Busy week for Springwell runners

As always, there was a lot of parkrunning going on as another event was welcomed to the parish. As well as running, members have been busy with the preparations for the Purple Ladies 5k in Ballymoney on August 17.

Mallusk 5 Mile Road Race

Friday saw the return of the Mallusk 5 Mile Road Race hosted by Mallusk Harriers. This popular event attracted 187 runners with Ryan Kennedy representing Springwell. A determined run from Ryan saw him finish 32 nd (2 nd M45) in a time of 34:17.

County Down 5k

The County Down 5k, which was held on Friday, is always a fast race and this one was no exception! The event in Downpatrick town centre has three races on a flat and fast course with an elite race for those who aim to finish sub 17 minutes, a race for those aiming for a 17-22 min finish and those who expect to finish in 22+ minutes.

David Shiels was in attendance for Springwell RC in race 2 which was the 17-22 min finishers, and produced a fantastic performance, coming in well below the 20 min marker, finishing 35th in a time of 19:30.

Stanley Reid 5 Miler

Saturday saw the return of the Stanley Reid 5 Miler. Named in memory of Stanley Reid who was instrumental in the formation of the Cookstown harriers which later became the Sperrin Harriers, the course, which starts and finishes within the Loughry Campus takes the runners along a scenic undulating route through the surrounding roads.

Ten members took to the starting line on Saturday with a very successful day all round. Alan Nevin was the first Springer home in 14th place with a very strong run. Deborah McPhee had a great day, not only running a personal best, but finishing second in her age category.

Springwell RC - 14 th Alan Nevin 30:08 (3rd M35), 22 nd Rodney McPhee 31:49, 52 nd James Hughes 37:17, 60 th Michael Johnson 38:52, 76 th Deborah McPhee 41:03 (2nd F35), 116 th Andrew Wilmot 48:18, 120 th Deborah Archibald 49:10, 122nd Amanda Scott 49:49, 129 th Lorraine Abernethy 52:47, 135th Bernie Drain 57:10 (3rd F55)

Seven Sevens

Saturday saw Bernadette O’Kane and Shirhaan Hammed travelling to the Mourne Mountains for the Seven Sevens Mountain Race. This event is only suited to those with mountain running experience as it provides a challenging 2600m/ 8700ft of ascent over 19 miles/ 30.5km.

Starting at the Shimna Integrated College the course starts with a lap of the playing fields at the college before runners follow a marked route to the Glen River and up into the hills to follow an anti-clockwise route through checkpoints on the summits of Donard, Commedagh, Bearnagh, Meelmore, Meelbeg, Binnian and Lamagan before the finish back at the college.

Yet another strong run from Bernadette saw her finish in 23 rd overall (5 th female) with a time of 5:17:06 with Shirhaan Hameed 58 th in 7:47:54.

Parkrun

This week saw 53 Springers parkrunning at nine different venues with three personal bests recorded. Congratulations to the Limepark parkrun who hosted their first event at the Drones Road in Armoy. 123 runners arrived to celebrate their inaugural event which passed off without a hitch.

Derry City - Antoinette CONWAY 26:46; Portrush - Maurice WALKER 19:25, David O’NEILL 19:29, Rhys WALKER 21:09, Catherine PINKERTON 22:38, Shaun CARTON 22:51, Fiona MARTIN 23:37, Paul MOORE 24:00, Mervyn THOMPSON 24:13, David CAMPBELL 24:23 PB, George BRIEN 24:27, Gary MOORE 24:31, Alanna MILLAR 25:39, Barry MCBRIDE 25:43, Pamela HOWE 27:32, Andrew WILSON 28:41, Jonathan HUDDLESTON 33:24, Iris WILSON 36:18, Caitriona MACKLE 38:08, Fergal MACKLE 44:26, Emer THOMPSON 49:40

MUSA - Jonno JOHNSON 24:18, Deborah ARCHIBALD 27:37, Andrew WILMOT 27:41, Amanda SCOTT 28:22, Lorraine ABERNETHY 30:18, Bernie DRAIN 30:19; Castlewellan - Gary KENDALL 22:12; Limavady - James THOMPSON 17:17, Ryan GRAY 21:38, Kevin MCLEAN 24:23, Janet PATRICK 26:07, Alan WHITE 26:11, Peter JACK 26:12, Nicola WHITE 29:35, Alan STEEN 30:12, Alison C DUNCAN 32:02, Heather MCLAUGHLIN 32:02, Ingrid HAMILTON 32:30

Dungloe - Chris DENTON 17:29 PB; Oranmore - Catherine BYERS 33:32; Garvagh Forest - Shane MCLAUGHLIN 23:07 PB, Majella MCATEER 24:17, Michael MCKEOWN 24:45, Jim BRADLEY 26:07, Roisin WALKER 29:13, Caroline OWEN 40:32

Limepark - Ciaran MCERLAIN 21:06, Patricia CRAIG 25:58, Deborah MCPHEE 26:23, Ashley MCPHEE 27:27, Rodney MC HEE 27:28, Alison BORLAND 36:03

Purple Ladies 5k

The preparations for the Purple Ladies 5k on August 17 continue at pace and a steady stream of entries means there is now over 100 runners taking to the streets of Ballymoney that evening.

Online entries will remain open for another week and can be found at https://athleticsni.org/Fixtures/Purple-Ladies-5k