Keep on running - Springwell athlete completes parkrun....in Japan!

Sixty ‘Springers’ took part in 17 different parkruns as they went in search of their weekend 5k, with six personal bests achieved but the ‘Furthest Travelled for a Parkrun’ award definitely goes to Lorraine Abernethy.

Lorraine took part in the Sunshine Beach Parkrun, which is at Yumihama, in Otsu City, Shiga in Japan!

Closer to home, four personal bests were achieved by Lorraine’s fellow Springwell runners at Antrim Parkrun where Reggie Colville, Ashley

McPhee, Deborah McPhee, and Sonya Colville all hit the mark.

Heather Harper ran hers at the Limepark Playing Fields parkrun and Aidan Mooney made the trip to the Fishermans Walk Parkrun for his.

Other Springwell members completed their parkrun at:

Woodbank - Rhys WALKER 19:41, Maurice WALKER 19:59; Belfast Victoria - Jonno JOHNSON 22:12, Andrew WILMOT 26:35; Ecos - Kenneth BACON 41:21; Queen’s - Jonathan HUDDLESTON 28:50.

Portrush - David O’NEILL 19:12, Andy WHITEFORD 19:46, David MCGAFFIN 22:03, Fiona MARTIN 23:41, Catherine PINKERTON 24:24, Mervyn THOMPSON 25:51, Shaun CARTON 26:44, Andrew WILSON 27:57, Patrick MAGEE 29:36, Anne JACK 30:07, Reid JACK 30:08, Rachael CAMPBELL 31:35, Aisling HYNES 32:48, Barry MCBRIDE 34:14, Caitriona MACKLE 34:24, Deborah PURDY 39:27, Shirley MCGAFFIN 41:01, Aimee MILLER 41:02, Julie CORBETT 51:09, Gemma WRAY 51:10, Emer THOMPSON 51:17.

Citypark - Mariette MULVENNA 28:34; Antrim - Rodney MC PHEE 18:26, Reggie COLVILLE 19:31 PB, Ashley MC PHEE 22:12 PB, Deborah MC PHEE 22:47 PB, Sonya COLVILLE 29:01 PB; Castlewellan - Gary KENDALL 23:17; Bangor - Colin CONNOLLY 29:53.

Limavady - Stephen MCLAUGHLIN 21:04, Kevin MCLEAN 22:18, Adrian FINLAY 23:18, Peter JACK 23:39, Alan WHITE 25:54, Janet PATRICK 27:18, Alan STEEN 30:09, Nicola WHITE 31:58, Leanne QUIGLEY 36:53, Kathryn CAMPBELL 43:48, Ingrid HAMILTON 43:49.

Stormont - Ali SHAW 19:45; Somerdale Pavilion - Elaine MONTGOMERY 42:56, Catherine BYERS 44:04; Garvagh Forest - Chris DENTON 18:15, Jonny CLARKE 21:36, Paul LAVERTY 23:18, Laurence BLAIR 24:43, Alan PLATT 24:58; Sunshine Beach - Lorraine ABERNETHY 40:15.

Durlston Country Park - Kay HACK 41:19; Limepark Playing Fields - Brian HARPER 29:53, Heather HARPER 36:51 PB; The Fisherman‘s Walk - Aidan MOONEY 31:27 PB; Morden - Iris WILSON 37:07.

Seven Sisters Skyline (Saturday, September 21)

The Seven Sisters Trail & Mountain Running Festival is one of Ireland’s premier mountain running events with the 30k and 55k races part of the UTMB race index as well as part of the new Irish Skyrunning Championship.

In addition to the established 30k and 55k races, a new challenge entered the line-up for 2024 - the 16k Altan Castle race. Thankfully, the recent spell of sun helped to dry out the worst of the Derryveagh Mountains but there was still ample soft boggy heathery ground to add to the

exposed loose rock and scree on the technical sections.

The 55k ultra with over 13,000ft of elevation was first underway at 6:30am. Conditions were cool with some low lying cloud early on. The 55k is an out and back course hitting all peaks of the Seven Sisters twice, except for Errigal - the final summit of the race and the highest in Donegal.

Bernadette Quinn and Colin Brennan were the two to take on the ultra, with Bernadette adding to her growing resume with a phenomenal race to finish 3rd lady and 17th overall in a time of 9:58:34. Colin Brennan who was hot on Bernie’s heels was next home in 18th in 10:06:07.

Next to take off were the 30k runners around 8am. The 30k and 7,000ft of elevation course is an A to B starting at the base of Muckish. Having been given the advice of “it’s a long race” on the first ascent, James Hughes was first home of the four in 69th position in 5:49:27, the giver of said advice, Adele Tomb had a slightly longer race than James and finished 78th in 5:55:53.

Having a score to settle with the Seven Sisters, which is now 2-1 Carolyn Crawford finished 100th in 6:15:45. Sarah Milligan in her longest and hardest mountain race to date finished 154th in 6:53:42.

Getting a bit of a lie in, the 16k competitors were last to start just after 10am. The new 16k and 3,000ft of elevation course was an out and back to Altan Castle before the tackling the final two mountains of Mackoght and Errigal. It was another podium performance in the 16k with Nicky Frizelle finishing 2nd lady and 10th overall in 2:28:52. Bernard Mullan finished 19th in 2:42:24, and Conor Duffy put recent injuries aside and finished 49th in 3:38:32.

Belfast Half Marathon (Sunday, September 22)

Starting and finishing in Ormeau Park, the Belfast Half Marathon saw over 5,000 competitors complete the 13.1 mile loop of Belfast under a warm, sunny sky, which made a change from the rain and puddles of 2023.

Springwell RC - 103rd Stephen Fillis 1:22:04, 453rd Jenny Chartres 1:33:08, 683rd John Butcher 1:37:17, 1014th Shane McLaughlin 1:41:43, 1109th Tina McQuillan 1:42:55, 1151st Jonathan Huddleston 1:43:25, 1505th Michael Johnson 1:47:56, 1670th Rose Lynas 1:50:06, 2002 James Evans 1:53:50, 2235th Dara Watterson 1:56:05, 2689th Michael McKeown 2:00:00, 2761st Patricia Craig 2:00:53, 3235th Seamus McAteer 2:06:24, 3434th David Hughes 2:08:57, 3958th Jim Bradley 2:15:11, 3983rd Ryan Campbell 2:15:51, 4142nd Colin Connolly 2:18:27, 4163rd Andrew Wilmot 2:18:41, 4325th Pauline Duke 2:21:36, 4477th Paula Chartres 2;24:18, 4930th Anne Marie McKenna 2:34:40.