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Weekly Roundup

Roberta Dornan was North Down’s sole representative at the Craigavon Lakes 10k, a flat and reasonably fast course comprising two laps of the Citypark parkrun route, and can be more than happy with a time of 42:42, fourth lady on the night.

Trevor Patterson is loving the Mourne mountains these days and recently took on The Loughshannagh Horseshoe, race eight of Newcastle AC’s Hill and Dale Series. Billed as the most challenging course in the series, Loughshannagh features steep climbs and rough descents with four peaks to be conquered and a high point of 586m on Carn Mountain. In the end Trevor acquitted himself well, completing the course in a more than respectable 1:26.35.

With 1280 feet of climbing over the course of 10k, the good people at Seal Fitness certainly made participants work for their medal at the Taking the Tower race last Friday night. A multi terrain course set in and around Scrabo forest, runners were rewarded for reaching the tower with sweeping views over Strangford and beyond. Johnny McGrath has been enjoying something of a running renaissance recently and on this occasion he was in excellent form, clocking 55:51 for 20th overall and 2nd in age category.

Starting from the Lakeland forum and taking in scenic Castle Coole, the Enniskillen 10k attracted a bumper crowd of 602 runners last Saturday, with three North Down athletes making the long trip from East to West. Frankie Rea was in his usual top form, 44:23 good enough for 59th place and 3rd in age category, whilst Roy Sittlington ran well to break into the top 100 with 47:03 and Valerie Blayney was an outstanding 2nd in age category (55:58).