Mountains and marathons week

It’s been a week of mountains and marathons for the purple Springwell vests, with trips to London, Snowdonia, Belfast and the Kingdom of Mourne, as well as a sprinkling of Parkruns for good measure.
By Una Culkin
Published 4th Oct 2021, 08:28 BST
Updated 4th Oct 2021, 10:05 BST
Adele Tomb, Carolyn Crawford, Alan Nevin at the Mourne Skyline finishAdele Tomb, Carolyn Crawford, Alan Nevin at the Mourne Skyline finish
Adele Tomb, Carolyn Crawford, Alan Nevin at the Mourne Skyline finish

The mountain runners suffered the worst of the weather with the waterproofs being required for their treks round the Mourne Mountains and Snowdon, where the course had to be changed due to the threat of severe weather.

Mourne Skyline Mountain Race

The Skyline is a challenging 35km race through the Mourne Mountains with 3,370 metres of elevation to be contended with. With its steep climbs and descents the course is not one for the inexperienced runner, and requires a certain level of fitness and knowledge to successfully complete the course.

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Amanda Scott, Deborah Archibald, Lorraine Abernethy at the London Marathon RegistrationAmanda Scott, Deborah Archibald, Lorraine Abernethy at the London Marathon Registration
Amanda Scott, Deborah Archibald, Lorraine Abernethy at the London Marathon Registration

As if this wasn’t challenging enough, the weather decided to add an additional factor of difficulty on Saturday, October 2 with persistent rain, reduced visibility and a cold wind. Starting in Donard Park, Newcastle the runners followed a marked course through a series of checkpoints to the finish back in Donard Park.

Springwell RC had four intrepid mountain runners making the trip to County Down with Colin Brennan, Adele Tomb, Alan Nevin and Carolyn Crawford putting their toes to the start line. Age and experience proved invaluable with Colin Brennan the first to the finish in 52nd (4th M55) in a time of 5:49:53. The other three club members on the mountains were closely grouped with Alan Nevin 105th (89th MO) in 6:50:58, Adele Tomb 108th (4th F45) in 6:51:34 and Carolyn Crawford 109th (6th F35) in 6:53:39

London Marathon

Returning in its usual format for the first time since 2019, the London marathon attracted the masses to the capital on October 3 for this iconic race, with 36,000 runners taking part on the day and another 40,000 participating virtually.

Carolyn Crawford, Alan Nevin, Adele Tomb at a wet start to the Mourne SkylineCarolyn Crawford, Alan Nevin, Adele Tomb at a wet start to the Mourne Skyline
Carolyn Crawford, Alan Nevin, Adele Tomb at a wet start to the Mourne Skyline

As always, Springwell RC was well represented at the race with nine members taking part. Chris Denton was first across the finish line for the club in 573 d place in 2:43:40, just missing a new personal best time by seconds. Helena Dornan was 9363 rd in 3:47:27 and Alanna Millar 22012 th in 4:35:19. Husband and wife team Rodney and Deborah McPhee were running in support of Marie Curie Uk with Deborah 23288 th in 4:48:27 and Rodney 23859 th in 4:51:03. Deborah Archibald ran a personal best of 4:51:05 to finish 23874th, Amanda Scott finished 24793 rd in 4:55:31 and Lorraine Abernethy was 25720 th in 4:59:52. Running the miles for Action Cancer Aisling Hynes finished 26235 th in 5:02:46.

Belfast Marathon

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Sunday also saw the return of the Belfast City Marathon with 4,000 runners taking to the streets for the run from Stormont to Ormeau Park. The event still has some issues to address with unacceptably long queues on Saturday at registration and competitors’ times missing from the official results leading to a great deal of frustration.

Despite these issues there were some great runs from Springwell’s members with Cristopher McNickle running a fantastic personal best of 2:49:51 to finish 77th.

Chris Denton at the London MarathonChris Denton at the London Marathon
Chris Denton at the London Marathon

Springwell RC Results - 77th Christopher McNickle 2:49:51 PB, 310th Chris Holmes 3:10:08, 408th Ryan Kennedy 3:15:42, 830th Michael Johnson 3:39:53, 1215th Jonathan Huddlestone 3:51:45, 1412th Jenny Chartres 3:56:31, 1433rd Geoff Allen

3:58:19 PB, 1469th John Butcher 3:58:48 PACER, 1987th Jim Breen 4:22:50, 1684th James Evans 4:06:34, 2392nd Michael McKeown 4:44:40

Snowdon Skyline

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With the threat of severe weather on Sunday, October 3 the organisers of the Snowdon Skyline Mountain Race in North Wales made the decision to change their course to ensure competitors safety. While shorter than the planned event the bad

Chris Holmes at the Belfast MarathonChris Holmes at the Belfast Marathon
Chris Holmes at the Belfast Marathon

weather route is still a formidable challenge especially in adverse weather conditions with 5666 feet of elevation to be completed on the 14.82 mile course. Oisin Brennan produced another outstanding run as he finished 13th in the Snowdon Skyline in a time of 3:03:46.

Parkrun

Despite the unexpected excavation of the course in Limavady, the Parkrun still went ahead, thanks to the efforts of Heather McLaughlin and Ingrid Hamilton. This weekend saw 38 Springers out doing their Parkrun thing at eight venues with three personal bests recorded.

Thanks to all the volunteers who make the Parkrun Magic happen. They’re always looking for new apprentices so don’t be afraid to put your name forward.

Ecos - Judith BUCHANAN 21:43, Roy BUCHANAN 23:34

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Portrush - David O'NEILL 19:01, Laurence BLAIR 22:40, Mervyn THOMPSON 23:33, Paul MOORE 25:00, George BRIEN 25:49, Sylvia POLLOCK 26:01, Andrew WILSON 28:10, Liz DOWEY 28:10, Elizabeth DEIGHAN 28:13, Grainne MOORE 28:14, Roisin WALKER 31:25, Emer THOMPSON 33:2

Christopher McNickle at the Belfast MarathonChristopher McNickle at the Belfast Marathon
Christopher McNickle at the Belfast Marathon

Burgess - Catherine BYERS 29:50, Bernie DRAIN 29:56, Elaine MONTGOMERY 30:01

Ormeau - Jonno JOHNSON 23:37, Andrew WILMOT 26:51

Limavady - Darren WALSH 20:28, David MCGAFFIN 20:36, David SHIELS 21:07, Fergus THOMPSON 23:21, Ryan GRAY 24:41, Leanne QUIGLEY 26:22, Lorraine MULLAN 26:22, John BUTCHER 30:07, Karen ROBINSON 37:17, Lara WALSH 37:28, Heather MCLAUGHLIN 37:44, Nicola WHITE 37:47, Alan WHITE 37:47

Buncrana - Peter JACK 24:26

Orangefield - Ali SHAW 20:17 PB

Garvagh Forest - Michael MULVENNA 24:18, Rozzy SKUCE 25:43 PB, Antoinette CONWAY 28:10 PB, Alan PLATT 31:02

Related topics:BelfastLondon