No one gets left behind, not even bikes…
Where to begin…
A few weeks have passed without acknowledging the achievements from many of the Mallusk Harrier runners, so here it goes…
Best to start with the parkrun events…
At the Waterworks 11/06/16:
Danny Donaldson 18:52, Matthew Lavery 22:09, James Hewitt 24:13, Patrick J Hamill 25:03, Dave McComiskey 29:11 & Tiffany McAllister 31:21.
At Victoria 11/06/16:
Dave Gibson 22:01 (new course PB) & Gillian Bainbridge 28:29.
At Ecos Ballymena 11/06/16:
Deborah Ewing 24:25 & Tina Steele 26:57.
At Carrickfergus 11/06/16:
Marianna McBride 33:00.
At the Valley 11/06/16:
Alex Davidson 20:25, Brendan McGeown 23:02, Catherine Boyd 25:51, Louise Keenan 26:17, Nuala Lyttle 35:25, Noel Bloomfield 35:30, Jennifer McCoppin 41:00, Rosalind Stitt 43:04.
At the Waterworks 18/06/16:
Danny Donaldson 19:02, Matthew Lavery 20:43, Robert Gould 21:28, Patrick McGuckin 21:53, Patrick J Hamill 25:14, James Hewitt 25:31, Jolene O’Donnell 28:08, Sean Lavery 29:31, Martine Murphy 31:24, Tiffany McAllister 32:10 & Joanne Haddock 41:10.
At the Valley 18/06/16:
Neil Campbell 20:07 (new course PB), Susan Thompson 22:17 (1st Lady), Martin McCourt 23:08, Brendan McGeown 23:12, Tom Wylie 25:02, Louise Keenan 26:03, Elaine Kennedy 26:23 (new course PB), Chloe Davidson 27:57, Christopher Campbell 30:13(new course PB), Ben Davidson 30:31, Nuala Lyttle 34:01, Noel Bloomfield 34:36, Rosalind Stitt 37:31 & Jennifer Butler 37:37.
At Stormont 18/06/16:
Martin McCready 25:20 & Duncan Baxter 26:44
At Victoria 18/06/16:
Darren Linton 39:07
Oh by the way there were also plenty of races to include for the past few weeks, starting with the choice of events on Saturday 11th June.
Joanne Haddock was the only Harrier to travel to Enniskillen for the 10k and recorded a very notable time of 87:31 on a hilly hot course.
For plenty of our other lady Harriers (self acclaimed, Harrietes) there was the Stunnerz N’ Runnerz 5 mile Road Race. Leading the charge home for Mallusk and very fresh from her parkrun hours earlier was, Deborah Ewing. Deborah finished in 27th place and in a great time of 38:22 and was closely followed by her ever improving sidekick Tina Steele in a time 42:59. Next saw the sister act of Jennifer Butler 43:10 and Laura Rose 46:22. Clare Teer was next home for the Harriers in 46:57 followed by Kelly Carlisle 49:51, Leeanne Skillen 53:03 and Jolene Byrne competing in her first race just a week after graduating from the C2 5K in a great time of 53:18.
A little mile or two down the road allowed for further running from the Mallusk Harriers, well a few miles in the Mourne Way Marathon event.
The club had 3 competing in the full marathon and two folk competing in the Half marathon. Certainly a race not for the faint hearted and if you have trained on or dislike any type of hills or obstacles, well just give the run a miss and come back stronger the next time round.
The three harriers in the full Marathon completed and returned safely home, all bones in check, a big Harrier very well done to Nuala Muldoon, Michael McAuley and competing in his very first Marathon Martin McCourt…!!!
The two folk running in the half marathon decided at the last minute ‘why not’ and gave it a bash. Neil Campbell came home in 25th place in 1:48:57 and Elaine Kennedy returned in 2:22:49, extremely well done Neil and Elaine…!!!
Over to Lisburn 10k & half marathon on Wednesday 15th June where the club had 8 members running in the 10k and 4 running in the half marathon.
The 10k results as follows:
Brendan McGeown 47:21, James Hewitt 51:58, Elaine Kennedy 54:37, Laura Rose 55:39, Jennifer Butler 55:39, Brian Mc Donald 56:14, Laura Campbell 1:03:15 & Joanne Haddock 01:24:41.
The four runners who took on the half marathon certainly didn’t hold back and left nothing on the course, a very well done to Danny Donaldson who finished in 81st place and continued in good form in the half marathon series in a time of 01:32:40. Next up was Susan ‘The machine’ Thompson, where Susan finished 4th in her age category in a smashing time of 01:38:52, the wee woman is hot on your heels Danny…!!! Next home was Ian Simpson 2:21:27 and Tiffany McAllister 2:30:39 smashing running Ian and Tiff very well done to all…!!!
Phew almost there… If it wasn’t for that mountain goat McAuley, I would be finished… Of course Michael loves a great challenge and has featured heavily in the Hill and Dales series of running. Fresh from his Mourne marathon 5 days earlier, Michael took on Hill & Dale Series – Race 10 ‘The Meels’ and returned home in 37th place in a time of 40:20 for the climb… All joking aside, extremely well done…!!!
Sorry, almost done with the running, as Nuala Muldoon and David Mullan took on the EAMS Knockathon half marathon event with Nuala returning 2nd lady overall and David returning in 2:13.
I hope I haven’t missed any runs, however I am sure I may have, apologies for that as it hasnt been intentional…
The final shout for the day goes to the Harriers who have taken to a little bit of biking over the summer months, Barry Macauley, Tom Wylie, Martin McCourt, Neil McCready and Paul Skillen all travelled to Portadown for the 40 mile round trip to Newry and back along the canal.
The day started well, a little rain sprinkled the cars as the lads headed off from Mallusk along the M1. Paul had taken to the cycling to ease the aging joints and has quietly enjoyed clocking up speeds of nearly 40mph heading downhill along the Boghill road, however nothing could have prepared him as he watched his bike come of the bike rack and travel around 60+mph back down the M1, thankfully no other cars collided with the bike and strangely the bike escaped with scuffs and tears…. On to the cycle, ‘Things couldn’t get any worse, could it…?’
The heavens opened and the downpour continued, not a chance would this put the lads off, on they went with the first pit stop recorded at Scarva with no fighting taking place, just scone eating and coffee drinking lads. Pushing on, the gents got the Newry in no time and with a quick turn round were homeward bound wet and cold.
A few miles back, Tom hit the wall, nope he literary hit a wall. Trying to maneuver around a cattle gate and quickly connected with the adjoining wall…. ‘Things couldn’t get any worse, could they..?’
Moving on and with 13 mile to run, Barry got a flat tyre…. ‘Things couldn’t get any worse, could they..?’
Finally finished the cycle, a smashing run all the same… ‘Things couldn’t get any worse, could they…?’
The final journey home the bike came off the rack again, thankfully the lock kept it on the car and Neil caught it in good time and pulled on to the hard shoulder and fixed the rack yet again… ‘Things couldn’t get any worse, could they…?’
A few miles up the M1 Neil’s nerve’s got the better of him, he had enough. Off came the bikes and the bike rack and into the back of the car they went, Martin must have thought he was the bionic man with the amount of metal around him. And relax, I kid you not a sigh of relief came over the car.
‘Things couldn’t get any worse, could they…?’ – well, yes of course they could, Martin received a call from Barry, who was stranded along the M2 as his car had run out of petrol… The end…!!
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…’