135 runners brave the chill at the Portrush Parkrun

Nine of the 22 NI parkrun events were forced to cancel, however, Portrush is fortunate to have a course which is seldom threatened by the heavy rain or low temperatures. The only change was the prom start and finish as the estuary was too wide for the bridge to cover.

It was cold but the sand was surprisingly firm despite the high tide and there were quite a few visitors, partly due to the local cancellations.

First finisher was Keith Dawson in 19.01 and first lady was her royal purpleness, the effortlessly fabulous Karen McLaughlin, in 21.17. This week there were 135 runners, of whom 18 were first timers and 19 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of six different athletics clubs took part.

First home for Springwell in second place was Jimmy Stewart followed closely by Bryan Edgar.

As previously mentioned the artic conditions closed many parkruns elsewhere, forcing ardent parkrun tourist Davy Patterson to reluctantly make a, now, quite rare appearance at his local gig.

Davy seems to have abandoned this golden stretch of beach, with the sound of gently crashing waves, mingling with the cry of the seagulls and the shouts of happy children playing, for the delights of the Sydenham-By-Pass, with its concrete walkways, din of constant traffic and roar of aircraft landing at the Geordie Best. Its understandable, I suppose.

Nice also to see Alison Rankin rocking up, looking extremely fit after a weeks secret altitude training at her mountain retreat and enjoying a great run up the beach, finishing third lady in an excellent and incredibly symmetrical 22:11. Always a class act our Alison; like, if it had been you or me it would have been 22:10 or 22;12, but thats Alison for you!

Meanwhile at Limavady, Kay Hack ran a new PB of 29:06, so well done there Kay, that old Limavady thing seems to be rubbing off on you!