Springwell Running Club - Press Release – 6th August

“From Achill to Berlin, and every parkrun we’ve been in” Now there’s a cultural reference for a select few. As well as our usual wide and varied selection of parkruns the purple Springwell vests have been in action this week on road, hill, trail, and quarry at races in Newtownards, Mallusk, Glenlough, Cookstown, Mount Stewart and Cavan resulting in a sprinkling of age category wins, podium places and personal bests.

NIMRA Scrabo Hill Race

The weeks action kicked off on Thursday 3rd August with the Scrabo Hill Race, where a 6.4k course with 365m of elevation saw four of the usual mountain goats in action in County Down. Two laps of the technical trails of Killynether forest, on the outskirts of Newtownards, led to the final challenge of this event with a brutal climb to the finish at the iconic Scrabo Tower. All the recent training miles on the hills are paying dividends for Peter Tees as he finished 22nd in 34:31. Bernadette O'Kane was 33rd in 37:11, Shirhaan Hameed 58th in 39:19 and Carolyn Crawford 91st in 44:25.

Mallusk 5 Mile Road Race 2023

Friday 4th August saw an overcast, humid evening with a threat of rain greeting almost three hundred runners to Mallusk for an evening’s sport at the Mallusk 5 Mile Road Race, ably hosted by Mallusk Harriers. A short downhill start allowed the masses to create a bit of momentum before the first turn took them onto the 1.5 mile climb up Sealstown Hill. At the top, with the stamina now well stress tested, there was a couple of undulating miles with a few short climbs, just to keep the competitors on their toes before a flying downhill finish for the final mile. Another fantastic run from Christopher McNickle saw him finish 11th (3rd M35) in a time of 29:24. Darren Walsh was 47th in 33:07, David Shiels collected another age category placing, finishing 59th (3rd M55) in 34:12. David McGaffin was 100th in 37:13 and Gemma Craig was 272nd in 54:28.

David McGaffin, David Shiels, Christopher McNickle and Darren Walsh at the Mallusk 5

Stanley Reid 5 Mile Memorial Road Race

Saturday 5th August saw eight Springwell RC members make the trip to Cookstown for the popular Stanley Reid 5 Mile Memorial Road Race hosted by Sperrin Harriers. Catherine Pinkerton had another great race, finishing 52nd in 35:24 and second in her age category, while James Hughes, 65th in 37:14, and Pauline Mullan, 77th in 38:27 both ran personal bests, with Pauline also placed second in her age category. Michael Johnson also featured in the age category positions finishing third in his group.

Antoinette Conway, Leisa McKenna, James Hughes, Catherine Pinkerton & Jim Bradley at Cookstown.

Springwell RC - 52nd Catherine Pinkerton 35:24 (1st F45), 59th Michael Johnson 36:51 (3rd M60), 65th James Hughes 37:14 PB, 77th Pauline Mullan 38:27 PB (1st F50), 96th Leisa McKenna 39:48, 121st Jim Bradley 43:22, 137th Andrew Wilmot 46:59, 140th Antionette Conway 47:46.

In Other News

There was also racing on Friday night in the Glens of Antrim where Iris Wilson was 53rd in the Glenlough Quarry 5k with a time of 39:39. Saturday nights "Run the Trails" event hosted by Scrabo Striders Running Club saw Michael Mulvenna taking on the challenge of the Half Marathon in the picturesque setting of the grounds of Mount Stewart on the shores of Strangford Lough. A great run by Michael saw him finish 9th in a time of 1:50:56 and second in his age category. Also, on Saturday Adam Henderson finished 41st at the Breffni 3 Province Challenge in County Cavan with a time of 53:57.

Parkrun

This week saw fifty - six Springers out and about parkrunning at eleven different venues from Achill Greenway parkrun on the Wild Atlantic Way to Havelkanal parkrun, Hennigsdorf on the Northwest outskirts of Berlin. All the personal bests were to be found at the Limepark Playing Fields parkrun were Rodney & Deborah McPhee, Patrick Magee and Helena Dornan made their respective marks. At Portrush parkrun Alanna Millar reached the magnificent milestone of 250 parkruns as she completed Saturday’s event.

From Achill with Mariette Mulvenna & Majella McAteer

Well done everybody and "THANKS", as always to the army of volunteers who make the magic happen.

Ecos - Kenneth BACON 41:06

Portrush - David O'NEILL 21:08, Maurice WALKER 21:12, Rhys WALKER 21:36, Reid JACK 27:31, Mervyn THOMPSON 27:45, Patricia CRAIG 28:11, Sylvia POLLOCK 28:50, Pamela HOWE 30:49, Heather SPENCE 31:02, Andrew WILSON 32:52, Aisling HYNES 35:11, Alanna MILLAR 35:13, Pauline DUKE 35:31, Emer THOMPSON 36:14, Iris WILSON 41:07

Castlewellan - Gary KENDALL 22:27

Ardgillan - Kate MCNICHOLL 33:41, Fergal MACKLE 33:43, Caitriona MACKLE 39:24

Limavady - Chris DENTON 17:01, James THOMPSON 19:24, Ryan KENNEDY 19:54, Kevin MCLEAN 20:57, Peter TEES 21:16, Jonno JOHNSON 22:58, Fergus THOMPSON 23:15, Gary MOORE 23:50, Janet PATRICK 24:40, Sinead GRAHAM 25:07, Alan WHITE 25:59, Andrew WILMOT 26:21, Darren WALSH 26:46, Nicola WHITE 29:53, John MCMICHAEL 32:02, Lara WALSH 35:27, David MCGAFFIN 41:21, Linda MC MICHAEL 43:03

Buncrana - Adrian FINLAY 22:33

Achill Greenway - Majella MCATEER 25:45, Mariette MULVENNA 28:43

Garvagh Forest - Paul LAVERTY 23:08, Michael MCKEOWN 27:00, Kay HACK 29:36, Bernie HANNIGAN 30:32, Rhona LAVERTY 35:06

Derrynoid Forest - Jim BREEN 27:04

Limepark Playing Fields - Rodney MC PHEE 19:24 PB, Jonathan MCNABB 21:13, Fiona PRUE 23:48, Deborah MC PHEE 24:04 PB, Patrick MAGEE 25:24 PB, Helena DORNAN 37:23 PB

Havelkanal - Lorraine ABERNETHY 29:02, Elaine MONTGOMERY 31:30, Amanda SCOTT 31:48, Catherine BYERS 33:48