Weekly Report – 30th October-5th November 2023
Istanbul Marathon
Michael O’Donoghue was on his travels at the weekend taking part in the only (as far as I’m aware) marathon in the world that takes place on two continents. Quite a detailed travelog from Michael on the race:
“Many mixed feelings about this one, the organisers got so much right about the event; the ferry journey at the start had brass bands to greet us, the start over the Bosphorus Bridge was spectacular and the organisation was superb with water stops every kilometre. The only negative about the event was the course which after 7 miles veered onto a dual carriageway. Imagine Newry or the Great North Run transplanted onto an otherwise great event. If it wasn’t for this it would almost be as good as New York but instead there’s echoes of when Duncrue and the Sydenham Bypass were included in the Belfast Marathon.”
Well done Michael, always interested to see what you get up to next.
Michael O’Donoghue – 5.11.01
Stormont Cup
The main Orangegrove event for the weekend was closer to home with the Stormont Cup taking place on Sunday, which after a last-minute change of location was held at Victoria Park. This is an internal 5k handicap race, and the final event in this year’s Club Championship. As always, an unpredictable race and great fun to watch. Well done to everyone who took part in the race as well as our volunteers. Congratulations to Alan Montgomery, Selina Myles and Chris Woods finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The full results are shown in the tables below, and the final Club Championship standings will be revealed at the AGM.
Special mention to Selina Myles and Judith McCann running the race quicker than their parkrun PBs, obviously the internal club handicap races are the place to be if you want to set a new personal best!
Female
| Name | Finish Position | Start Time | Race Time | Finish Time | Club Championship Points |
| Selina Myles | 2nd | 6.11 | 25.16 | 31.27 | 20 |
| Judith McCann | 5th | 6.58 | 25.32 | 32.30 | 19 |
| Gemma Blake | 6th | 12.24 | 20.30 | 32.54 | 18 |
| Elaine Weston | 9th | 8.32 | 27.11 | 35.43 | 17 |
Male
| Name | Finish Position | Start Time | Race Time | Finish Time | Club Championship Points |
| Alan Montgomery | 1st | 0.00 | 30.03 | 30.03 | 20 |
| Chris Woods | 3rd | 8.56 | 23.14 | 32.10 | 19 |
| Gerald Harvey | 4th | 5.08 | 27.06 | 32.14 | 18 |
| David Montgomery | 7th | 14.31 | 18.26 | 32.57 | 17 |
| Brian Todd | 8th | 11.10 | 23.23 | 34.33 | 16 |
| Robin Montgomery | 10th | 14.04 | 22.38 | 36.42 | 15 |
Parkrun Report
04/11/23
A good few of us taking on new parkrun locations on Saturday with Jean Stone in Derry City, Heather Flint in Portrush, Emily Paisley in Omagh and Stephen Uprichard at Stormont. Emily has the most different locations out of these folks with Omagh being her 25th.
There was also a big milestone this week as Jenny Powell ran her 100th parkrun. Her best time was in 2016 when she ran a 25.34 parkrun in Victoria Park. This run had an age-grading of 59.45% but she has bettered this age-grading a few times over the last couple of years with her best age-grading now being 60.04% at Victoria Park in September 2023. Great work getting to the 100 Jenny!
Results
Derry City
Jean Stone – 33.42
Huddersfield
John Gribben – 36.53
Belfast Victoria
Tom Smith – 23.27
David Gilliland – 24.10
Paul Woodman – 25.42
Emma Smith – 26.33
Anna Rankin – 27.46
Gillian McGucken – 28.09
Portrush
Heather Flint – 26.34
Omagh
Emily Paisley – 28.00
Adrian Sproule – 31.11
Ormeau
David Montgomery – 21.32
Des Fahy – 21.59
Melinda Wilkinson – 29.59
Stormont
Sean Tanuvasa – 19.37
Gemma Blake – 21.01
Andrew Carson – 21.03
Steven Gilliland – 22.19
Stephen Anderson – 22.44
Pauline Bayliss – 23.43
Stephen Uprichard – 24.11
Alison Canning – 24.40
Keith Weir – 24.53
Reg Sanlon – 27.35
Jenny Powell – 31.26
Adrienne Savage – 31.27
Lisa Fleming – 31.27
Anne Devlin – 36.14
Stephen Craig – 36.14
Northwich
Verity Cornford – 28.35
Orangefield
Colin Simpson – 23.32
Selina Myles – 28.23
