Weekly Report – 4th December-10th December 2023

Malaga Half-Marathon

Colin Simpson enjoyed some respite from Winter in Northern Ireland by travelling to the beautiful coastal city of Malaga for the Half-Marathon on Sunday. This is one of the flattest and fastest half-marathons in the world, with only a 7-meter elevation difference between the highest and lowest points, and there are only 7 turns along the route, making it the half-marathon with the fewest curves in Europe.

Colin Simpson – 1.44.30

NIMRA Run for Rescue 2023

Closer to home Sarah Steer was representing Orangegrove AC in the NIMRA Run for Rescue 2023. This is hilly trail race with an ascent of 265m over the 6 miles. The race is organised by NIMRA with all proceeds from the race going to Mourne Mountain Rescue. Well done Sarah!

Sarah Steer – 1.11.38

Irwin Speirs Memorial XC

The Mid Ulster Sports Arena in Cookstown was hosting the latest round of the cross country league on Saturday, with the conditions once again proving challenging. Well done to Brian Todd for representing OAC in this race – signing up to a cross-country race even without being hassled by David Montgomery to do so is an achievement in itself.

Brian Todd – 28.14

Parkrun Report

09/12/23

Lots of parkrun tourism this weekend from OAC. Congrats to Gemma Blake who was running Queen’s parkrun for the first time and finished as first female – she’s in great running form at the moment finishing in the top 3 female finishers in each of her last 5 parkruns.

Andrew Bates and Elaine Bates were running Lisburn parkrun for the first time, obviously the dreadful hill I mentioned in the report last week must have sold it for you. If that’s what you’re after though you probably can’t do any better than the parkrun Michael O’Donoghue was running for the first time this week – Hilly Fields parkrun. Based on the name I’m assuming this is his favourite parkrun of all time and I will never run it. If anyone knows of a Flat Roads parkrun please let me know.

Alison Canning and Emily Paisley were also visiting new locations, running Mile End and Poolbeg respectively. Well done everyone for taking part in the wet!

Results

Bushy

Anna Rankin – 28.54

Belfast Victoria

Andrew Carson – 22.36
Stephen Uprichard – 25.27
Luke Reid – 25.53
David Fletcher – 26.22
Gillian McGucken – 29.16

Mile End

Alison Canning – 24.57

Queen’s Belfast

Gemma Blake – 21.25

Wallace Lisburn

Andrew Bates – 24.20
Jemma Smyth – 28.20
Elaine Bates – 29.15

Hilly Fields

Michael O’Donoghue – 39.05

Ormeau

David Montgomery – 21.54

Stormont

Andrew McIntyre – 18.38
Kimberley Reynolds – 26.20
Reg Sanlon – 26.32
Melinda Wilkinson – 30.21
Stephen Craig – 37.49
Anne Devlin – 37.49

Poolbeg

Emily Paisley – 28.17

Orangefield

Jean Stone – 35.19