Born2Run Comes to a Close

The Castlewellan 5K/10K was the 6th and final race in this year’s Run Forest Run series. The race started and finished in the Forest Park down at the lakeside with the castle as an imposing backdrop. Once the whistle went the runners headed into the forest with views of both Mourne Mountains and Castlewellan Lake along the route to take their minds off the running. There were 4 entries from East Down AC. Wayne Giles and James Cuffey ran in the 10k and Anna Gardiner and Sharon Madine were in the 5k.

James had another decent 10K run and finished 62nd out of 488 runners in a time of 45.49. Wayne was 242nd and happy with his time of 55.55. In the 5K Anna finished 5th overall and added another win to her ever increasing tally by taking First Female in a time of 18.37. Sharon ran 20.47 which ranked her 5th Female. They have enjoyed the series with the variations of location and the fact that they are on trail means that the runners are less focussed on time and can just enjoy the experience albeit putting in a fine effort.

Jimmy’s 10 Recce Run

2023 sees a new course for this popular road race and many of the EDAC  members were keen to give it a go over in advance to see how it felt. Some of the members will be on pacing duties on Race Day (12th March at 10.30am) so they need to be sure that they can bring home their followers at the right time. Therefore a recce run was organised for Sunday morning and the outing was made open to all. Several runners turned up to tag along with the club runners and as ever EDAC showed a warm welcome. After the run there was cake and coffee which went down well. The route is certainly flatter than the previous course with the Cathedral Hill no longer included and the fact that it is on the main roads throughout rather than returning by the towpath will avoid congestion for the competitors. The winner will get the chance to set the course record as the inaugural run and with quicker times on the horizon, the Club has offered a cash bonus of £100 which will go to the winner if they can break 31 minutes (on top of the usual £200 prize). The equivalent offer to the Females will be based on a sub 35 minute winning time.

One Runner is in the prizes before he even reaches the start line. David Thompson of Killyleagh was delighted to learn that he was the lucky winner of the Better Naked Food hamper offered by race sponsor Finnebrogue Artisan in a Valentine’s Day Draw. His prize was delivered to his door by Dee Murray. 

The race is now less than 3 weeks away so you need to get yourself organised if you want to take part. Entries are online at https://register.enthuse.com/ps/event/Jimmys10K2023