Speeding, moi…?

Trying to keep the report short this week and allow the pictures to paint a thousand words…

Runners at the Valley parkrun: Gavin Knipe 19:00 first place finisher and new PB… Brendan McGeown 23:32 first timer runner at the Valley, Paul Skillen 25:55 staggering, Martin McCready 25:58 forever supporting. Carol Leckie 27:29 cruising with a new PB, Steven Boyd 00:27:38, Jessica Wilson 28:51, Robert Jackson 31:50 new PB, Kelly Bell 32:51 new PB, Tom Wylie 32:52 supporting again, Anna-Marie Barrington 33:33, Ian Simpson 34:42, Kelly Nelson 36:09 new PB, Lorraine Forsythe 39:11, Special thank you to the band of Mallusk Harriers that volunteered at the Valley parkrun, without these volunteers, there would be no event: Gillian Bainbridge (tail runner) Jennifer Butler (howling abuse, oops sorry marshalling…) Karen Marsden (pleasantly marshalling, oops howling abuse…) Leeanne Skillen (Scanner) Leah Skillen (Scanner) Not forgetting other Harriers out on the course offering ‘gentle’ words of encouragement, well that’s how it sounded when I passed them both, (still waiting on that envelope though) Fidelma McCoppin & Martin Mc Court.

Down the street at the Waterworks event: Patrick J Hamill 24:34, Louise Ladd smashing in a new PB 26:54, Joanne Haddock 34:31, with Alan Ladd volunteering. Whilst over at Victoria parkrun: Robbie Gould 19:30 new PB for the course, Mark Hay 22:31, Robert Gould 22:45, Julie Tully 32:05 Continuing to try out new courses throughout was the lonely Harrier Clare Teer who took part in the Oxford event in the UK and returned home in 34:38, very well done Clare.

Now the most important rule if you are travelling with work or just on a short break… barcode, trainers, shorts & top, packing sorted… If you decided that the 5km may be a little too short, then as Michael McAuley did on Saturday afternoon, take part in the O’Brien Challenge 26 Kilo-marathon at Davagh Forest. I believe Michael described the race as ‘challenging’, although there were a few other choice words used, but as the junior runners read the reports we shall stick with challenging. However challenging it may have been Michael did return in an extremely good time for the 26.2km run in a time of 2:12:37 in 18th place.

And then there was Sunday…

The third annual Divis 10k race hosted by Action on Hearing Loss Northern Ireland, saw a few Harriers brave the elements to take on what is a fantastic mountain and trial race, results as follows: 17th Patsy Hamill 44:42, 21st Patrick McGuckian 47:20 29th Alan Ladd 48:54, 30th Martin McCready 49:00, 35th Brian McDonald 51:51, 49th Dave Gibson 55:12 51st Tom Wylie 55:53, 59th Noel Bloomfield 1:00:33 61st Sarah Dinsmore 1:01:12, 82nd Jessica Wilson 1:08:46. For the second day running a huge special thank you to those who volunteered and to those who supported the Harriers crossing the line home, Anne Smith, who was not only marshalling but captured some classy snaps. Jennifer Butler, Gillian Bainbridge, Maeve O’Gorman, Fidelma McCoppin and Leeanne and Paul Skillen and the band of mini Harriers who I am led to believe kept the coffee shop entertained, namely little Odhrán, with his singing of ‘London bridge’ and robot breakdancing whilst awaiting on the field to return, sure what else would you be doing on a winters day in July… Although a massive thank you to Martin McCready and Action on Hearing Loss NI, ensuring the race got the go ahead even against the coldest, harshest elements from the kind Irish weather… I have kept the report as short as possible, and this allows me more time to search down the back of the sofa for some loose change as I believe I may have been captured by the parked up ‘poke van’ at Sandyknowes for speeding, don’t mind but I wasn’t even running, damn…

Again apologies if any of our runners have been missed out in this week’s report… Safe running to you all, ‘pay it forward…’ and remember ‘Right to the Line…’

Paul Skillen