Weekly Report – 10th April-16th April 2023

April 20, 2023 by Sean Tanuvasa

Whitehead Easter 5 mile road race

This race taking place in the quaint seaside town of Whitehead is the oldest non-champion race in Northern Ireland, having been contested since 1924. Always a popular event among local runners, Elaine Weston was representing the club.

Elaine Weston – 43.15

Hill & Dale Series – Race 1 – Castlewellan

A good Orangegrove AC turnout for the return of the Hill and Dale Series as six of us made the trip down to Castlewellan Forest Park for 5 miles of running and 1200 feet of climbing. Despite the rain and freezing conditions we’d been having, the day of the race itself was a pleasant evening – we seem to have had our few days of summer early this year. Well done to everyone who took part, especially Andrew Tees who finished 2^nd, less than a minute behind the winner.

Andrew Tees – 34.49
Thomas Parkins – 43.08
Sarah Steer – 54.01
Kerris Hamilton – 57.36
Emily Paisley – 1.00.14
Sharon Howe – 1.02.59

We Run Wild Islandmagee Marathon/Half-Marathon

Another Whitehead race, obviously a popular spot for running aficionados. This course offered stunning views around Islandmagee and some hills for those that are so inclined. Michael O’Donoghue completed the full marathon and Cameron Faulkner ran the half. Michael let us know that he did his “traditional” stop for ice-cream during the marathon – I’m not expecting anyone to do the same during the London Marathon this weekend.

Cameron Faulkner – 2.41.17

Michael O’Donoghue – 5.24.58

Neal Killen Shield 5k

The main event for the weekend was the Neal Killen Shield on Saturday at Victoria Park. An internal 5k handicap race organised for our Club Championship. The race was enjoyable as always and great to see so many Orangegrovers running. Well done to everyone running and thanks to the captains and volunteers for making it happen. Special well done to Emily Paisley, Selina Myles and Michael O’Donoghue finishing 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd. The full results are shown in the tables below.

Out of interest I had a dig through the results and it was a seriously quick event. Emily Paisley, Elaine Bates, Judith McCann, Anne Devlin, Keith Weir, Andrew McIntyre and myself all ran it faster than any parkrun we have ever done. Maybe we should do this every week.

Female

Name	Finish Position	Start Time	Race Time	Finish Time	Club Championship Points
Emily Paisley	1^st	0.45	25.25	26.10	20
Selina Myles	2^nd	0.00	26.18	26.18	19
Elaine Bates	7^th	1.24	26.00	27.24	18
Judith McCann	8^th	2.08	25.18	27.26	17
Anne Devlin	10^th	0.11	27.20	27.31	16
Sarah Steer	11^th	4.16	23.16	27.32	15
Pauline Bayliss	12^th	4.16	23.23	27.39	14
Emma Smith	13^th	2.23	25.21	27.44	13
Elaine Weston	15^th	2.57	24.59	27.56	12
Julie McKimm	16^th	6.14	21.57	28.11	11
Alison Canning	18^th	4.36	23.37	28.13	10

Male

Name	Finish Position	Start Time	Race Time	Finish Time	Club Championship Points
Michael O’Donoghue	3^rd	7.40	19.26	27.06	20
Sean Tanuvasa	4^th	9.48	17.22	27.10	19
Colin Simpson	5^th	5.01	22.11	27.12	18
Keith Weir	6^th	9.26	17.49	27.15	17
Andrew McIntyre	9^th	10.58	16.31	27.29	16
Andrew Carson	14^th	9.58	17.57	27.55	15
Stephen Anderson	17^th	6.38	21.34	28.12	14
Tom Smith	19^th	6.57	22.31	29.28	13
Brian Todd	20^th	6.11	23.19	29.30	12

Parkrun Report

15/04/23

One 5k on a Saturday obviously isn’t enough for some of us. Colin Simpson, Keith Weir and Selina Myles all doing a parkrun before the Neal Killen Shield! Making Selina’s 2^nd place finish in NKS even more impressive.

There was also a big milestone this Saturday as David Montgomery did his 100^th parkrun. Congrats David! His best time was in 2018 when he ran a 17.43 parkrun in Victoria Park – this had an age grading of 80.62%! David is yet to finish first at a parkrun, but he has finished 2^nd twice, once at Ormeau in 2018 and then at Carrickfergus in 2021. Maybe he’ll get a win sometime in the next 100!

Results

Belfast Victoria

Andrew Tees – 19.51
Robin Montgomery – 22.02
Chris Heaney – 24.14
Colin Simpson – 27.09
Verity Cornford – 27.47
Gillian McGucken – 28.45
Jill Holland – 29.27
Lisa Fleming – 29.28
Darren Moan – 31.57
Jean Stone – 34.50

Ormeau

David Montgomery – 21.23
Richard Bryson – 22.55

Antrim

Alan Martin – 30.17
Ian Wilson – 30.18
Mairead Napier – 38.43
Beverley Martin – 38.44

Stormont

Keith Weir – 21.27
Martin O’Brien – 22.45
Anna Rankin – 27.24
Selina Myles – 28.05
Stephen Hamilton – 35.59

Colin Glen

Lizzie McNicholl – 30.14

Orangefield

David Gilliland – 24.09

Knockbracken Reservoir

Melinda Wilkinson – 30.14