Weekly Report Monday 15th July – Sunday 21st July 2019
All roads seemed to lead to the North Coast this week as Portrush held The Open but no one told a large group of Orangegrove runners who headed in the opposite direction to take part in the latest Club Championship Race. Sea2Sky was the main event in what was otherwise a quiet week.
Portaferry Gala 10 Mile Race Tuesday 16th July (by Gillian Logan)
The annual Portaferry 10 mile Road Race events take place in the picturesque town along the shores of Strangford Lough. The race forms part of the annual Gala celebrations and sees a competitive field from all over NI make the journey on what was the a beautiful sunny evening for a good nights racing.
The event comprises a 10 mile individual race and a two person rely event (not to mention the traditional Gala Mug given to early entrants!) The route starts outside the sports arena and takes runners into the atmospheric Shore Road before tackling an undulating route through the scenic Co Down peninsula. With good support and marshalling along the route, runners are then given an impressive welcome back into the town square as it prepares for the annual Gala event activities.
OAC had one entrant in the 10 mile event and one participant in the relay race. Gillian Logan made a solid comeback to racing finishing in 01:20:20. Alan Montgomery made up the 2nd leg of the relay team’ Are We Nearly There Yet’? clocking 01:40:13.
All runners were treated to a much needed and tasty refreshments in the sports arena afterwards. Thanks for Mags and her team for top organisation as always.
Sea2Sky 10k Friday 19th July
The latest round of the club championship saw 25 members brave the rain, thunder, lightning, hills and mud for Born 2 Run’s Sea2Sky event in Newcastle. Starting on the promenade the route goes out the Annalong Road before turning back towards Donard Park and a steady climb to the edge of Donard Forest. This is the highest point of the course as well as the halfway mark. A scramble over open ground before a fast descent into Newcastle and a finish back on the promenade. Congratulations to Andy McIntyre for his second place finish in a field of 730 runners. Full results for Orangegrove are below and latest championship standings are on the club’s facebook page. The race was won by Gordy Graham (East Down AC) in 36:19 and Gladys Ganiel (North Belfast Harriers) in 28:41.
2 Andrew McIntyre
00:37:56
10 Danny Bradley
00:39:03
11 Michael Broadhead
00:39:07
26 David Montgomery
00:41:58
48 Robin Montgomery
00:44:09
66 Edwina Ternan
00:45:01
85 Michael O’Donoghue
00:46:10
118 Brian Todd
00:48:06
175 Steven Gilliland
00:50:27
231 Alison Canning
00:52:54
250 Alison McConnell
00:53:40
359 Judith McCann
00:58:03
371 Jill Holland
00:58:24
416 Emily Paisley
01:00:36
424 Adrienne Savage
01:01:07
423 Brian McFarland
01:01:08
435 Catherine McIntyre
01:01:28
460 Jenny Powell
01:02:59
492 Elaine Weston
01:04:19
544 Paul Tyro
01:06:47
562 Anna Rankin
01:07:39
615 Marcia Sharkey
01:10:44
617 Gillian Fisher
01:11:37
667 Hannah Montgomery
01:16:34
Acorns AC Bluebells 5km Saturday 20th July (by Gillian Logan)
Gillian Logan made the journey west of The Bann to take part in the annual Acorns AC Bluebells 5km at the stunning Lough Fea in Co Tyrone.
The female only event is organised by Cookstown based Acorns AC and takes a one and a quarter loop round the banks of the lake nestled within the Sperrin Region of Mid Ulster.
With the weather being so poor on Friday it turned out to be a warm and dry day for the trail race but some gusty winds on the easterly side of the lough made for a good battle.
181 ‘Belles’ took part with Gillian producing a solid 23.24 to come 16th, which was her 2nd race in the space of a few days having ran Portaferry 10 miler on Tuesday.
Gillian was well rewarded with a lovely pink running vest and super spread of sandwiches, tea and cakes at the finish line.
A friendly and welcoming event which comes highly recommend to other female club members for next year.
The Barclay Races Sunday 21st July
A series of races for well known blind runner Tony Barclay took place in Carrickfergus on Sunday. There were three distances all run around the Carrickfergus parkrun course- 10k, half marathon and marathon. Michael O’Donoghue represented Orangegrove AC and finished in 5:06:03 (14/26) in a race won by Jianping Zhang (3:40:27) and Jill McCann (4:05:15). A fantastic total of £2048 was raised for Tony.
PARKRUN
There wasn’t the usual OAC representation at Victoria parkrun probably due to the exertions of the night before. Furthest travelled this week was Keith Weir who finished a creditable 3rd in Chrzanow parkrun in Poland. Reg Scanlon was a first timer at Dungloe parkrun. Elaine Weston got a new PB at Stranmillis and a band of five (Selina Myles, Catherine McIntyre, Lisa Fleming, Melinda Wilkinson and Michael O’Donoghue) were part of Sixmilewater’s first event in Ballyclare. A full consolidated set of results can be found by clicking the link below.
