Safety first…

Every day is a school day…

Even the most experienced of us has something to learn when out on the roads…
As we are fast approaching the winter months a huge emphasis should be placed on runner’s etiquette and our choice of clothing to suit the early evening light.
A few points to note:

  • Please ensure to merge into single file when other users are on the pavement.
  • If you find yourself on an open country road, something you may find around Mallusk, please ensure to run facing the traffic and ‘NO’ headphones …
  • Also remember safety in numbers.
  • During the winter months ensure to dress in high bright ‘reflective’ clothing.
  • Another good investment, which were used by many last year are armband lights or head torches, better to be seen than sorry…

Saturday saw 21 of our runners take to the Parkrun events with 19 remembering their coveted barcode, while 2 members just weighed in for the run.

Valley results saw Gavin Knipe return after a few weeks off to take second spot in a time of 19:23. Gavin was followed home by Alex Davidson in fifth spot in 21:57. In seventh place and first lady home was our very own Susan Thompson with a new personal best for the Valley course of 22:19, smashing time Susan…
Also returning home were; Jim Hewitt 25:44 new PB for the Valley, Chloe Davidson 27:37 new PB, Jessica Wilson 28:14, Ben Davidson 29:40 and Robert Jackson 30:03 new PB.

Whilst up the road a good handful of our runners attended the birthday bash at the Antrim parkrun, who celebrated their 99th event and their second anniversary. ‘A sea of blue’ as described by one of our members…
Results as follows: Paul Skillen 25:46, Martin McCready 26:01, Noel Bloomfield 29:24, Leeanne Skillen 29:27, Tom Wylie 29:28, Rosalind Stitt 37:35, Marion Harrison 37:39. Caught in the midst of those who didn’t remember the most vital item for Parkrun; were Gillian Bainbridge and David Gibson, who just kind of forgot. A special thank you to all up at Antrim parkrun for having us at their special event, and of course Anne Smith who had to endure 5k of tailrunning with our newest junior runner, seven year old Maili Skillen, who completed her first parkrun and is now completely hooked on the running (mainly as she hasn’t stopped bending my ear, ‘THANKS ANNE’ lol).

A nice peaceful run for one lonely soul at the Waterworks parkrun, Catherine Mullan, recorded a time of 31:53. Catherine’s other half David was up in Ballymoney running the ‘run mucker run 10k’. Can’t officially give his time as his Garmin was covered in what can only be described as ‘muck’.

Two other parkrun events were taken on by the Harriers, the first of which saw Robbie junior and senior take on Ormeau for the first time, with Junior taking the top spot between the two in 19:24 and Robert home in 22:11.

Further on up the Lagan at Victoria, Patrick McGuckin accompanied by his better half Lynn and his ‘wee’ nephew Ryan Clarke. Patrick crossed the line with Lynn for his 99th parkrun in 25:44. Young Ryan pushed on and showed a clean pair of heels returning in 21:14… Smashing time Ryan, and great to see you back at the events…

Later that afternoon eight harriers took the blue and green vest over to Bangor for the Aurora 10k, with many of the Harriers completing their second 10k in as many weeks. This leads us, again onto safety and race preparation. Regardless of whether it is your 1st, or your 81st event, we all have something to learn and take on forward to our next event, race hydration being one of the main factors for the race on Saturday for one of our new runners.
Over a relatively hilly course on a hot enough Saturday morning, Alan Ladd was first in for the Harriers in 43:00, Alan was followed home by our new member Ciaran Skillen. Ciaran was wearing the club vest for the first time, albeit his brother Paul’s jinxed vest. Ciaran returned with a 10K PB in 48:28, although Ciaran did pay the penalty of dehydration and had to seek medical attention. The club would like to send a huge thank you to those paramedics in attendance, without these guys, who knows… no event should be without them.
Thankfully all is good with Ciaran and would like to thank the Harriers who stayed behind to ensure his safety. Next home was Darren Taggart 50:03, followed by Catherine Boyd 51:11, Ian Simpson & Clare Teer 61:01 both with PB’s, Kelly Bell 68:06 new PB, and Karen Marsden 77:27. Smashing running folks…

Yet again the club vest was taken on its travels; taken to Germany, along with Patsy Hamill for the Berlin marathon. The year previous this marathon hosted a new world record of 2:02:57, Patsy believed if he could get right up there in pen one in a new VW down the autobahn, all geared up with its emissions, then he did stand a great chance to leave the field in a cloud of smoke. Apparently it was frowned upon, therefore Patsy had to settle for a place amongst the 41,223 other runners. Patsy took the first half moderately slow for his standards in 1:42, from then he began to get through the crowd and into his stride with ever decreasing 5k splits falling quickly to complete the second half of the marathon in 1:34. Overall Patsy blitzed the Berlin marathon in a super time of 3:17:11, absolutely smashing running Patsy, to which we all at the club are extremely pleased for you…!!!

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