Pure and simple every time

Pure and simple every time…

Apologies folks for the lack of reports over the last few weeks, I have tried my upmost best to keep this report as short as possible and to include as many runs as possible, therefore please accept my apologies if this seems a little bland to say the least… here it goes anyway.

Parkruns
02/04/2016 –
Waterworks: – Robert Gould 20:35, Patrick McGuckin 21:39, James Hewitt 24:51, Dave Gibson 25:42, Bethany Finlay 25:43, Patrick J Hamill 26:14, Gillian Bainbridge 28:24.
Antrim: – Deborah Ewing 24:50, Tina Steele 25:51, Jennifer McCoppin 32:46 with a new PB, Tom Wylie 32:47, Rosalind Stitt 34:40, Dawn Dubois 40:27.

Valley: – Alex Davidson 23:15, first lady home, Nuala Muldoon 23:15, Paul Skillen 25:21, Noel Bloomfield 25:35, Jennifer Butler 25:36, Ian Simpson 29:02, Ben Davidson 29:44, Chloe Davidson 30:30, and tail running Lorraine Forsythe 49:09.

Over the pond at Forest Rec parkrun and coming in 3rd place was Danny Donaldson in 19:15, new PB for the course. Danny was followed home by his better half Tiffany McAllister in 30:18

09/04/2016 –
Waterworks: – Danny Donaldson 18:24 with a new PB, Patrick Hamill 25:31, Catherine Mullan 30:04, Tiffany McAllister 35:28 and David Mullan 40:24.

Belfast Victoria: – Two gents, Patrick McGuckin in 20:13 new PB for Victoria course and Robert Gould 20:40 also chipping in with a new PB, very well done gents.

Whilst up in Antrim the 3 ladies from Macbeth, oops sorry 3 Harriettes, Susan Thompson 22:48, Deborah Ewing 25:15 and Tina Steele 25:43.

On the home turf of the Valley: – Alex Davidson 20:13 with a new PB, first lady home, Nuala Muldoon 23:16, Alan Ladd 26:41, Ben Davidson 26:41 with a new PB, Duncan Baxter 27:57, Anna-Marie Barrington 28:46, Jennifer McCoppin 35:10 and tail running Lorraine Forsythe 49:41.

16/04/2016 –
Waterworks: -The ever present duo of Danny Donaldson 18:45 and Tiffany Mc Allister 29:23 completed the waterworks run.

Ormeau: – Fresh from their travels in Dublin the night before, where Robbie Gould attended the All-Ireland boxing championships, to which he lost in the final to a very talented 3 time Irish Champion, although Robbie did manage to deliver a knockout blow at Ormeau Parkrun of 20:24, closely followed by dad Robert Gould in 21:05, next was Julie Tully 30:40. Well done Robbie, we all at the club are extremely proud of you, well done champ…!!!

Antrim: the lonely soul of Elaine Kennedy took on Antrim in a time of 26:05.

Valley: – Over to home grounds we had the following trying to hold on to the tail of Joe McAllister in first place. Alex Davidson 20:20, Neil Campbell 21:39, Noel Bloomfield 23:37 (new PB), Dave Gibson 25:52, third lady home and with some debate after kicking some poor soul to the ground (Alex has taught you well) was Jennifer Butler 26:39, Laura Rose 27:15, Ben Davidson 27:53, Gillian Bainbridge 30:11, Chloe Davidson 30:29, Alan Magee 31:00 (new PB), tail runner Lorraine Forsythe 48:58.

Colin Glen: – Coming first was Alan Ladd, I was a little reluctant to add Alan as first place as Colin Glen parkrun had the gremlins strike their scanning devices, but after some enquiries it was said Alan put in a great performance on a tough testing course in a time of 20:35. Apart from the photos at Colin Glen, Alan has also bombarded me with his Garmin link, very well done Alan…!!! Also at Colin Glen was Martin McCready in a time of 23:52.

On to the Races:
The 3rd April saw the 2nd Rabbit Run event take place at Loughshore. Patsy Hamill finished in second place in a smashing time of 19:21. He was followed over the line by 23 Harriers, Anna-Marie Barrington 27:06, Ian Simpson 29:26, Clare Teer 29:32, Louise Bond 29:56, Leeanne Skillen 30:40, Benny McGeown 32:00, Dave Gibson 32:23, Kelly Nelson 32:23, Joshua Nelson 35:10, Christopher Baxter 35:11, Natasha White 35:18, Ben Needham 35:22, Nuala Muldoon 35:22, Jennifer McCoppin 35:38, Paige Baxter 37:13, Duncan Baxter 37:14, Kelly Bell 37:24, Hollie Murray-Lakota 41:29, Chelsea Baxter 42:18, Natasha Nelson 42:28, Marion Harrison 43:09, Rosalind Stitt 43:10 and Karen Marsden 44:25.

Meanwhile down the road, four ladies took on RunHer 10k in an extremely tough course at Delamont. First home for the Harriers was Susan Thompson in a time of 51:03, followed by Deborah Ewing in 53:22. Next home was Jennifer Butler 56:28 followed by her sister Laura Rose in 57:20. Next up was Tina Steele in 59:38. Extremely well done ladies on a tough 10k course, all in under the hour mark.

On 9th April crazy fell runner, Michael McAuley took on the Donard Commedagh Horseshoe Mountain Race and returned home in an impressive time of 1:58:26.

For many of our runners, Sunday 10th April meant a long run of 20+ miles in preparation for the Belfast Marathon, for many others it meant Titanic 10k and Family fun run, the 2nd event in the Novosco Grand Prix. 7 of our juniors took to the 1 mile fun run with Chloe and Ben Davidson finishing in 7:42. Next home was a young Christopher Baxter in 9:18, Sophie Davidson 9:37, Joshua Nelson 9:58, Chelsea Baxter 10:40, Natasha Nelson 10:49 and Paige Baxter 11:31. A further 11 happy harriers took to the 10k course with Danny Donaldson leading the field of Mallusk Harriers home in a time of 38:25, followed by Patsy Hamill in 40:15. Next home was Dave Gibson 49:31, Jim Hewitt in 50 mins with a new PB, Jennifer Butler 50:03 new PB, Laura Rose 50:49 new PB, Duncan Baxter 53:41, Lauren Whitehouse 61:20 new PB, Kelly Nelson 62:40 new PB, Anna-Marie Barrington 62:55, Jenny McBride 63:33 new PB, Tiffany McAllister 63:41 and Joanne Haddock 80:29.

Wednesday evening 12th April drew 12 of our ladies to the countryside for the Ballymena Belles 5 mile road race. Lisa Brown returned in a smashing time of 37 mins in 13th position, followed by Jennifer Butler in 40:18. Hot on Jennifer’s tail, was Deborah Ewing in 40:25, followed by Laura Rose in 40:56, Anna-Marie Barrington 42:03, Tina Steele 43:19, Elaine Kennedy 43:28, Gemma Fowler 44:02, Janet Grew 44:42, Clare Teer 46:28, Leeanne Skillen 48:15 and Lauren Whitehouse 50:36.

On 14th April, not content with the road races, Michael McAuley continued with fell running in the opening Hill and Dale Series at Castlewellan, returning home in a smashing time of 43:19.

Saturday 16th April was Born to Run 10k and Half Marathon events at Castleward. Two Mallusk Harriers competed in the 10.4k, Brian McDonald returning in 50:16 and Lauren Whitehouse in 68:08. In the Half Marathon, we had impressive running with Patsy Hamill in 15th place and a great time of 1:39:55, followed by Darren Taggart in 2:00:34 and Cat Boyd in 2:06:04.

Sunday 16th April was the 3rd event in the Novosco Grand Prix with the Armagh 10k. 5 hardy Harriers took on the ‘undulating’ course with Anna-Marie Barrington first to cross the line for the harriers in 51:24, followed by Jennifer Butler in 52:25, Laura Rose 53:06, Leeanne Skillen 62:54 and Joanne Haddock 84:59. Great running ladies.

Some recovery taper time for Cat Boyd and Darren Taggart who took themselves off to the Colour Run at Ormeau Park, who said running can’t be fun??

With marathon season well upon us, the club has had 4 runners take on both the Paris and Manchester Marathons. First up on 3rd April, Jim and Janet Grew took to the streets of Paris for a lovely romantic weekend, but as Mr McCready points out would they still be speaking to each other come Sunday afternoon?? The pair were running in aid of Meningitis Now, a charity extremely close to their hearts, Jim finished in a smashing time of 3:54 and Janet followed in a time of 4:19, both obtaining new personal bests for the marathon distance. Extremely well done on all accounts, both fundraising and drinking red wine, oops sorry running the marathon…

A week later, Skilly and McDuck (well that’s how the magnificent support around the course hailed at them) took sail from Belfast to take on the 40th Manchester Marathon. Brian returning in 3:51 and Paul finished in 4:24, with both lads taking 10 minutes off their previous marathon times and new PBs also.

Best of luck to all our club members due to take to the streets of Belfast in a fortnights time for the 35th Belfast City Marathon. Over 25 of our runners are due to participate in the full course and relay slots.

To top the report off, what can only be described as an absolute joy, is to see our junior section growing so quickly with 11 of our young, up and coming aspiring juniors taking on the first of the Firmus Energy Super 6 race meets at the Mary Peter’s Track. For many of these young athletes, this was their first time ever on a race track and they most certainly can hold their heads up high with great competing, each and every one adopted the club ethos of ‘Right to the Line’… an absolute delight for both parents and coaches to see the young faces beam with joy on the night.

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…’