Flurry of activity for Springwell Running Club this week

There were two races in the Mournes this week. On Thursday (May 25) Race 6 of the Hill & Dale series took place on Luke’s Mountain in the Mournes on a 4.5-mile course with over 1,400 feet of elevation and another strong run from Bernadette O’Kane saw her finish 53rd in a time of 49:06.

The Pat Dunbar Memorial Race on Saturday (May 27) was a 13km course around Rocky Mountain with 680m of elevation. With a wealth of mountain running experience in the Mournes Colin Brennan finished in 1:34:15 to win his age category and finish 38th overall.

Furey Insurance Buncrana 5k

Thursday saw the very popular Furey Insurance 5k event return to Buncrana. Springwell RC had two members at the race and an impressive run from David Shiels saw him finish in 19:33 for 81st (2nd M55) while Seamus McAteer ran 23:38 for 140th. Running with her dad Amy McAteer, who runs as a junior for Foyle Valley Athletics Club, was 146th with an impressive 24:57.

Ballyclare Mayfair 5 & 10k Races

Saturday was the final day of the Ballyclare Mayfair and it was a successful day for the trio of Springwell RC members who made the journey for the annual Mayfair Road Races hosted by County Antrim Harriers. In the 5k Rodney McPhee ran a personal best of 17:46 to finish 10th (3rd M40) while Deborah McPhee also claimed a personal best of 22:42 for 45th (2nd F35). In the 10k David Shiels won his age category with 41:24 for 26th (1st M55).

Marconi 5

Hosted by Ballycastle Runners AC on Sunday (May 28), the Marconi 5-mile race took competitors on a scenic run from the tennis courts in Ballycastle out along the coast

to a turn at Marconi’s Cottage before the return journey to the finish back at the tennis courts. Oh, and there was a climb up to the Corrymeela Centre on the way back, just to test the legs, but what goes up must come down and the descent made all the work getting up there worthwhile!

Ryan Galway had an excellent race and a strong run on the way back saw him claim third spot on the podium with a personal best performance. After his efforts in Ballyclare the previous day, Rodney McPhee showed no running hangover as he finished in 6th (1st M40) with Jenny Chartres 19th (1st FO), David McGaffin 30th (1st M55) and Patricia Craig 61st (1st F60) also claiming age category wins.

Springwell RC - 3rd Ryan Galway 29:27 PB, 6th Rodney McPhee 31:08 (1st M40), 15th Jonathan McNabb 33:07 PB, 19th Jenny Chartres 34:42 (1st FO), 30th David McGaffin 36:12 (1st M55), 32nd Jonathan Huddlestone 36:31, 48th Deborah McPhee 39:15 PB, 53rd Patrick Magee 40:03 PB, 61st Patricia Craig 40:58 (1st F60), 71st Janet Patrick 42:01, 95th Andrew Wilmot 45:36, 108th Roisin Walker 47:26, 118th Pauline Duke 48:32, 128th Gemma Wray 49:45, 138th Karen Garvin 50:39, 150th Paula Chartres 51:50.

Edinburgh Marathon Festival

The Edinburgh Marathon festival on May 27 and 28 saw four Springwell RC members in action at three of the distances available. Saturday saw Sheila McConnell run in the 10k event where she finished 1302nd with a time of 1:06:13, while on the Sunday Alana Millar took on the challenging 26.2 miles of the marathon which she completed in 4:52:40 for 5361st place. Seamus McAteer and Colin Connolly were otherwise engaged with the half marathon which Seamus ran in 1:53:14 to finish 3419th while Colin ran 2:12:06 for 6882nd.

Newry City Half Marathon

The Newry City Half Marathon took place on Sunday and despite the hot and challenging conditions there were some excellent results from the seven Springwell RC members who made the journey to County Down. Yet another strong run from John Butcher saw him finish 62nd in the 800 strong field with a time of 1:28:14 while Gael Butcher continued a great run of form, that has seen her recently run personal bests at 5k and marathon distances, by running a personal best at this distance.

Springwell RC - 62nd John Butcher 1:28:14, 344th Pauline Mullan 1:48:23, 355th Gael Butcher 1:49:06 PB, 423rd Michael McKeown 1:53:56, 732nd Alison Duncan

2:20:06, 733rd Heather McLaughlin 2:20:06, 764th Ingrid Hamilton 2:26:40

Parkrun

A warm and sunny Saturday morning saw 65 Springers parkrunning at eleven different venues with five personal bests.

Oriam - Colin CONNOLLY 28:45; Ecos - Patrick MAGEE 26:36, Liz MCLAUGHLIN 38:45; Portrush - David O’NEILL 18:44, Rhys WALKER 19:20, Andy WHITEFORD 19:24, Gareth MCLAUGHLIN 20:18 PB, Maurice WALKER 21:12, Shaun CARTON 21:21 PB, David MCGAFFIN 22:09, Fiona PRUE 22:26, Judith BUCHANAN 22:29, Fiona

MARTIN 22:38, Catherine PINKERTON 22:41, Paul LAVERTY 23:22, George BRIEN 23:45, Reid JACK 24:15, Gary MOORE 24:49, Mervyn THOMPSON 25:21, Cathy ADAMS 25:42, Mervyn ADAMS 26:19, Maria QUINN 26:57, Sylvia POLLOCK 27:14, Andrew WILSON 27:38, Alan PLATT 28:39, Liz DOWEY 29:10, Patricia CRAIG 29:21, Aisling HYNES 29:25, Kay HACK 29:47, Bernie HANNIGAN 30:02, Pauline DUKE 30:22, Barry MCBRIDE 30:25, Gemma WRAY 30:44, Roisin WALKER 31:25, Fergal MACKLE 31:41, Caitriona MACKLE 32:06, Lorraine ABERNETHY 33:55, Emer THOMPSON 34:28, Elaine MONTGOMERY 35:08, Iris WILSON 35:59, Kenneth BACON 50:06, Andrew WILMOT 56:02.

Ormeau - Conor SHIELDS 21:56 PB; Antrim - Bernadette O’KANE 20:11 PB; Castlewellan - Gary KENDALL 21:15; Limavady - Kevin MCLEAN 21:31, Fergus THOMPSON 22:19, Pauline MULLAN 22:54, John BUTCHER 23:24, Leanne QUIGLEY 24:12, Janet PATRICK 24:53, Andrew GAULT 29:02, Alan STEEN 29:46, Alan WHITE 29:49, Nicola WHITE 29:49, Linda MC MICHAEL 30:07, John MCMICHAEL 30:45, Alison C DUNCAN 47:38.

Buncrana - Chris DENTON 17:31 PB; Deerpark Forest - Catherine BYERS 36:41; Garvagh Forest - Peter TEES 20:07, Majella MCATEER 24:05; Limepark Playing Fields - James HUGHES 23:06, Jim BREEN 27:39.