Club Report – Sunday 9th December 2018

As Greavsie used to say, it’s a game of two halves this week. Whilst some Harriers hit the roads (and speciality bars) in Lanzarote, others hit the mud in Cookstown. Who had the most fun is open to debate!

Doing the rounds of the parkruns were:
Valley parkrun:
Ciaran Hawkins 23:43, Tina Steele 26:51, Deborah Ewing 26:51, Emily Dowling 26:55PB, Yasmin Lynn 30:16, Frances Kane 30:49, Riley Kerr 34:38PB, Andrew “good Daddy” Kerr 34:38, Patricia Kane 45:52, Rosalind Stitt 45:53

Waterworks parkrun:
Joseph Eager 24:32PB, Maeve Kennedy 24:44, Susan Thompson 25:33, Ken McAuley 25:34, Robert Gould 25:35

Victoria parkrun:
Jackie McCreesh 26:54, Anita Piatek 29:09PB

Comber parkrun:
Elaine Kennedy 49:25, Jo Smyth 49:26

This week’s tourist was Stephen Weir who completed Newcastle parkrun in 32:14. This is Newcastle Upon Tyne, not Co Down. Ah, Newcastle, home of both the Brown Ale and Lucozade. Also the site of the first covered train station in the world. And I didn’t even mention Ant nor Dec. (It’s all been downhill for them since “Ready to Rumble” to be honest).

Waterworks junior parkrun:
Leo McAuley 10:42PB, Eloise McAuley 11:10PB
Brilliant!

Jordanstown junior parkrun:
Tom Fleming 7:35 and 1st place – well done Tom!

It now seems to be a permanent fixture in the calendar. December means dumping the kids, ignoring the Xmas shopping and, instead, fleeing to the sun as our hardy tourists take on the Lanzarote half and full marathons:

Half Marathon:
Neil Campbell 1:31:08, Laura ROTM Rose 1:46:21, Noel “shockin’ shorts” Bloomfield 2:05:21, Owen Fulton 2:19:48, Laura Campbell 2:34:48, Leeanne Skillen 2:34:48, Neill McGlinchey 2:37:33, Jennifer Maguire 3:08:48

Full Marathon:
Danny Donaldson 4:41:27, Tiffany Donaldson 5:51:51

(Gold star and teacher’s pet award to Laura Rose for posting all these results on Team App, meaning I don’t miss the Strictly Results).

In slightly different conditions on the same day the headers department got their latest day release and decided to head west to sunny Cookstown. Acorns AC put on the Mighty Oaks XC event as it’s meant to be – not flat and not dry. Not even a bit.

Under 12s
Jasper Brooks 3:07, Ryan McCready 3:19, Rory Brooks 3:35, Oran McKee 3:50

Ladies 3 mile Race:
Karen McKee 25:33, Nuala “actually on time” Muldoon 26:25, Sarah McCafferty 26:29, Sharon Dunn 26:35, Pamela McCafferty 26:40, Suzanne “purple heart” Brennan 27:21, Galina Stanevicius 29:02, Joanne “they’re my socks, okay” Milne 31:46, Roisin Brooks 33:43, Louise Ladd 36:25, Fidelma “sickbed” McCoppin 36:25, Mairead HOTM O’Hare 39:41

Men’s 4 Mile Race:
Mark Smith 26:54, Lee “didn’t mention the hill” O’Boyle 27:55, Joe Mathers 28:22, Ramunas Stanevicius 28:41, Stephen Gallagher 30:36, Kevin “gazebo king” Donnelly 31:21, Micky “they’re not real hills” McAuley 31:26, Neil McCready 33:15, Brendan McGeown 35:04, Alastair “the barefoot Zorro” Houldsworth 36:48, Aidy Hughes 37:28, David “sprint finish” Esler 44:23

And Dermot “where the hell is he now?” Boyd, as usual, on camera duties. Cheers Dermot.

Great to see both male and female teams earning points for having the full 12 runners out. It’s a reflection of the hard work done by Lee and Suzanne to encourage/threaten/bribe everyone to give it a go.

Today saw the Harriers help to host the Jingle all the Way 5k at Stormont in aid of our official charity partner, the NI Hospice. I don’t have full results but the race was won by our own Peter McGarry, with young Rory Brooks making it a Mallusk double by winning the children’s race. Well done Peter and Rory! Plus a lot of money and awareness was raised for the Hospice so a big thank you to all the Harriers who organised and marshalled this event so well. Pat yourselves on the back and have an extra Haribo this Sunday evening.

Also today, Alan Ladd did the Kirkistown Half Marathon in 1:25:43 (unofficial).

The Mudhoney track two weeks ago seemed to go down well so I thought, …. I’ll not do that again!
Here’s some 70s glam instead. (It’s good to widen your horizons…)
But this is another tune for those headers that love the mud. And stripey socks.

https://youtu.be/EQfidTOTsLo

Until next week, behave.

CAVILLATOR