Race Report 20th – 26th November

By Tim Robinson

ARMAGH CITY MARATHON – Wednesday 22nd November
By Michael O’Donoghue

The Armagh City Marathon is a recent addition to the roster of local marathons. It developed from the Run Armagh 10k and has now taken place 10 times in the last couple of years. It uses the same route as the Armagh 10k including a couple of laps of the Mall to make up the distance.

Armagh isn’t a very big place so the route is mostly country roads to the north of the city. On this occasion we had heavy rain throughout the event and many of those country roads were flooded. The area is quite hilly too so we were treated to a tough but rewarding race! Many of us received 2 apples on this occasion. One was the golden apple of Armagh and the other a JFK themed one.

There were 30 entrants in the marathon and 4 in the half marathon. My time was 4:33:21 and I was in 17th place. The winner was Micheal Dillon (Newry City Runners) in 2.57.32. First lady was Andrea Cairns (Scrabo Striders) in 4.50.23.

SEELEY CUP
Saturday 25 November

The Seeley Cup, a Willowfield Temperance Harriers 10k race, is based at Ormeau Park and demands 2.5 laps, starting on the Embankment and finishing in the Park.

The weather was rather threatening beforehand on Saturday, with a heavy shower blowing over about 2pm, but the race conditions were cold, dry and sunny.
Orangegrove had twenty-nine competitors who had good support from the marshals and some of our own club mates including Andy McIntyre, MOD, Martin Doherty, Alison Hall Thompson and Lisa Fleming

Among the results deserving special mention, Jacqui Maxwell earned an age category win with a great time of 47:13.

Eric Fairfield pushed hard to cross the line first for the Club with a great time of 38:04.

Edwina Ternan is continuing in fine form as Orangegrove’s first female across the line with 41:50.

David Montgomery appears to have been dicing with David Gribben throughout the race and achieved a well earned PB of 38:57 – two seconds ahead of David G. on chip time with an equal race time. Des Fahy was close behind.

A review of the results suggests that quite a few runners paired up through the race, perhaps demonstrating the club motto; “Work together to accomplish more”

Category Finish Chiptime Halfway
Eric Fairfield M M40 00:38:20 00:38:04 00:19:29
David Montgomery M M45 00:39:15 00:38:57 00:20:04
David Gribben M M40 00:39:15 00:38:59 00:20:03
Desmond Fahy M M45 00:39:27 00:39:11 00:20:05
Robin Montgomery M M45 00:41:22 00:41:02 00:20:46
Jonathan Weston M M45 00:41:59 00:41:33 00:21:35
Edwina Ternan F FO 00:42:17 00:41:50 00:21:22
David Roberts M M45 00:43:40 00:43:13 00:22:25
Ian Grant M M35 00:43:43 00:43:16 00:22:35
Martin O’Brien M M40 00:43:45 00:43:17 00:22:31
Heather Flint F F40 00:44:04 00:43:40 00:22:21
Pauline Bayliss F F40 00:44:08 00:43:42 00:22:57
Julie McKimm F F40 00:44:19 00:43:52 00:22:59
Brian Todd M M65 00:44:36 00:44:09 00:22:32
Stephen Anderson M M50 00:44:42 00:44:15 00:23:10
Carolyn Beattie F F40 00:46:45 00:46:17 00:23:43
Gillian Logan F FO 00:46:51 00:46:25 00:23:31
Jacqueline Maxwell F F55 00:47:41 00:47:13 00:23:49
Rachel Woodman F F40 00:47:51 00:47:24 00:23:58
Gerald Harvey M M65 00:48:45 00:48:16 00:24:27
Heather Shanks-MillerF F45 00:49:06 00:48:19 00:24:20
Jill Holland F F50 00:49:52 00:49:04 00:25:22
Kimberley ReynoldsF F50 00:50:49 00:50:00 00:25:18
Jenny Powell F F40 00:51:51 00:51:02 00:26:08
Anna Rankin F F40 00:53:38 00:52:50 00:26:57
Catherine Fearon F FO 00:54:03 00:53:53 00:26:44
Adrian Sproule M MO 00:56:06 00:55:11 00:28:50
Anne Devlin F F50 01:01:57 01:01:03 00:30:58
Stephen Craig M M55 01:02:00 01:01:07 00:30:59

Gideon Kipsang broke the tape in 30:39 (1st place). Scott Rankin claimed 2nd place and with it the Northern Ireland & Ulster title in 30:56.

As reported in NI Running, in the ladies race, two of Northern Ireland’s best emerging talents went head to head and delivered a race which lived up to expectation. Nothing separated NI 10,000m and 5,000m record holder Emma Mitchell (QUB AC) and Belfast Marathon winner Laura Graham (Mourne Runners) until the final kilometre. As the ladies entered Ormeau Park for the final time, Emma surged clear to retain her NI & Ulster 10k title in 34:00 (1st place). Laura followed in a new 10k personal best of 34:19, taking 2nd place, before Kelly Neely (City of Lisburn AC) secured the final podium place and bronze medal in 35:49

RUN THE LINE 2017 – Saturday 25th November
Reported by Andrew Tees

Organised by the Dublin and Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team as part of their annual fund-raising events, Run The Line is a trail race set in the Dublin Mountains, overlooking the city and Dublin Bay. It is aimed at both seasoned hill-runners and those looking to give the hills a try, with two distance options of 13k and 26k. A popular race in the winter calendar, it always sells out quickly and this year was no exception.

This year the event was dedicated to the memory of Kevin Hallahan, a DWMRT team member who was killed in tragic accident during a training event in Snowdonia in September this year.

The new start and finish area for the 2017 event was in Glencullen Adventure Park. Both the short and long courses started by climbing the wonderfully named Fairy Castle mountain, after which the long course diverted off in a loop to climb two other hills, Cruagh and Tibradden, then re-joined the short course for the final few kilometers, weaving through the surrounding woods back to Glencullen.

From Orangegrove, Sarah Steer was competing on the 13k course, and Andrew Tees on the 26k course.

With overnight temperatures having been well below zero, Saturday morning was frosty with an icy breeze, this was not a shorts and vest day… even the hardiest mountain runners were layering up!

When we finally got underway at 11am, it was just a relief to get moving and get warmed up! With the first 2 miles all uphill to top of Fairy Castle, it was a rude awakening for cold limbs and lungs! The course was a tough up-and-down rollercoaster, a mixture of mountain paths and forest tracks with plenty of rocks, ice and mud to keep it interesting, if not a little treacherous in places!

The 13K course race was won by Conall Murphy in 57:38, with first female being Lorraine Horan in 1:13:25 (29th).
The 26K race was won by Adrian Hennessy in 2:09:15, with first female being Carolyn Hayes in 2:15:34 (14th).

Orangegrove Results:
Sarah Steer 13K 1:25:34 (84/244, 18th female)
Andrew Tees 26K 2:28:16 (20/261)

FERMANAGH HALF MARATHON – Sunday 26th November
Reported by Michael O’Donoghue

This was the 2nd occasion of the Fermanagh Only Half Marathon organised by the Teemore Shamrocks GAA club. There haven’t been many longer distance events in the county of Fermanagh so when I heard about this event I knew I had to make the journey down there.

The route starts and finishes at the club which is near Derrylin to the south of Enniskillen right next to the border. There were several different races distances, 5k, 10k, 10 mile and half marathon. The route headed north of the club out towards the upper lakes of Lough Erne and back. It was exceptionally rural route passing through the village of Teemore itself, but there were very few settlements other than that and hardly any houses on the route!

It was a real community event with a mixture of running talent. There weren’t many from ANI affiliated clubs present and several from south of the border.

My time was 1.38.05 and I was in 16th place out of 66 runners. The winner was Niall Smith 1.17.33 and first lady was Denise Toner (Clones AC) 1.30.29.

A lot of people are obviously getting something right. Thanks to coaches, committee members and all the volunteers that help make our great club work so well. Let’s keep working together.