Springwell’s Purple Ladies event returns

Last held in 2019, this popular “ladies only” event makes a welcome return to the running calendar on August 17 at the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre in Ballymoney. Springwell Running Club would like to acknowledge the

assistance of the Causeway Coast and Glens Council and the PSNI in the planning of this event.

The club are once again sponsored by Grant Electrical Services, who have been a longstanding supporter of the Purple Ladies, and Springwell RC are extremely grateful for the support they have given to this race and look forward to promoting the GES Purple Ladies with them. Entries are now open at https://athleticsni.org/Fixtures/Purple-Ladies-5K with T-shirts for the first 200 entries.

An Carn 5km

July 12 saw a strong turnout from Springwell for the An Carn 5k. A 2.5k climb to the summit of Carntougher saps the stamina and the legs before the runners decide about the 2.5k of very steep descent; do you trust your balance and allow gravity to assist with a speedy downhill or do you tread carefully and control your way down? Christopher McNickle produced a strong performance to finish fourth in a time of 24:43 with Peter Tees not far behind, finishing ninth in 25:07.

Bernadette O’Kane continued her fantastic form of the Hill & Dale series to finish as first lady and 21st overall in 27:34. 4th Christopher McNickle 24:43, 9th Peter Tees 25:07, 21st Bernadette O’Kane 27:34, 33 rd Shirhaan Hameed 29:36, 55th Carolyn Crawford 32:45, 65th Enda Young 33:57, 68th Sarah Milligan 34:06, 75th Bridgeen Canning 36:15, 94th Jim Bradley 39:57, 114th Antoinette Conway 51:13.

Grey Abbey 12 Hour Endurance Run

Saturday, July 16 provided a hot and humid day for the Grey Abbey 12 Hour Endurance Run in County Down. Located in the Grey Abbey House Estate competitors have 12 hours to complete as many laps of the 5.5 km as possible. The undulating trail course made for a challenging event as competitors tried to work out a pacing and refuelling strategy that would see them through to the finish time.

Springwell was represented by husband and wife team Roy and Judith Buchanan who are no strangers to this sort of running. A strong run from Judith saw her complete thirteen laps to finish 13 th overall and 1st F45. Roy suffered from cramp around the halfway mark but recovered and finished 21st with twelve laps completed.

Parkrun

This weekend saw 48 Springers parkrunning at eight venues with two personal bests recorded. Congratulation to Majella McAteer who reached 50th parkrun milestone when she completed the Garvagh Forest Parkrun.

Saturday, July 23 will be the first anniversary of the Garvagh Forest event, and it promises to be a special day out.

Derry City - Ryan GRAY 21:58; Ecos - Kenneth BACON 42:01; Portrush - Maurice WALKER 19:42, Rhys WALKER 20:23, George BRIEN 23:33, Cathy ADAMS 23:44, Catherine PINKERTON 24:34, Gary MOORE 24:34, Mervyn THOMPSON 25:52, Alanna MILLAR 26:01, Pamela HOWE 27:07, Maria QUINN 28:57, Amanda SCOTT 29:39, Deborah ARCHIBALD 30:26, Caoimhe ARMSTRONG 45:04, Emer THOMPSON 55:24, Aisling HYNES 57:57

Limavady - Chris DENTON 17:25, James THOMPSON 19:24, David SHIELS 19:26, Lesley LOGAN 21:59 PB, Darren WALSH 22:45, Adrian FINLAY 22:45, David CAMPBELL 22:49, Pauline MULLAN 24:15, Janet PATRICK 25:37, Leanne

QUIGLEY 26:03, Alan PLATT 28:25, Alan WHITE 28:25, Alison C DUNCAN 29:31, Heather MCLAUGHLIN 29:32, Alan STEEN 31:04, David MCCOOL 34:02, Ingrid HAMILTON 35:25, Nicola WHITE 35:30, Lara WALSH 45:41

Con Smith - Elaine MONTGOMERY 29:57; The Grand Canal Way - Catherine BYERS 32:15; Garvagh Forest - Alan NEVIN 18:47, Majella MCATEER 23:33, Michael MCKEOWN 25:53, Antoinette CONWAY 26:56, Mariette MULVENNA 29:13, Colin CONNOLLY 32:58, Shane MCLAUGHLIN 35:45, Iris WILSON 36:54 PB; Dunleath Playing Fields - Gary KENDALL 21:47, Andrew WILMOT 54:04.