Bay Road 5k

When we added this race to the calendar of O.A.C. Club Championship events last Autumn we were probably not thinking too clearly. Londonderry is a far away destination for a 5k race, particularly midweek. Nevertheless, this race does offer a very, very fast challenge and the strong possibility of a personal best. It is well organised and marshalled and chip timed and the organising Club, Spartans, are renowned for their hospitality.

So off to Londonderry we went; well, eleven of us anyway! I found the course itself a little disappointing. It promised well to begin with and the first few hundred yards along the water’s edge were fine. However, then it was three laps of a rather unremarkable rectangle before the finish was reached.

With all the beautiful frontage along the banks of the Foyle, a prettier route would not have been difficult to come up with, and if it were to cost a few seconds here and there, so what! This was no parkrun. There were 127 entrants and 73 of them ran sub 20 minutes for the 5k. The race was won in an amazing time of 15:23:06 by Keith Shields of St. Columbs AC. First lady was Gillian Wasson of Springwell on 18:27.94.

The considerable Orangegrove contingent acquitted itself well. Paul Woodman continued his recent fine vein of form and finished in 23rd place on 17:42:82. Robin Montgomery was next on 18:25:44, and the increasingly impressive Timothy Robinson was third on 19:03:86. Local boy Chris Downey was next on 19:25:19, followed by Brian Todd (20:11:88), Stephen Hamilton (20:46:22), Martin O’Brien (21:26:66), Martin Walker (23:55:60) and Eoin Woodman. Only two maidens travelled to the Maiden City, Julie McKimm and Emma McWilliams. Julie was in superb form and finished on 21:51:42, closely followed by Emma on 22:11:85.

The ladies and men’s tables can be found here, as they apply after the Bay Road race. The absence of both Thomas Leitch and Andy McIntyre means that their lead at the top of the men’s table has been considerably reduced. Robin Montgomery has certainly made up ground and is comfortably poised to exploit any further slip ups from the leading pair. Well done Stephen Hamilton on another fine evening at the races. Stephen is working hard and improving all the time and is a very loyal supporter of the club championship. In the race for the ladies title the ever consistent Emma McWilliams still maintains her considerable lead at the top of the table. However, that lead has been reduced by two points following a great run at Bay Road by Julie McKimm, who may be small in stature but who is surely big in heart.

By the way, the next round of the Club Championship is the One World 10k road race at the Ozone Centre, Ormeau Park, on Sunday 31st May, at 3pm. See you there!

Regardless of the abuse that Orangegrove runners usually receive on a regular basis from Herbie Herb (Terry Eakin, North Down AC),…very well done indeed to the big man on setting a new Irish Masters’ 5k age group record (18:58:18) at last night’s race. We will never hear the end of it!

Thanks to Rachel Lyle for the photos.