Weekend Report – August 23rd

For the first time in a long time not much was going on midweek this week. Maybe the petering out of Summer and the gradual drawing in of the evenings are beginning to take their toll, midweek anyway, as thoughts begin to drift towards cross country, spikes and mud and whatnot. Nevertheless, the weekend did bring the Mallusk Harriers 5 mile road race and the St Columbanus 5k at Bangor Abbey on Friday evening. Saturday was dominated by the Dambusters’ half marathon and 10k races in the vicinity of the Silent Valley Reservoir in the hills above Kilkeel, Co. Down. There was also a 5 mile trail race at Downhill Demesne and at the Mary Peters Track there were two full days of track and field

The Mallusk Harriers 5 mile road race, sponsored by Chain Reaction Cycles, is a popular race amongst Orangegrovers. The host club is a friendly one and they certainly know how to welcome their guests, particularly after the formality of the actual race. I am also reliably informed that their competitor goody bag is possibly the mother of all goody bags! Now, this is not an easy race and it does contain a fairly challenging hill in the first few miles that will leave the average runner gasping for air and wondering why he or she did not find a more relaxing way to spend the first evening of the weekend!

I suspect that those from Orangegrove who are running at the Silent Valley on Saturday morning will give Mallusk a miss this year, although there is a rumour that Michael O’Donoghue intends to do both. Someone have a word with him, please! The route at Mallusk is a roughly triangular one which starts outside the Academy Sports Club and takes the runner anti-clockwise on to the steep Sealstown Road before the start of the downhill Boghill Road section for the return to the finish line on Mallusk Road via Hydepark Road. Best of luck to all from Orangegrove in their endeavours this evening. The weather forecast is for heat and humidity. Hydration people, hydration!

Well, the whistle was sounded and the race was run and the OAC results were as follows:

Jonny Weston 36.22 (59th /208)
Michael O’Donoghue 37.28
Carolyn Beattie 39.04
Sarah Steer 40.10
Lisa Fleming 40.24
Ashleigh Collim 42.02
Paul Gruhn 42.09
Reg Sanlon 43.12

Great running from the OAC contingent. The race was won by Joe McAlister (St. Malachy’s AC) in 26.37 and Geraldine Brannagh (Dromore) was first lady in 33.57.


There was also a race in Bangor on Friday evening to commemorate the 1400th anniversary of St Columbanus’ death in November 615AD. The race was organized by the Friends of Columbanus and sponsored by Mellon’s Hyundai. The rule of St. Columbanus embodied the customs of Bangor Abbey. The 5k run started in Castle Park at the Abbey, the place from where Columbanus and twelve followers left on their mission to Europe in the 590s. The results have just been published and I see that Orangegrove’s Elaine Mcallister was in the starting line up and that she finished the race comfortably in 34.01 (69th/88).

Elaine seems to turn up just about everywhere these days and as a Club we are very proud of her efforts and commitment. Well done Elaine… and she arrived at the Silent Valley for the Dambuster’s 10k the very next day! Elaine’s friend, Sylvia Pearce, a prospective member, also ran at Bangor and finished in 32.02 (60th/88). The race was won by Jonathan Gibson in 19.05 with Murphy Miller (North Down AC) first lady in 21.03.


In May 1943 the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron flew Operation Chastise to burst the walls of the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with Barnes Wallis’s bouncing bomb. Hopefully tomorrow (Saturday) at the Silent Valley the dam wall will remain intact to allow us to run our Born2Run Dambusters’ half marathon and 10k races. After all, we have paid considerable sums of money to do so and it would be an absolute shame if the valley was flooded. It is hard enough running thirteen miles in the dry without being up to your neck in water!

The half marathon appears to start near Kilkeel, which then requires an uphill run to the Silent Valley for the section along the side of the dam itself. On returning to the main site the remaining distance is made up on the trails and byways of the surrounding park. The 10k race is more straightforward, beginning in the main complex and taking the runner along the side of the dam on a fairly good flat road and then back to the finish. The half marathon is the final round of the Pure Running/Champion Chip Ireland Half Marathon series for this year. May luck be with all those from Orangegrove tomorrow at the Silent Valley and hopefully 617 Squadron (RAF) will stay well away.

This was no easy half marathon! Scenic yes, but a lot of it appeared to be uphill with nearly 1000 feet of elevation gain. Not one for a personal best! For the half marathon runner the first four miles at least were uphill. There was another major climb up to the wall of the Ben Crom Dam and yet another towards the end of the trail section before the sharp drop to the finish. The 10k runners didn’t have it easy either as they too had to negotiate the climb up to the Ben Crom Dam wall. Six members of OAC showed up at the Silent Valley on the day and their results were as follows:

Half Marathon

Robin Montgomery 1.29.35 (13th/245)
Brian Todd 1.46.54
Michael O’Donoghue 1.47.40
Verity Cornford 2.04.29

10k

Victoria Murray 1.05.30
Elaine McAllister 1.09.40
Sylvia Pearce* 1.08.41

*prospective member

Very well done indeed to Robin Montgomery who was absolutely flying. Michael O’Donoghue also ran very well on what was a challenging route, taking into consideration that he had also been racing the previous evening and had consumed more than his fair share of the victuals available post race at the Mallusk venue. Credit to Verity Cornford who chose the greater challenge of the two available on the day and battled to the finish despite at least two niggling injuries. In the 10k race Victoria Murray performed very well following a long lay off due to injury and Elaine Mcallister shot round without any trouble despite also running the previous evening at Bangor.

The Dambusters’ half marathon was won in the remarkable time of 1.21.09 by Cameron Burns (Team Runwell) with Karen Alexander (Acorns) first lady in 1.25.52. The 10k race was won by Martin Cox (East Down) in 36.40 with Roisin Hughes (North Belfast Harriers) first lady in 39.00.


Following the Rathlin Run last year I decided to have a go at the Downhill Demesne 5 mile trail race organised by Springhill AC in the vicinity of the ruins of the beautiful house built by the eccentric Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, which enjoy a commanding position on the cliffs above Downhill strand. Nearby is the iconic Mussenden Temple. Hervey, nicknamed the ‘English Casanova’, died while travelling in Italy in 1803 and, while on his death bed there, reputedly asked that his remains should be shipped back home in a casket of sherry!

I was attracted to this race last year by the beautiful photographs that I had seen from the previous year of runners running through the remains of the mansion with Mussenden Temple as the backcloth. I would have been there this year had it not changed to Saturday and clashed with Dambusters. Well, at least one Orangegrover was there this year, Thomas Leitch. Inevitably Thomas was well up in the results and I am happy to report that he finished 4th/53 in 35.50. Very well done indeed! By the way, this is no straightforward 5 mile trail race. Although some of the running is on the grassy slopes surrounding the ruins of the house, much of it is on the trails of the adjacent deep glen (Black Glen) where a sure foot is required if disaster is to be avoided. Well done Thomas Leitch!


On Saturday a group of OAC ladies were in Sligo for the 31st Annual Warrior Run which begins on the beach at Strandhill, Co. Sligo, in the shadows of Knocknarea Mountain. The route is from the beachfront in Strandhill to the top of Knocknarea (327m) to Queen Maeve’s Cairn and then back down to the strand, a distance of approximately 15 kilometres on road, trail and heathland. Over 900 runners are registered for the race this year.

The OAC Sligo contingent would appear to have been Mary Boyd, Mairead Napier, Lisa Rodham, Ursula Graham and prospective members Shona Pryde and Laura Rodham Rainey.

Lisa Rodham 1.30.03
Shona Pryde 1.57.59
Mairead Napier 1.57.59
Mary Boyd 1.58.00
 Ursula Graham  1.54.42  (walk category)

While Jessica Ennis-Hill was attempting to do it in the heptathlon in the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, our own Emma Smith was attempting to do it in the same discipline at the Mary Peters Track this weekend in the Multi Event and Open Competition. The women’s heptathlon involves seven individual disciplines, 100m hurdles, high jump, shot-put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m. We wish Emma all the best in her endeavours which will span two days, Saturday and Sunday. Results will be published when known.

Well, the above was written on Friday evening. Unfortunately, since then, Emma has had to withdraw from the heptathlon due to a calf injury which leaves Beverley Martin still competing in the sprint events. Results soon as known!


Saturday means parkrun at Victoria Park, Belfast, and at venues throughout Northern Ireland. The summer season is beginning to wane and there is increasingly a hint of crimson in the leaves. Nevertheless, conditions for parkrun are still ideal at the moment and once again a big crowd gathered for the off at that little yellow mark on the track near the hut where Gerry and his band of helpers were on duty to ensure that everyone got away safely and that they were able to arrive back to a smile and a welcome, regardless of their time!

There is no discrimination in parkrun. The first back is no more worthy than he or she who was 99th, or 212th or 350th. There is always plenty of well baked cake and tea for those who are more leisurely in their run. There is certainly no pecking order in our clubhouse and he or she with a personal best is not entitled by that fact to an extra bun over and above those who run below their personal bests on the day. However, there is nothing to stop a personal best person having an extra bun if that is his or her inclination, but certainly not as a reward for that pb! So, who from Orangegrove got the personal bests this morning? Well done Des Fahy (18.55), Louise Lemon (recovering from a knee injury) 21.32, Helen Charlton (23.20), Sam Rainey (JM10/25.24), Louise Scullion (25.55) and Hilary Bradshaw (28.09). Congratulations too to Jill Holland on completing her 50th parkrun in 26.32.

Gary Morrow is clearly returning to form after a debilitating injury. He was at Bangor parkrun yesterday and just happened to ‘win’ it, if you can win a parkrun by being fastest on the day in a timed run (18.16). Well done, Garry. Paul Woodman was third home at the same venue in 18.37. Lyndsey Pronger was first lady at Ormeau parkrun in 20.42. Kirsty Buchanan too was at Ormeau for the first time and finished in 26.32. Prior to his Downhill Demesne Trail Race, Thomas Leitch toured around the Ecos parkrun at Ballymena in 28.04.

Yesterday at Victoria Park parkrun there were again more than 300 runners. Grateful thanks to all the volunteers who came together to make it possible on the day, both those on the track and those in the clubhouse and particularly those who work so hard after the event has closed to produce a set of results. We would like you to join them for a day if you have not already done so. Email Gerry on belfastvictoriahelpers@parkrun.com. Don’t delay! Your parkrun needs you as a volunteer!