Springwell athletes keep on running

This weekend saw Springwell in action at the international cross country, and at Parkruns from Elgin in the north of Scotland to Krakow in Poland.

Bobby Rea International Cross Country

Saturday (October 21) saw over 1200 runners ranging from primary school age to veterans arrive at the Billy Neill MBE playing fields in Belfast for the Bobby Rea International Cross-Country meeting.

Some last-minute adjustments, to protect the most waterlogged ground from excessive damage, provided an excellent course for the meeting which took place in bright sunshine and calm, cool conditions. The uphill sections of the course had remained firm underfoot despite the excessive rainfall, but the downhill sections and the lower lying sections of the course were soft and muddy and gradually deteriorated over the course of the meetings thirteen races.

Springwell RC had 21 members, most experiencing cross country for the first time, racing at the event with two teams in the senior ladies’ race and one in the senior men’s. The ladies 6000m race consisted of three laps of the course and a determined run from Bernadette Quinn saw her finish in 55th with a time of 27:31 to lead the club home.

Judith Buchanan narrowly missed a top three finish in her age group with her time of 28:31 for 70th overall. In the men’s 8000m race close finishing from Christopher McNickle 65 th 32:18, Ryan Galway 72 nd 32:49, Stephen Fillis 32:57 and Stephen McLaughlin 34:28 saw the team finish eighth out of the

21 teams in the event.

Ladies (6000m) - 55th Bernadette Quinn 27:31, 70th Judith Buchanan 28:13, 106th Leisa McKenna 30:06, 136th Deborah McPhee 31:53, 145th Leanne Quigley 32:14, 148th Gael Butcher 32:21, 159th Sinead Rivers 33:08, 190th Ashley McPhee 35:02, 193rd Sinead Graham 35:05, 198th Alison Duncan 35:23, 208th Sarah Reid 36:13, 226th Heather McLaughlin 39:14, 239th Pauline Duke 40:59, 245th Ingrid Hamilton 42:00.

Men (8000m) - 65th Christopher McNickle 32:18, 72nd Ryan Galway 32:49, 74th Stephen Fillis 32:57, 97th Stephen McLaughlin 34:23, 185th David McGaffin 39:12, 217th Adrian Finlay 43:15, 244th Andrew Wilmot 51:32.

Parkrun

This weekend saw 42 Springers parkrunning at twelve different venues.

Derry City - Bridgeen CANNING 29:17; Portrush - Andy WHITEFORD 18:56, Maurice WALKER 20:00, Rhys WALKER 21:20, Stephen BEGGS 21:39, Gareth MCLAUGHLIN 22:36, Fiona MARTIN 23:13, Sylvia POLLOCK 24:49, Mervyn THOMPSON 25:33, Shaun CARTON 25:54, Heather SPENCE 26:45, Barry MCBRIDE 27:46, Alanna MILLAR 29:19, Kenneth BACON 43:36, Fergal MACKLE 46:48, Andrew WILSON 48:12, Julie CORBETT 51:35, Emer THOMPSON 58:15, Roisin WALKER 58:16.

Kraków - Nicola WHITE 30:25, Alan WHITE 30:26; Clacton Seafront - Gary KENDALL 22:03, Kay HACK 34:32; Ormeau - Conor SHIELDS 23:11; Antrim - Reggie COLVILLE 22:12, Sonya COLVILLE 31:12 Limavady - Ryan KENNEDY 19:59, Ryan GRAY 20:04, John BUTCHER 21:30, Paul LAVERTY 22:37, Janet

PATRICK 24:51, Ryan CAMPBELL 26:25, Linda MC MICHAEL 31:14, Rhona LAVERTY 37:35; Elgin - Elaine MONTGOMERY 32:35.

Holy Cross College - James HUGHES 22:03; Garvagh Forest - Michael MCKEOWN 29:18, Debbie KANE 30:39, Bernie HANNIGAN 30:41, Colin CONNOLLY 35:09; Limepark Playing Fields - Jonathan MCNABB 21:29; Erskine Waterfront - Catherine BYERS 33:37