M.B. McGrady & Co Beer and Bubbles 
Last Wednesday evening close to 100 runners (perhaps tempted by the promise of “Beer and Bubbles”) turned out to run in a charity event which took place in the Finnebrogue Woods. This fundraiser was hosted by M.B. Continue reading
BUZZARD’S ROOST
Niall Gibney did not give himself much downtime after his showing in the One Day Score Event before he returned to race in the mountains. This weekend was the Buzzard’s Roost Race, the final outing in NIMRA (Northern Ireland Mountain Running Association) 2022 Championship. Starting at Carrick Little, the route takes the runners along the line of the forest before ascending into the rocky tops of Lower Cove, Lamagan and Binian. Continue reading
EAST DOWN AC STAGGERED START RACE
Last week EDAC Thursday Night Training took the form of an “in club” event – a staggered start race. This is where coach Paul Burns scrutinises recent form in 5Ks and parkruns to set a running order for the individuals involved. Once he determines a potential time for each runner, the slowest one is allowed to start first with the second slowest held back on a time delay and a further gap to third slowest and so on until the club speedsters are eventually allowed to get underway. Continue reading
MILL HILL MILE
The 2022 version of the Mill Hill Mile took place on Tuesday 6th September, organised by Newcastle and District AC, with only the inconvenience of driving to the Upper Square in Castlewellan , finding a parking space, picking up your number from the van parked alongside The Library and walking back down the Hill to start at the bottom, to annoy the runners.. Mind you the challenge is sufficient to call into question the sanity of most normal runners, given that it involves running from the bottom alll the way to the top as quickly as possible. Continue reading
Firmus Fab Five
On Thursday 1st September the last of the Firmus Fab Five Track Meets took place. These events hosted by Lagan Valley AC take place at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast
DAME MARY PETERS
A host of Olympic stars pay tribute to Dame Mary Peters, who has had an aircraft named after her to mark the 40th anniversary of her gold medal victory in the 1972 Games
Most are aware that the track is named after Mary Peters but this is a suitable time to recall the occasion almost exactly 50 years ago when the lovely Mary fought tooth and nail to win her Gold Medal at the Munich Olympics in the pentathlon. People like me who actually lived through the Continue reading
Strangford Festival 5/10K
It was a jam packed weekend for many East Down AC members with plenty on offer runningwise starting with Friday Evening when an enthusiastic bunch headed to Strangford for the Festival 10K and 5K. The town was buzzing with music, food and entertainment and the racing provided the perfect side-show with spectators lining both sides of the streets to offer encouragement to the runners. The 10K went off first the 5K runners being held back to create a 5 minute gap. Continue reading
MAN O’ WAR 7K PROMOTED BY LUSK AC
This event, featuring an unusual distance hidden away on the roads of North County Dublin was discovered by EDAC’s Patrick Smith when on a visit to Laytown on Thursday, started and finished at the Man O’War Inn and Restaurant, a traditional Irish thatched roof hostelry nestling beside the appropriately named Man O’War Hil
Patrick commented that the 7K route around the quiet and picturesque country roads was simple and safe with the first 3K downhill (great) and was well marshalled, with 4 right hand turns meaning there were no navigation issues. However as the saying goes “what goes down must come up again” and so it proved with what Patrick described as a Mill Hill like climb up 4K to the finish line (not so great) at the front door of the inn. His final comment was that Negative splits are not possible on this route! However he was happy with his time of 35.51 and his placing of 51st of 106.
SCRABO HILL RACE