Neal Killen Shield 2017
The Neal Killen Shield, formerly Victoria Shield is, along with a liking for baked treats, one of our young club’s longest held traditions. There is an element of predictability with most races, but with this handicap race anything can happen with the clubs fastest runners often struggling to make the podium. It rewards those who make the biggest improvements in their 5k speeds in the 6 months before the event.
On this occasion 47 club members toed the line at Victoria Park for the running of this event and it turned out to be a thrilling event. Continuing the changes made to the event last year which means the first runner, who starts without a handicap time, begins running at the same time as the normal parkrun. Every other runner is let go after their assigned handicap time lapses.
Ian Reid made good use of being 2nd away by building up a lead that couldn’t be closed down. Finishing with a time of 32 minutes 24 seconds (actual running time 29 minutes 39 seconds) he ended up with a PB. He was more than a minute ahead of 2nd placed Stephen Craig who finished with a time of 33 minutes 45 seconds and Adrian Sproule got the last place on the podium with a time of 34 minutes 28 seconds (27:13) The times weren’t PB’s for Stephen and Adrian but an indicator of a welcome return to form for the pair.
The first lady to finish, and 4th overall was Heather Flint, whose only previous recorded parkrun time was 28:05 the previous week, and she managed to knock that down to 26:44 which is a great result. Just behind Heather were Ian Wilson and Sharon Corken who both ran parkrun personal best times, Ian by nearly a minute with a time of 23:46.
Known PB’s were also obtained by Karen Russell, Heather Shanks-Miller and Andy McIntyre. Andy recorded the fastest time on the day with a scorching time of 17.07. Armagh 5k next year Andy?!
Full Results below
| Parkrun Time | 5K Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian Reid | 32:24 | 29:39 | PB |
| 2 | Stephen Craig | 33:45 | 29:00 | |
| 3 | Adrian Sproule | 34:28 | 27:13 | |
| 4 | Heather Flint | 34:59 | 26:44 | PB |
| 5 | Ian Wilson | 35:01 | 23:46 | PB |
| 6 | Sharon Corken | 35:07 | 24:07 | PB |
| 7 | Sharon McFarland | 35:08 | 26:53 | |
| 8 | Alan Montgomery | 35:14 | 25:29 | |
| 9 | Ian Grant | 35:15 | 21:00 | |
| 10 | Hilary Bradshaw | 35:20 | 26:05 | |
| 11 | Karen Russell | 35:21 | 25:36 | PB |
| 12 | Trish Magill | 35:27 | 24:27 | |
| 13 | Judith McCann | 35:36 | 25:36 | |
| 14 | Anne Devlin | 35:42 | 30:57 | |
| 15 | Beverley Martin | 35:50 | 27:50 | |
| 16 | Adrienne Savage | 35:53 | 27:53 | |
| 17 | Brian McFarland | 35:59 | 24:29 | |
| 18 | Andy McIntyre | 36:07 | 17:07 | PB |
| 19 | Pauline Bayliss | 36:09 | 22:09 | |
| 20 | Melinda Wilkinson | 36:15 | 28:00 | |
| 21 | Martin O’Brien | 36:16 | 20:46 | |
| 22 | Robin Montgomery | 36:18 | 18:48 | |
| 23 | Edwina Ternan | 36:21 | 21:06 | |
| 24 | Andrew Tees | 36:22 | 19:37 | |
| 25 | Heather Shanks-Miller | 36:24 | 23:54 | PB |
| 26 | Graeme Bennett | 36:24 | 20:39 | |
| 27 | Brian Todd | 36:26 | 21:11 | |
| 28 | Andrew Allen | 36:28 | 21:28 | |
| 29 | Andrew Bennett | 36:29 | 22:14 | |
| 30 | David Roberts | 36:30 | 21:00 | |
| 31 | Sarah Steer | 36:32 | 25:02 | |
| 32 | John Neill | 36:36 | 22:51 | |
| 33 | Paul Tyro | 36:42 | 18:12 | |
| 34 | Alan Martin | 36:43 | 24:28 | |
| 35 | Lisa Fleming | 36:44 | 24:29 | |
| 36 | Sarah Wilson | 36:47 | 25:17 | |
| 37 | Reg Sanlon | 36:48 | 24:18 | |
| 38 | Darren Houston | 36:52 | 20:07 | |
| 39 | Martin Doherty | 37:03 | 23:18 | |
| 40 | Catherine Fearon | 37:11 | 27:41 | |
| 41 | Jacqui Maxwell | 37:16 | 24:16 | |
| 42 | Gerald Harvey | 37:18 | 23:48 | |
| 43 | Selina Myles | 37:27 | 26:42 | |
| 44 | Anna Rankin | 37:28 | 25:28 | |
| 45 | Deborah Killen | 37:49 | 37:49 | |
| 46 | Jean Stone | 38:19 | 31:04 | |
| 47 | Martin Walker | 39:08 | 27:08 |
Looking at the times a lot of them were very close together from 35 minutes onwards, so the organising committee did a great job on estimating the handicaps and the event generally. Thanks to the captains, timing maestro Darren Moan and to Deborah Killen who presented the prizes and made a lovely address to the club. The whole event was a great tribute to Neal’s memory.
