Success for Springwell at Surf ‘n’ Turf North

The event was a multi-terrain mix of beach, boardwalk, trail and country road.

Pius McIntyre (Foyle Valley) 1:30:45 led the runners home in the half marathon with Springwell’s Thomas Moore third in 1:34:33. Springwell’s in form Fran McFadden led the ladies home in 1:36:10.

Springwell Times - Thomas Moore (3rd Male) 1:34:33 Fran McFadden 1:36:10 (1st Female) Paul Campbell 1:39:22, Gary Moore 1:41:46, William O’Kane 1:44:19, Roger Poland 1:52:38,

Springwell’s Rhodri Jones won the 10K race in 37:02 with teammate David McAfee (42:05) finishing just outside the podium places in fourth.

The ladies race was won by Jade Hegarty in 44:57 with Springwell’s Kerrie McIlmoyle second in 47:14.

Springwell Times - Rhodri Jones 37:02, David McAfee 42:05 (4th Male), Kerrie McIlmoyle 47:14 (2nd Female), Michelle Keown 53:50 (PB), Mary O’Kane 55:17, Collette Poland 58:23, Catherine Byers 1:00:20, Jackie McNeill 1:05:34, Judith Smyth 1:06:20.

On Friday evening, well over two hundred athletes descended on the picturesque Mary Peters Track in Belfast for the annual Les Jones 10K, an event hosted by Athletics Northern Ireland.

Defending champion Brendan Teer (East Down AC) led the runners home to win in a time of 32:49, Patricia O’Hagan (St Peter’s AC) won a close ladies race in 38:45.

Springwell’s elder statesman Jim Platt ran 51:58 to win the over 70 age category.

Springwell Juniors were in action for their schools at the NEEBSA Track & Field Championships, held at the Antrim Forum on Wednesday 14 May.

The good weather on the day was most welcome, leading to some brilliant performance’s and a few PB’s on the day.

Holly Woodhead had one of her best ever days on the track, winning both the 800m and the 100m and helping the Coleraine High School to a 100m relay gold as well, setting a PB of 2.24 in the 800m, not to be out done Hermione Skuce (Coleraine High School) won both her 800m and 200m races and also competed in her relay team.

Zak Hutchinson (CAI) doubled up with a win in the 800m and 2nd in the 400m, as did Aine McKinney (Dominican College) who was 2nd in the 800m and 6th in the 200m.

Andrew Gordon (CAI) continued his winning ways in the 800m as did Niamh Carr (Loreto College) also in the 800m and Abigail McBroom (Loreto College) in the 1500m.

Aiofe Carr (Loreto College) 2nd in the 1500m and Rebekah Hunter (Coleraine High School) second in the 300m also ran well as did Ellie Beveridge (Coleraine High School) fifth in the 800m and in the High Jump Ellen Kirk (Coleraine High School) finished third with a jump of 1.40m.

As the crowds flocked to Portrush for the second week in a row, this time for the NW200, 54 runners battled the traffic congestion to take part in the Portrush parkrun.

High tide was at 8.59 am but conditions underfoot were still quite good. The sun stayed away and, thankfully, so did the rain.

There were seven first timers, four PB’s and representatives of seven different athletics clubs taking part.

Bob Murphy became the latest to reach 50 parkruns on Saturday, taking the total to 11 that have reached this achievement.

Springwell’s Chris Denton was first to finish in 18:56 and Elizabeth Dawson first lady in 24:43

Springwell Times - Chris Denton 18:56, Bryan Edgar 19:41, Alistair Shaw 20:53, Robert Simpson 21:17, Mervyn Thompson 23:33, Gary Kendall 23:58, Kay Hack 28:34, Margaret Edgar 29:17, Nicki Higgins and her dog 39:43.

Three Springwell Runners travelled to Ballymena for the ECOS parkrun. Charlotte Hall ran 24:01 to finish 3rd lady, Bronagh Kearns 27:32 and Noelle Watterson 30:27.