In pictures: Autumn - the season of trail runs and muddy tracks for Springwell Running Club

This week Springwell members were on their travels to events in the Sperrins and the Mournes for the Davagh Forest 10k, hosted by Sperrin Harriers and the Tollymore Trail Marathon hosted by 26 Extreme.

Saturday (November 11) saw five Springwell members make the trip to Davagh forest for the start of this year’s Sperrin Harriers Winter League Trail Series and a 10k race around the forest. Despite a week of storms and torrential rai, the forest trails were in good condition and the weather behaved on the day for a great afternoon’s sport.

Nicky Frizelle was the first Springwell member finished with a time of 42:25 for 29th. James Hughes was 52nd in 45:57, closely followed by Adele Tomb in 55th with a 46:14. Carolyn Crawford was 67th in 48:18 and Andrew Wilmot 96th in 56:23.

Tollymore Forest Park was the setting for a day of trail running on November 11 with the autumn colours provided a scenic backdrop to a challenging event. In the marathon Chris Denton produced another great run as he completed the steep climbs and descents of the two-lap course in an impressive 3:08:34 to finish third. In the half marathon Cathy Adams was a model of consistency as she matched her time from last year’s event, finishing 195th with a time of 2:05:47.

Parkrun

An autumnal Saturday morning saw 47 Springers in pursuit of their parkrun pleasure at nine different venues. The weather and the falling leaves have made the paths and trails slippery underfoot, and the tide will always present Portrush with a different course each week making the personal bests all the more elusive at this time of year – but they can still be found! This week there was one recorded at Limavady parkrun as Fiona Prue raised her own personal bar another notch.

The weather doesn’t make volunteering such an attractive option as it does during the summer, but if there’s no volunteers there’s no parkrun, it’s that simple. All the local parkruns are calling out for volunteers every week so, if you aren’t running then please consider volunteering or even conscripting a husband, wife, partner, or reasonably aged child, on the job training is provided and no reasonable offer is refused. Thanks to everyone who was out volunteering at the weekend.

Ecos - Sonya COLVILLE 31:27, Kenneth BACON 46:01; Portrush - Andy WHITEFORD 21:39, Maurice WALKER 22:11, Rhys WALKER 23:54, Fiona MARTIN 25:11, Cathy ADAMS 27:16, Mervyn THOMPSON 28:09, Reid JACK 28:28, George BRIEN 28:36, Patricia CRAIG 28:37, Mervyn ADAMS 29:51, Alanna MILLAR 33:19, Anne JACK 35:25, Gemma WRAY 35:39, Fergal MACKLE 38:48, Iris WILSON 40:16, Julie CORBETT 53:05, Caitriona MACKLE 1:02:01, Karen GARVIN 1:02:24.

Castlewellan - Gary KENDALL 23:14; Valley - Emer THOMPSON 36:01; Hartstown - Catherine BYERS 32:57, Elaine MONTGOMERY 33:16; Limavady - Chris DENTON 18:00, Fiona PRUE 20:21, Catherine PINKERTON 21:37, Kevin MCLEAN 22:11, Alan PLATT 24:41, Janet PATRICK 25:45, Alison C DUNCAN 26:01, Sinead GRAHAM 26:05, Alan STEEN 26:48, Gael BUTCHER 27:20, Linda MC MICHAEL 31:31, Heather MCLAUGHLIN 31:38, Ingrid HAMILTON 31:38, Fergus THOMPSON 42:02.

Colin Glen - Ali SHAW 22:31; Victoria Dock - David O’NEILL 18:38; Garvagh Forest - Bernadette O'KANE 21:26, Shaun CARTON 23:02, Paul LAVERTY 23:09, Enda YOUNG 25:04, Michael MCKEOWN 25:44, Colin CONNOLLY 33:39, Kay HACK 48:24.