Weekly Report – May 30-June 5 2016

‘Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up’
–Dean Karnazes

VITALITY LONDON 10K, 30TH May

Chris and Nicola Downey represented the club, both achieving personal best times of 39:24 and 56:55 respectively. Well done to both of you.

The men’s race was won by Andrew Butchart (Central) in a time of 28:28. The women’s race was won by Lily Partridge (Aldershot, Farnham and District) in a time of 33:03. In the wheelchair events, David Weir and Shelly Woods (both Weir Archer) won their respective races in 21:06 and 27:47.

CRAIGAVON LAKES 5K & 10K, 1st June

The 5K fun run and 10K race followed the picturesque pathways round Craigavon Lakes and City Parks, starting and finishing at the Craigavon Watersports Centre. Iseult Fahy acquitted herself well in the 5K, 28th overall in a time of 23:53 and 7th lady.

Noel Gallagher won the event in 18:56. Des Fahy also ran well in the 10K finishing 28th overall in a time of 38:44.

The race was won by Martin Melville in 34:11.

FAIRHILL 5 MILE RACE, BALLYMENA, 1st June

Report by Martin O’Brien

The fantastic four frequented this Fairhill Five Mile Race in a feverish and fervent but fun folly (some other fs may have been muttered in the heat of the moment…). Yes, Gillian, Greg, David and Marty visited the Seven Towers on a very hot Wednesday evening to participate in the 5th Fairhill 5 Mile Race.

The 7pm start from near the town hall saw us tackle an allegedly flat 2-lap street course, but the real mountain we had to climb however, was the heat. OAC did well in the conditions with hot and smoking performances:

Greg and David have been involved in a lot of races recently whilst waiting for their club vests and have being doing great whereas Gillian put in a superb debut in the OAC vest (Gillian beat you to the vest lads!) after previously racing for Larne AC. Welcome and well done to all.

Thanks and appreciation go out to Ballymena Runners for super organisation, plentiful and encouraging stewards/volunteers, for the many, many photos available from the Ballymena Runners’ Facebook site and for the post-race spread with loads of sarnies, biscuits, buns and T&C.

Thanks to NiRunning for the photos.

HILL & DALE, MILLSTONE MOUNTAIN, 2nd June

Report by Elizabeth Leitch

On a beautiful sunny evening , the runners assembled in Donard car park for the start of race 8, they then traversed Donard Forest. Because of a rather scary buzzard who has been pecking fell runners’ heads for the past few years, the course has taken in the Granite trail before ascending Millstone (1300ft).

There’s then a sharp downhill back down to Donard Forest and through to the finish in Donard Park. Thomas Leitch was 1st OAC finisher in 43:41, 20th place. Next was Darren Marshall (54:13), then MOD in 58:25. Verity Cornford was next in 68:19, followed by Sharon Dickenson (73:19) and then birthday boy Stephen Craig (84:25)

The OAC Hill and Dalers were supported by Anne Devlin , I hear there was cake and that there may have been birthday drinks in Hugh McCann’s and why not?!! Well done everyone. Next in the series is Hen and Cock.

Thanks to Jayne Bell/NIMRA and Newcastle AC for the photos.

FIRMUS SUPER 6, 2nd June

A couple of our OAC juniors were at Mary Peters Track for Meet 3 of the series, competing in multiple events, well done to them.

Results:

BMC ‘FESTIVAL OF MILES’, 3rd June

A number of our Orangegrove runners were out at Mary Peters Track on Friday night to test their mettle over the mile distance. Stephen Orr was our fasted miler of the night. Also, with a win, two second places and a third place from five races, it was a good night for OAC.

Results:

*Iseult Fahy was 6th in the U14 category with her time of 6:39.64.

Thanks to NiRunning for the photos.

FALLS PARKRUN #202 (CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND 8), 4th June

The eighth event in the 2016 OAC Club Championship took us to Falls parkrun for a ‘competitive timed run’. Read the full race report here.

PARKRUN, 4th June

Members of the club ran at five Belfast parks (including Falls Park) as well as at Bangor, Enniskillen and Portrush. Well done to all for turning up and doing it, especially if you achieved a personal best time, as did the following members:

Stormont: Ryan Drain (21:30), Glenn Johnston (21:37), Chloe Browne (25:09)
Portrush: Chris Downey (19:20)

There was a problem with the Enniskillen results, however, Paul and Lyndsey Tyro finished first male and first female. What a team!

Remember to volunteer when you can, because otherwise parkrun would not exist. Contact Gerry at: belfastvictoriahelpers@parkrun.com

WALLED CITY MARATHON, DERRY, 5th June

The lovely Kerris Hamilton was the only OAC participant in a race won by Eric Koech (Project Africa) in 2:23:47. She described her race on a very warm day up in the Northwest.

‘I started with the 4hr 15min pacers, then, at mile seven I was having zero craic at all. So I just did my own thing and my aim was just to survive. My pasty skin was like meat on a barbeque with factor 50 and I also didn’t get the memo that Derry Marathon is hilly as feck! But the medal is so awesome and heavy, my neck is sore from wearing it…4:40:03… #gladtosurvive’.

Two marathons since May Day is impressive.

LEINSTER SENIORS & MASTERS, TULLAMORE

Report by Stephen Orr

Jim Harris won the M65 400m, time TBC, we left before it was confirmed. I was 3rd in the M40 800m in 2:13.42 sec, decent for a season opener!

GRAN FONDO GIRO D’ITALIA N.I., 5th June

This was not a running event, but as Brian Todd, Emma McWilliams and Mark Williamson took part, here is Brian’s report.

On Sunday Emma McWilliams and Brian Todd swapped their Saturday morning running shoes for their cycling shoes (in Brian’s case they were the same shoes) to take part in the Gran Fondo 58k ‘race’ in the Strangford area, the shorter of the two routes available.

The Orangegrove pair completed the course in about 2.20.00, which also included a fairly lengthy stop at the Whiterock feed station. Conditions were perfect and the general consensus was that next year they would attempt the longer route or the shorter route again at a faster pace and without a stop.

The closed roads made it very interesting and allowed for some fast downhill sections and faster cornering than otherwise would have been possible. Nevertheless, great vigilance is necessary while riding in such large numbers.