THE KILLYLEAGH 5
The Killyleagh Five Mile Race turned up on Saturday morning, 2 months earlier than its traditional slot, on the last Friday of August, but was largely ignored by local club runners, mostly on the pretext that there is so much on that they can’t be everywhere. That’s a perfectly valid excuse for not running – if you actually do run somewhere else!! But I have checked all the results of the weekend events and apart from the half dozen or so from EDAC who ran the Ards Half Marathon on Friday night, and the Hill & Dalers who finished off their 2016 season also on Friday no one from East Down ran anywhere! Even an appeal for marshals to come forward for a half hour on Saturday morning failed to elicit any response. So where was everyone? I accept that runners can and will decide for themselves where, when and in what company they choose to run, but local events depend on the local runners for support and in many instances the income from such races is the lifeblood of small organisations, in this instance the local Alzheimer’s Society group, who struggle for funding. The advent of Park Run which offers a free 5K race in numerous locations every Saturday morning has not helped either and while it has its place I believe it has had a detrimental effect on small rural races.
It was very disappointing to see just one dozen runners take off from the Frederick Street start line at 11.00 am on Saturday morning and while others may say that we got our advertising wrong etc, there were runners from Belfast and Newry as well as Newcastle, Murlough and East Down.
It is hoped that a better turn out will ensue at the Killyleagh Half Marathon and 3 person Relay on Saturday 27 August.
RACE ORGANISER’S HUMBLE PIE
Anyway moan over – To the race itself, last year’s winner Newcastle’s Martin Melville was favourite to retain his title but was expected to come under pressure from Newry City’s Chris Devine, Orangegrove’s Paul Woodman and East Down’s Paul Burns. In the event, and just to emphasise that no -one is infallible, the race took an unexpected turn for the worse, as did Marty and Chris, when accidentally misdirected at the Crossgar road crossing and by the time they realised the mistake Paul had gone. Despite their best efforts they were unable to pull back the lead he established and he crossed the line with 8 seconds to spare in 29.28.
I apologise sincerely to both Marty and Chris for this unfortunate error, which was entirely my responsibility, I was the missing marshal. I thank them for the good grace with which they accepted the outcome and hope that the compensation offer is some consolation.
First woman home was Murlough’s Niamh O’Connell who was third in last year’s race.
HILL & DALE FINALE
Friday night saw the last of the 11 races in the Hill and Dale series and East Down athletes came out of it with considerable success. Best of them on Friday night was Neil Andrews in 21st place, closely followed by Davy Foster in 23rd and who incidentally also turned out next morning in Killyleagh.
In the overall results pride of place has to go to Gavin Hynds who in his first season completed all eleven races and was 5th in the Male Over 35 category with Michael Cultra and Davy Foster 6th and 8th respectively
Neil Andrews was 13th overall in the Male Open category. And Stephen Heasley was 5th in the Male Over 50.
HOW THE LADIES DID
In the various Ladies categories best performance came from Niamh Kellett who placed 2nd in the Female Open, with Joanne Foster in 7th, equating to 5th and 16th overall
Wendy Findlay was 4th in the Female Over 45 category, a fitting reward for her consistency over the season
ARDS HALF MARATHON
Friday night too saw the Ards Half Marathon get under way at 6.30 and in this toughest of challenges, David Smith took his PB to a very respectable 1.32.55 with Mick McCreesh making a return to form in 1.38.05. Michael McKeown was pleased with returning 1.39.30 after a tough race in Newry a few weeks ago, while Gareth Fegan chipped some time off his 2015 time, crossing the line in 1.43.28. Clare Carson was our only female participant and set an excellent PB of 1.44.35. I was happy to get round in 2.07.50, though Sunday stairs were a sharp reminder of “the day after the day after”. .
NEXT WEEK
In fact on today Wednesday 29th, the annual Loughinisland 5.05 miles race takes place at 7.30 pm and again everyone’s invited. The Ballydrain Harriers promoted 10K in Comber on 2 July is next after that. Ballydrain are exceptional supporters of Jimmy’s Ten and indeed of almost every East Down event so I am appealing for a record turnout from East Down athletes for this one.
After that it’s Killough on Monday 11 July at 7.30pm, for the Shore 10K. Entries taken on the day for Loughinisland and Killough.
Joe Quinn
27 June 2016