Waterside Half Marathon switch

THERE was good news this week for three top local road races with Athletics NI, awarding Championship status for the second year in a row.

The Bay Road 5K on April 21 along with September's Tesco Waterside Half Marathon and the popular late August Dessies Run, have all been awarded championship status, while Dessies Run has also been included in a brand new Spar sponsored 20K road series.

This is a major vote of confidence in the local road running scene and congratulations are due to Bay Road and Dessies Run organisers, City of Derry Spartans and to Derry City Council for their terrific development work with the Waterside Half Marathon.

The Bay Road Race will kick-off the 2010 Furey Insurance 5K race series on Wednesday, April 21, and will as last year be staged in conjunction wit University of Ulster Magee.

Full details of the event and the complete series race programme will be released soon.

Both Dessies Run and the Waterside Half Marathon will move to Sunday's this year; Dessies Run moves from its midweek slot to Sunday, August 29, and the Waterside Half Marathon is set for Sunday, September 12.

The major reduction in traffic flow on Sunday mornings is a prime factor in the moves.

It looks like the ongoing 'big freeze' which so drastically affects local sports like athletics may be on the wane. The second race in the Primary Schools Cross Country League scheduled for St Columbs Park this Friday has been postponed nonetheless.

It has been rescheduled for Friday, January 22 at the same venue when hopefully conditions will be significantly better for cross country running. Race three, the final one in the series, will go ahead a week later on January 29th at Templemore Sports Complex.

Beyond that the rescheduled NI/Ulster Junior and Masters championship will go ahead at Stranorlar on Saturday, Janurary 30, with local athletes set for a serious challenge at the Donegal venue.

Greenmount College hosts the Antrim International cross country a week earlier, Saturday 23rd with a full race programme for Under 13's up to seniors and Masters and hope again local runners will be in the thick of the action.

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