Springwell Running Club Press Release - 24th March 2025
Another busy week of racing for Springwell Runners, which started on St Patricks Day with the Craic 10k in Belfast. Members travelled to Portadown for the Portadown Running Festival, and some even further afield to Liverpool for the Liverpool Half Marathon.
The Club also hosted the Coleraine Campus 5k at Ulster University on Sunday 23rd, a full report on that event will follow.
Craic 10k
Just under 5,000 runners took to the streets of Belfast on St Patrick’s Day for the annual Craic 10k. A sea of green amassed in the street in front of City Hall eagerly anticipating the beginning of the race at 9am. Runners made their way East towards the Lagan for half a mile before turning back on themselves and heading West, up Divis Street and Falls Road, before returning to the centre via Grosvenor Road.
The race route then took the runners to the South of the city, via Dublin Road and Botanic Avenue, before taking in both Botanic Gardens and Ormeau Park, and finally the home straight along Ormeau Embankment and turning off the main road to finish in front of the Ozone.
Springwell had several members running the streets of Belfast on St Patrick's Day, with Shaun Carton the first home in 0:43:41. Shaun was closely followed by Hannah Lau who finished well in 0:44:55. Rachael Campbell had a fine performance in 0:48:51. Bernie Hannigan went to the race with a target of 1:05:00 in mind, and beat it by almost 90 seconds. There was only a second between Lynn Stewart (1:04:47) and Sheila McConnell (1:04:48), and milliseconds between Noeleen Cairns and Julie Armour, who both finished on 1:13:00!
Portadown Running Festival
Three Springwell Runners made their way to Portadown on Sunday morning to take part in the Portadown Running Festival. There were three race options available – a half marathon, a 10km and a 5km. Andy Whiteford and Adam Henderson had entered the half marathon, while Christine Bonham opted for the 10km,
Andy had a fantastic run to finish in 1:20:29, a personal best for the half marathon and 33rd place on the day. Adam had a solid day as well and finished with a great time of 1:55:34 to earn himself a personal best also!
In the 10km race, Christine Bonham ran 0:53:12, a super time that resulted in Christine winning her age category, as well as claiming a 10k PB!!
Portadown Half Marathon
Adam Henderson after running a PB in the Half Marathon
Liverpool Half Marathon
Kathryn and Ryan Campbell took to the streets of Liverpool today to join almost 10,000 other runners for the Liverpool Half Marathon. The Half Marathon route is a relatively flat one, that takes in Princes Park, Sefton Park before a run through Oterspool Park along the Mersey.
Kathryn and Ryan both had great runs, clocking 2:03:47 and 2:10:12 respectively!
Reading Half Marathon
Colin Connolly packed his runners and purple vest and headed off to Reading for the weekend. On Saturday morning Colin got in some parkrun tourism at Prospect parkrun, before tackling the Reading Half Marathon on Sunday morning.
Colin had a great run at the half marathon and finished with a time of 2:50:08.
Parkrun
With Springwell hosting their annual Coleraine Campus 5K on Sunday morning, a number of athletes rested in preparation, but still 56 club members headed out to 12 parkruns around the country.
This week’s more adventurous parkrun tourists made it to Guernsey (Elaine Montgomery), Woodbank in Stockport (Maurice and Rhys Walker), Hove near Brighton (Bernie Hannigan) and Prospect Park Reading (Colin Connolly).
There were 26 of the club at Portrush and it was a Springwell 1, 2, 3 in Limavady, but the stat of weekend was Heather Harper hitting her 300th parkrun in Limepark.
As well as those running parkrun, there was a ‘Volunteer Takeover’ at Garvagh Forest parkrun, where Springwell Members took up all of the volunteering roles at the event on the day!
Portrush parkrun
David O'NEILL 00:19:26; Stephen BEGGS 00:21:48; Cathy ADAMS 00:22:38; Mervyn ADAMS 00:23:03; Fiona PRUE 00:24:39; Mervyn THOMPSON 00:24:48; Paul LAVERTY 00:24:55; Alanna MILLAR 00:25:12; Michael ALCORN 00:25:43; George BRIEN 00:26:32; Barry MCBRIDE 00:27:22; Patrick MAGEE 00:27:51; Alan PLATT 00:28:46; Karen GARVIN 00:31:02; Pauline DUKE 00:33:31; Anne JACK 00:33:44; Reid JACK 00:33:45; Kate MCNICHOLL 00:34:02; Rhona LAVERTY 00:34:24; Iris WILSON 00:37:00; Fergal MACKLE 00:38:17; Caitriona MACKLE 00:42:48; Roisin WALKER 00:48:15; Emer THOMPSON 00:48:20; Gary MOORE 00:52:42; Catherine PINKERTON 00:54:04
Limavady parkrun
Brian MOORE 00:19:49; Ciara MCSHERRY 00:20:29; Stephen MCLAUGHLIN 00:20:40; David MCGAFFIN 00:25:04; Martin O'DOHERTY 00:25:27; Alan WHITE 00:26:05; Janet PATRICK 00:26:51; Elizabeth DEIGHAN 00:30:45; Heather MCLAUGHLIN 00:31:53; Nicola WHITE 00:32:14; Ingrid HAMILTON 00:32:15; John MCMICHAEL 00:34:15; Linda MC MICHAEL 00:34:15
Limepark Playing Fields parkrun
Brian HARPER 00:31:00; Heather HARPER 00:35:50; Caroline OWEN 00:49:31
Woodbank parkrun
Maurice WALKER 00:20:21; Rhys WALKER 00:22:02
Castlewellan parkrun
Gary KENDALL 00:23:16; Patricia CRAIG 00:26:26
Guernsey parkrun
Catherine BYERS 00:34:14; Elaine MONTGOMERY 00:37:08
Sixmilewater parkrun
Julie CORBETT 00:28:38; Kenneth BACON 00:45:45
Garvagh Forest parkrun
Majella MCATEER 00:27:47; Kay HACK 00:34:30
Hove Promenade parkrun
Bernie HANNIGAN 00:31:04
Stormont parkrun
Ali SHAW 00:23:26
Colin Glen parkrun
Chris DENTON 00:19:44
Prospect parkrun
Colin CONNOLLY 00:29:20