PRESENTATION NIGHT A BIG SUCCESS
A very enjoyable presentation night for participants in the McGrady Financial Services Junior Cross Country League, was held in Shimna College on Monday night, at which a superbly knowledgeable panel of Zak Hanna, Diane Watson and Jim Patterson answered some very astute questions from the audience, before presenting trophies to all the prizewinners.
JUNIORS AT FIRMUS ENERGY FAB 5 (Round 2)
Several of them carried on the good work of recent weeks at Mary Peters Tack on Thursday night in Round 2 of the Firmus Energy Fab 5 Series, hosted by Lagan Valley AC. The beauty of this series is that athletes get the chance to try out different distances and events, as well as the more common ones that they’re used to.
In the large entry in the 60m Under 11 Girls race Ella Telford 9th was the first of a trio of EDAC juniors completed by Erin Moore 15th and Kari Foster 18th out of 24 entrants.
TO SPRINT OR TOO LONG?
After winning the Under 13 200m race Ollie Robinson tried out the 1500m, coming 7th of 13 entrants, whereupon he promptly declared that sprinting is his thing!
He also competed in the North Down Minis on Tuesday night, winning the 80m and placing third in the 600m followed by Callum Kent in 4th. At this event also Emily Burns came 3rd in the 600m just being pipped on the line and Alex Robinson came 4th in the 600m again just losing out on a podium place in the final 2-3m of the race.
Callum Kent and Ollie Robinson battling it out P7 boys 600m in Bangor
Emily Burns – on the podium Bangor 3rd in P7 Girls 600m
Back to the Firmus competition again and Lauren Madine and Lucy Foster continued their domination of the distance events, with Lauren winning the 1500m from Lucy in 2nd place, while later Edie Carroll improved her performance over 2017 taking a 3rd place in the Under 17 Girls 800m.
Edie Carroll – 3rd in U17 800m at Mary Peter’s Track
H & D ROUND 3 – SLIEVE MARTIN
This week it was to Rostrevor and the ascent of Slieve Martin, that was the focus of the H&D brigade on Thursday night. Neil Andrews 40.21 continued his recent good form, leading the East Down squad home in 28th place with relative newcomer Niall Gibney 45.17 in 65th. Deirdre Weatherall 48.10 was the first of the East Down Ladies to finishclaiming100th place, while Jonny Kelly was 126th in his first outing of the season, with Paddy McDonald finishing in 202nd. Cheryl Denvir, Lisa Milligan, Janine Murray and Oonagh Brétéché, completed the East Down’s runners, finishing in close proximity to each other, in what was a near 300 strong field.
LONG DISTANCE AT A LONG DISTANCE
The publicity blurb for the Big Sur International Marathon states that “it is a point-to-point course run on scenic CA Highway 1 from Big Sur to Carmel the last Sunday each April. Towering redwoods, crashing waves, coastal mountains and verdant pastures are featured on this bucket list course. The centerpiece of the course is the iconic Bixby Bridge, located at the halfway point of the race, where you’ll be greeted by a tuxedo-ed musician playing a Yamaha Baby Grand Piano”.
Quite different from Belfast then? and certainly it was a very tough but nonetheless enjoyable experience for East Down’s Chris Smith who although struggling to complete training due to a difficult to shift injury, still managed a commendable 4.05 for the 26.2 miles distance.
Chris Smith EDAC in California – Big Sur International marathon
GAVIN AND DEE LONE WOLVES
Gavin Mc Convey completed his third 10K in 8 days – Ballynahinch Lions last week then Dundalk 10k mid week – he beat last year’s time by almost 4 mins (54.28) before topping it off in the Almac 10k (Craigavon) on Sunday 54.36.
Dee Muray was the sole EDAC runner in the Scrabo Striders novel Runway 10K on Friday and he certainly kept the colours to the fore, with 5th place in a field of almost 300 runners
THE LIONS 3 LAKES CHALLENGES
Saturday 12th May is the date for this year’s 3 Lakes Challenge Races, with the event offering 7 and 15K distances. The event is a fundraiser for Lions charities with the beneficiary this year being the Downs Syndrome Association and the Cure Parkinson’s Trust for which my Justgiving page is Joe’s 3 Lakes
Challenge. Online entries for the 15K only can be made at
Entries will also be taken on the day for BOTH RACES.
Joe Quinn
30 April 2018