participation from North Down athletes across the age categories. In the U13 Girls, Megan Walker had a spectacular maiden pentathlon, securing 4th place overall and PBs in all 5 events! Next up in the U15 Girls, Eva Dickson was 9th in a field of 15 finishers also achieving PBs in all 5 events. Jessica Liddle was 4th in the U17 Girl’s Heptathlon with PBs in hurdles, shot putt, javelin and 800m. Dom Lepowski won silver in the U17 Boys Octathlon securing personal bests in Long Jump, Javelin and 100m Hurdles. Anna Moran won the U20 Women’s Heptathlon, finishing the competition despite suffering an injury in the high jump on the first day and delivering a PB in the shot putt along the way. Finally, Lexx McConville won the Senior Men’s Decathlon, securing a PB of 15.96 in the 110m hurdles.
Anna Moran & Jessica Liddle
On Friday night Carter Rolston was 2nd at the Strangford 5k in 17:28 with Lewis Johnston also running strongly, finishing in 20:44. In the 10k event Thomas Steele was 6th in 38:07.
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
Carter Rolston
Several North Down runners made the ferry trip from Ballycastle to Rathlin Island on Saturday for the annual 10 mile and 5k road races. Starting and finishing in the village close to the ferry terminal, both distances challenge runners over Rathlin’s many hills.
Gareth Jackson raced in the 5k completing the course in 26:19. Ben Jenkins was the club’s first finisher in the 10 mile race in 1:22:30, 1 place ahead of Abby Andrews 1:22:40. Roberta Dornan 1:24:14, Helen Byers 1:26:53 and Ella Andrews 1:28:05 were followed by Colin Hennessy 1:31:20 and Adrienne Neill 1:37:48.
Following excellent runs in their trials Holly Blease u20 and James Blease, Coco Smith and Maia Johnston u18, were selected for the NI teams in the Junior British & Irish Mountain Running Champs in Newcastle Co Down on 12th September.
The latest NI Mountain Running Association race was held in the Mournes on Saturday; Spread Your Wings included 2 of the bird mountains, Eagle and Pigeon along the 11k route with more than 750m of climbing. Gareth Hardy was the first NDAC finisher in 20th place overall and Lisa and Jeremy Tomalin were 46th and 47th in 2:07:01 and 2:07:04 respectively.
https://www.nimra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Spread-Your-Wings-2026-Results.pdf
Donald Smith was back in Scotland on Saturday for the Highland Fling ultramarathon. Following the first 85k of the West Highland Way from Milngavie, along Loch Lomond to the finish line in Tyndrum, the scenic trail included more than 2100m of elevation. Unseasonably warm temperatures and swarms of midges feasting on the runners through the lower, forested sections of the route made this year’s event even more challenging! Donald completed the double marathon course in 13:28:15.
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/HighlandFling/2026/HighlandFling/
Sarah Gibson returned to Longford for the marathon on Sunday and repeated her 2024 performance with a second place finish in the women’s race and first F55 in 3:11:29.
https://longfordmarathon.com/results/
The McKinney Games at the Eikon Centre on Monday had a variety of distances around the former Maze Prison site from 5k to marathon distance. Beth Mulree ran the 5k in 25:38 and Pat O’Driscoll opted for his regular 10k distance finishing in 1:20:02 while James Gage also took part in the 10 mile race.
https://www.championchipireland.com/index.html#results
The iconic backdrop of the Sydney Opera House was the location for Cliff and Noreen McCausland’s latest marathon. Having both previously completed the existing 6 Abbot World Marathon Majors – London, Berlin, Chicago, Boston, New York and Tokyo, the addition of Sydney to the prestigious list suggested that an antipodean adventure would surely follow. Cliff finished the marathon in 5:26:36 and Noreen was close behind him in 5:47:53.
https://www.tcssydneymarathon.com
Noreen McCausland