Weekend Report – August 2nd

Yes, it started early again, on Wednesday to be exact when a number of our runners travelled down to Downpatrick for the RGU 10k. Friday evening brought the much anticipated Dub Runners’ Giant’s Trail Race in the Lagan Valley Regional Park and, on the same evening, the Ballyrashane 5 mile Milk Race at Ballymoney. The Keystone Lintels Cookstown Half Marathon took place on Sunday. Of, course there was the usual dose of Victoria Park parkrun on Saturday morning; it is not a race remember, it is a timed run!

The Downpatrick Russell Gaelic Union 10k is popular with Orangegrovers seeking a pleasant mid week run with some decent food to follow. This one starts at the RGU clubhouse and takes in the myriad of lovely little roads and byways between the Ballyhornan Road and the Killough Road, south-east of the town. Like most GAA organised runs there will be egg and onion sandwiches galore, well baked cake and gallons of tea afterwards. You will be lucky to be home before midnight. If you stay long enough they will eventually open the bar! However, be warned! This is drumlin country where there will likely be lots of ups and downs, the former outnumbering the latter. When ice sheets ravaged this part of Co. Down about one hundred thousand years ago there was little concern by anybody then for the mayhem that would be left behind to make the going difficult for us runners out for a gentle jog on a Wednesday evening in July. And the results are in:

Very well done indeed to all from Orangegrove who travelled to Downpatrick. Well done Paul on leading the contingent home and particular congratulations to Kathryn, Hilary and Elaine on their fine running. Eoin was a bit confused, as usual, and was entered under both NICSAC and Orangegrove. However, I have it on good authority, backed up by indisputable photographic evidence, that he was wearing the Orangegrove vest…..so well done too Eoin!

The Downpatrick RGU 10k race was won by Brendan Teer (East Down AC) in 32.24. Catherine O’Connor was first lady in 38.10.

Our friends at Dub Runners will host a very enjoyable Giant’s Trail 10k run on Friday evening, 31st July which we will be happy to support. Nessa Agnew and her friends, regulars at Victoria Park parkrun, did a very good job at selling this one to us. In the end most of us were afraid not to enter for fear of encountering the wrath of Nessa. Read the full race report here.

While the majority of us were running in our own back yard, so the speak, others chose to travel up the M2 to Ballymoney for the Milk Race. This was a five mile road race over the byways in the vicinity of the Joey Dunlop Centre. Sponsorship and organisation were by Ballyrashane Creamery, Ballymoney Sports Development Unit and Springwell Running Club.

Orangegrove had three runners in the line up, Andy McIntyre, Martin O’Brien and Catherine Fearon, and very well they did too;

Well done all! The 2015 Ballyrashane Milk Race was won by Neil Johnston (Springwell RC) in 25.55. Gemma Turley (Springwell RC) was first lady home in 30.47.

Last week I included a brief report on the progress of Orangegrove masters’ athletes at the GloHealth Masters’ Championships at Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Information was sketchy and official times were not available as the report was posted. Below are the times achieved by those from OAC who were in action in Co. Offaly last weekend:

Very well done indeed to all who competed at the GloHealth Irish Masters’ Championships last weekend.

Sunday 2nd August brought the Cookstown Half Marathon, the eighth round overall and the third of the ‘second half’ of the Pure Running/ChampionChip Ireland Half Marathon Series. This is a single loop race on the roads west of the town which will start and finish at the Mid Ulster Sports Arena. At least one club member, Robin Montgomery, is attempting this one. Robin, who has set himself a punishing racing schedule, is currently lying in fourth position in the M45 category of the Series rankings, just outside the prizes. However, it will not be for the want of trying and no doubt today will be significant. He will also be on the line for the last two of the series, Groomsport and Dambusters. Best of luck, Robin. It would also appear that Anne Moore and Darren Houston are running at Cookstown. Best of luck to them as well!

And the results are in:

Great running from our three Orangegrove representatives.

The race was won by Gary Henderson in 1.14.53. Diane Watson was first lady in 1.32.03.

Sunday also saw the Rock ‘n’ Roll Dublin Half Marathon in which runners pass some of Dublin’s most famous sites such as the Ha’ Penny Bridge, Christ Church Cathedral, Ireland’s oldest pub, The Brazen Head, the James Joyce Museum and the Guinness Brewery. The start is in central Dublin on the banks of the Liffey at North Wall Quay and the finish in Phoenix Park. As the name would suggest there will be plenty of musical entertainment on the way. My information is that we don’t have any club members competing in this one. However, Orangegrove’s Thomas Leitch is taking part as the official pacer for the 1.45 group. The shepherd shouldn’t have too much difficulty leading his flock home safely and on time!

Very well done indeed to Ulsterman Paul Pollock (Annadale Striders) who won the race in a remarkable 1.05.09.

By the way, next Saturday (8th August) brings the Lurig Mountain Challenge at Cushendall which, this year, is the eleventh and penultimate round of the Orangegrove Club Championship for 2014-2015. Basically this race involves a bit of a run, a bit of a climb to the top of Lurigethan, a mountain, (to give it its correct name) and then a bit of a run back to the town for the festivities, which are plentiful. I did Lurig last year and following the race decided to write a diary account of my experience for future reference. The account is reproduced below and may be of use to one or two of you out there who are not sure what to expect.

‘Lurig Mountain Challenge. I entered this race with some trepidation, but what a great event! Cushendall welcomed over three hundred ejits with open arms, smiles and bright sunshine. The race itself, if it is a race, starts in the town centre and almost immediately heads uphill to the Stony Lonen via a very steep incline and a set of steps, just slippery enough to catch out those who might not be sure footed. The first mile or so is along a gently rising fairly rough farm track known locally as the Stony Lonen. One or two well placed deep sheughs slow your progress and bring you down to earth. There is no way around them, just through them. The ascent of Lurig is really at walking pace. Unless you have got away very quickly you will be obliged to proceed at the pace of those in front of you, although the first part is probably runable. The main climb is very steep and appears to go on for ever. Nearly vertical in places, the main problem is to avoid being kicked in the face by the competitor in front of you. The best approach is to just keep going, stick to the main route and use the grass to haul yourself upwards. Don’t look up or you will give up! Nevertheless, there is plenty of encouragement from the marshals at the various levels. At the top there is water available to quench your relief. Then it is downhill very rapidly. There are parts where you can slide down horizontally for 50 or 60 feet, but watch your coxis. The parts of the mountain that you can run down need extreme care. If you lose your feet you will go down hard on your back and possibly break a wrist trying to arrest your fall. The return along the Stony Lonen (it is stony) is mainly downhill and very fast. Don’t fall or you will do damage, and pick your route carefully or a sprained ankle could be the result. The sprint to the finish is like nothing I have ever experienced before in my short running career. Up to a thousand people cheering and shouting. The lady with the microphone deserved the biggest trophy of the day…she kept the crowd entertained, welcomed the runners home and fired a joke a minute….and nobody could claim they couldn’t hear her! To register a fast time you must get away early or you will get blocked in and spend a lot of your time walking, especially on the mountain section. An absolutely super event in the most perfect of locations, run by the best of people. If known about beyond Northern Ireland it would, undoubtedly, be regarded as a running classic. Half way up the mountain I said to myself several times ‘why am I doing this?…..never, ever again!’. However, on crossing the finishing line to the satisfying sound of the bleep from your chip, you begin to think of the strategies that you might employ next year to improve your time. It is that kind of ‘race’.’

Saturday means parkrun and so it was again on Saturday 1st August, 2015. As usual, well over three hundred runners gathered for the chase, one and three-quarter laps of the outer and one lap of the inner before the sprint to the finish. With many of us having been involved the previous evening at the Giant’s Trail Race or at the Milk Race in Ballymoney, it was expected that there would be fewer Orangegrove personal bests in the day’s results. So, what in the end did the results reveal? Well, there were a few personal bests in the end! Well done to Mark Williamson (20.59), Louise Lemon (21.38) and Martin Doherty (22.31). Lisa Fleming, bless her, ran her wee heart out only to miss beating her previous personal best of 23.23 by a couple of seconds! Great to see both Rachel Lyle (Woodman) and Sile Brennan still recording decent times despite being in the advanced stages of pregnancy. Indeed this was Sile’s 50th parkrun and we offer her our particular congratulations including pram and occupant!

Very well done indeed to Conall Kirk (Lagan Valley AC); his time of 16.42 is, I believe, a new course record for the 5k route involving the inner trail. Superb running! Verity Cornford was at Bangor parkrun where she scampered around in 28.00. Colin Sykes was at Queen’s parkrun where he recorded a personal best of 24.10. Andy McIntyre was at Portrush parkrun following the previous evening’s Milk Race and recorded a leisurely 24.26. Catherine Fearon was on the East Strand too and recorded 31.08. They haven’t invented parkrun in Budapest, Hungary, yet, but on Wednesday morning, before returning home from holiday, Kirsty Buchanan ran the Budapest equivalent, a lovely riverside route of 3.26 miles on the Hajos Alfred path on the city’s Margaret Island, and all in a very respectable 28.31. Well done Kirsty, and to everyone else running parkrun this week, wherever.

Don’t forget the volunteering bit. The parkrun ethos is that you both run and volunteer. A lot of people are running but not helping out. That is being selfish. Don’t be a selfish so and so. Contact Gerry on belfastvictoriahelpers@parkrun.com and do your bit. Your parkrun needs you! It really does!

A considerable number of us returned to Victoria Park on Saturday afternoon after parkrun for a most enjoyable barbecue which was preceded by some dodgy sports for children and adults down on the field. This was a magnificent occasion which brought the children and younger members into contact with the old stagers like myself. An enormous amount of hard work and preparation went into this and a magnificent spread seemed to appear from nowhere. Particular thanks and congratulations to Mairead Napier who co-ordinated the whole affair and to Gillian Sykes who controlled the shenanigans on the grass with the necessary rod of steel. On behalf of all the members of the Club I sincerely thank everybody, female and male too, who were involved in organising the games, in preparing and presenting the food and in creating a very social and very enjoyable occasion. Thank you!