Weekly Report Monday 27th May – Sunday 2nd June 2019

TRACK, TRAILS, MOUNTAINS, DRUMLINS AND MARATHONS
This week saw two track meetings and five main races with Orangegrove representation

IRISH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS (Report by Gillian Sykes)

Saturday saw 7 of the Orangegrove Juniors compete at the Irish Schools Championship finals…..122 finals on one day…!
This is the highlight of the athletics calendar for secondary/Grammar aged athletes.
Qualifying for Ireland’s is no easy task…with heats and finals in districts to get a top 3 place in….and then securing a top 2 place in the Ulster Championships to get your ticket to the All Ireland finals in Tullamore.
It’s a long 3+ hour journey …..but it was soooooo worth it. Medals and PB’s all round for the sensational 7…!
Results as follows…
Matthew Sykes – Junior Boys 100m – 3rd in Ireland & BRONZE MEDAL 🥉11.73. Matthew went from 6th place in Ulster last year …to 3rd in the whole of Ireland …!!
Adam Sykes – Intermediate Boys 100m – PB 11.09 – 6th place (**CLUB RECORD ALERT**)
Rory Carson – Intermediate Boys 200m – PB 22.95. – 7th place. Rory is a year young in this age group ….which makes for a fantastic opportunity next year…!
Adam Sykes – Intermediate Boys 200m – PB 22.62 -5th place (**CLUB RECORD ALERT**). In an absolutely stacked field of amazing talent.
Anna McKinty Intermediate Girls Triple Jump – smashed her 10.90 PB…..and jumped 11.30…!! Bringing home a SILVER MEDAL 🥈(**CLUB RECORD ALERT**) Anna is also a year young in this age category….!!
Lewis Hamilton, Nathan Stewart, Joseph McNaughten, Adam Sykes….in spectacular fashion destroyed the field in the 4x100m Relay…..and secured the Intermediate boys IRISH SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE🥇 along with a very nice 🏆 . They have been chasing this title for the 5th year….. and this achievent in the middle of their GCSE’s is sooooo well deserved with all the work they have put in.
Thanks to all the mums and dads who came down and supported everyone….it was a fantastic and emotional day.
Very proud of all their achievements 🌟🌟🌟🌟….and it’s the first time we’ve had more than 2 athletes qualify for the Irish Champs…!
Many thanks to Keith McClure photography for some of these amazing photos

Woodburn Forest, (Tuesday 28th May, 2019) Report by Brian Todd

The second race of this lovely little series took place last Tuesday evening in the hills above Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. As with the previous race the start and finishing mats were on the path adjacent to Woodburn Presbyterian Church. The first race was three miles; this one was four and a half miles. The paths, trails and shale tracks of Woodburn make for wonderful forest running. The weather helped too. It was a beautiful sunny evening with magnificent visibility all round, but cool enough to keep the midges at bay and to facilitate enjoyable running. The route this time involved the usual run down to and partly around the middle reservoir. However, instead of following the full perimeter of the water we moved sharply uphill at the back of the reservoir to follow a circuitous series of trails (some of them quite remote) back towards the finish, joining the infamous finishing hill about 300 metres short of the mats. It was a challenging enough route that seemed longer than the designated distance and which contained a number of hills at very ‘inconvenient’ places which had the capacity to take the wind out of one’s sails. As always, grateful thanks to County Antrim Harriers for an enjoyable evening amongst the pine.
Highlight of the Orangegrove presence was a great run by Edwina Ternan to finish on the podium as third lady and 22nd overall. Well done Edwina!
The following times were achieved by the OAC contingent and accompanying friends:
Edwina Ternan…31.09.
(Colin Simpson…31.46).
Brian Todd…32.00.
Trudy Brown…34.05.
Verity Cornford…36.25.
(Cathy Fraser…37.34)
Jill Holland…38.00.
(Emma McWilliams…39.46)
Adrienne Savage…39.55.
Woodburn Race 2 was won by Paul Hornan (North Belfast Harriers) in 25.55 and Allyson O’Toole (East Coast Runners) was first lady in 29.46.
The final race of the series is on Tuesday 11th June at 7.30pm (5 miles) and it can be entered online as a single race.

Hill and Dale Race 7 Millstone (Thursday 30th May)

The latest edition of Newcastle AC’s Hill and Dale Series started at Donard Park and made its way to the top of Millstone Mountain via the quad burning Granite Trail. A nice descent back down towards Donard Forest is followed by a long forest trail run to the finish with a couple of unexpected mini climbs involved. The race was won by Seamus Lynch (Newcastle AC) in 38:36 and Esther Dickson (Newry AC) in 44:36. Representing OAC were the following
4th Andrew Tees 41:52 (1st M35)
60th Robin Montgomery 50:59
194th Judith Dalzell 1:23:51

Cairncastle Classic – 1st June 2019 (Report by Andrew Tees)

The Cairncastle Classic is a new addition to the NIMRA championship for 2019. Organised by East Coast AC, the race started on the beach in Ballygally and wound through country lanes and fields onto the Antrim Hills Way, taking in the summit of Knock Dhu, Scawt, and the clifftops of Sallagh Braes. Comprising 10 miles and 700m of ascent, it is a very runnable course and a nice bit of variation from the steep and technical slopes of the Mournes! With the finish line being on the beach, chilling tired legs in the sea after the race was an added bonus!
The race was won by Mourne Runners’ Tim Johnston in 1:13:09 and Esther Dickson of Newry AC was first lady and 18th overall in 1:29:52.
For Orangegrove, Andrew Tees finished in 1:25:47 for 10th place.

Kilmood 4 Mile Race. Florida Manor Estate, Sunday, 2nd June, 2019. (Report by Brian Todd)

You have probably not heard of the village of Kilmood or its nearby magnificent 200 acre estate, Florida Manor, currently in the ownership of the Lagan Construction family, Well, neither had I until I was persuaded to run in the Kilmood Four Mile Race on Sunday afternoon. Kilmood is a village near Lisbane in the Killinchy area and the race, by Atlas Running, was in support of the Kilmood Playgroup. The entire race was in the beautifully manicured grounds of the estate which had just about everything, magnificent historic buildings, lakes, woodland, meadow, gardens, prancing horses and, most importantly, runner friendly roads and paths. The weather was magnificent too, dry, sunny and warm without being oppressive. The course consisted of two, two-mile laps of a fairly undulating course which was only to be expected in this part of deepest rural Co. Down. A magnificent feast awaited the finishers which was presented in a marquee which would not have been out of place at a high-end society wedding in Surrey. What a lovely way to spend a few hours in the countryside in June and for a worthy cause too! There were two Orangegrove participants, Elaine Weston and Brian Todd, and their times were as follows: Brian Todd…29.22 (13/73). Elaine Weston…35.15 (32/73). The Kilmood Four Mile Race was won by Kyle Ross (Ballydrain Harriers) in 23.33 and the first lady home was Lisa Corry (Saintfield Striders) in 27.18.

Walled City Marathon Sunday 2nd June 2019

The fab four of Darren Houston, Michael O’Donoghue, Heather Shanks-Miller and Dave Gribben made their way to the North West. Starting at the Everglades Hotel, the route heads towards Newbuildings to a turning point. Coming back into the city, you cross the Craigavon Bridge, take a left and run another loop before crossing the bridge again. At the 16 mile point there is a tough climb up the Limavady Road before dropping down to the banks of the River Foyle. Crossing the peace bridge at 20 miles gives the runners a last six miles which includes a final hill at mile 25 before finishing at Guild Hall Square. Times for the fab four were
Dave Gribben 3:22:50
Michael O’Donoghue 4:03:07
Heather Shanks-Miller 4:04:10
Darren Houston 4:19:47
Eric Koech of Project Africa (2:34:19) and Natalie Hall of Armagh AC (3:03:35) were victorious.

NORTHERN IRELAND AND ULSTER AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS

Congratulations to Isaac Orr for a fantastic 2nd place in the 60m today in Donegal at the N.Ireland & Ulster Age Group championships. Well done also to Lucas McKeown for a brilliant 6th place in the Long Jump and 13th in the 60m (out of 30), as well as Sarah Van der Linde and Martha Orr who both performed really well over 80m and Long Jump, results tbc.

PARKRUN

There was the usual good turnout at parkrun with Victoria Park hosting 28 OACers. Congratulations to Danny Bradley, Gemma Blake and David Roberts on their PBs. Elaine Weston achieved a massive PB at Stranmillis. Congratulations also to Keith Weir who was a first timer and a first placer at Orangefield. Alison Hall-Thompson and Jenny Powell were first timers at Comber as was Darren Moan in Sligo.
A full consolidated list of Orangegrove members can be found via the link below
https://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=17953