Springwell runners take part in Winter Trail Series

Weather conditions were ideal for the midday start and the men’s race was won by Vincent McAlister (unattached) in 35.27, Race 2 winner Eoin Hughes (Acorns AC) took second place in 35.48 and Michael Crawley (City of Derry Spartans) third in 35.56. In the ladies race Karen Alexander (Acorns AC) collected her second victory of the series, winning in 39.48.

Ciara Toner (Springwell RC) continued her recent excellent form finishing second in 41.38 making her the only athlete to have finished on the podium at every Winter League race so far. Martsje Hell (North Belfast Harriers) completed the podium places in a time of 42.16. Karen McLaughlin (Springwell RC) claimed another age category victory in the F45 with a time of 44.26.

Springwell RC results – Colin Loughrey 13th 40.57, Chris Millar 17th 41.26, Ciara Toner 21st (second lady) 41.38, Jeff Young 29th 44.14, Karen McLaughlin 30th (first F45) 44.26, Jim Breen 54th 49.17, Paul Dornan 89th 53.14, Julieanne Millar 106th 54.31, Pamela Howe 122nd 56.12.

Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th February saw junior athletes from across the province taking part in the annual NI & Ulster Age Group Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Meadowbank Stadium in Magherafelt. Hosted by Athletic NI the event saw athletes from U12 to U19 age groups take on events ranging from the 60 metres to 1500 metres.

In the U19 girls 800m race Aine McKinney (Springwell RC) won the gold medal to add to the U18 gold from last year. Laura Lee Penrose (Finn Valley AC) took the silver and Holly Woodhead (Springwell RC) completed the podium taking the bronze medal. Springwell RC was also represented by Erin Bratten in the U15 girls 800m, Keziah McCracken in the U13 girls 60m and Timothy McCracken in the U13 boys 600m.

Born 2 Run hosted the latest instalment of their “Run Forest Run” series at Antrim Castle on Saturday 4th February with over 1000 athletes attending to take part in the 5 & 10k events. Springwell’s only representative, Paul Quinn, in his first outing this year had a successful run taking three minutes of last year’s time to finish in 162nd place with a time of 46.59.

The forecasted rain stayed away but the tide was rapidly incoming for Saturday’s Portrush parkrun, forcing the runners on to soft sand at times and the headwind on the return 2.5k provided a further challenge.

Graham Colvin was congratulated on his nomination as parkrunner of the month for January 2017.

First finisher was David Heaney in 20.07 - second time in 4 appearances and first female was junior runner Molly Blee in a PB time of 25.23 - first time in 72 appearances. Molly’s time would have been faster but, in the best traditions of Parkrun she stopped to help a runner who had fallen before finishing her race.

This week there were 101 runners, of whom eight were first timers andthree3 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 10 different athletics clubs took part.

Portrush - Jimmy Stewart 20.37, Bryan Edgar 21.00, Gary Kendall 23.19, Mervyn Thompson 23., Robert Workman 24.07, Molly Blee 25.23 PB, Toni Donnelly 25.24, Fergal Mackle 26.33, Carolyn Crawford 26.53, Andrew Wilson 27.02, Kay Hack 27.07, Donna Costello 27.43, Camilla Long 28.18, Colin Connolly 29.33, Elaine Montgomery 30.03, Jack Blee 30.12, Catherine Byers 30.43, Rachel Blee 30.51, Jim Blee 31.17, Margaret Edgar 32.09, Emma Birrell 32.45, Eimear Quinn 33.31 PB, Fiona Walls 38.13, Emer Thompson 51.03

Limavady - Chris Denton17.49, David Shiels19.52, Eoghan Gormley 20.28, David Gault 23.01, Catherine Shiels 23.30, Jonathan Lynch 28.04

Waterworks- Alistair Shaw 18.36. Queens- Stephen Smyth 24.22. Lower Hutt (New Zealand) - Roisin Walker 31.33