WEEKEND ROUND UP 5TH-6TH SEPTEMBER 2026

Close to three thousand runners took part in the Waterside Half Marathon which was held in Derry on Sunday morning. The men’s race was dominated by Letterkenny AC whose athletes claimed the top four places thereby winning the team race by a considerable margin. Stephen McAuley took the overall title in 68.17 almost two minutes ahead of Danny Mooney who ran 70.03. Michael Fox completed the podium finishing third in 71.03.

Local Athlete Judith Storm (City of Derry Spartans) had a comfortable win in the women’s race running 78.43 finishing just over two minutes ahead of her nearest rival Claire McGuigan (Strabane AC), who finished in a time of 80.53. Judith’s teammate Sarah Kelly finished third in 82.30. City of Derry Spartans took the women’s team title.

 Also, on Sunday morning almost fifteen hundred runners took to the streets around Ormeau Park Belfast for the annual running of the popular Laganside 10k. Conall McClean (CNDR) was a convincing winner of the men’s race in 31.54 from Chris Drysdale (Ballydrain Harriers). Pamela Kirk (Roadrunners AC) continued her good run of form winning the women’s race in 36.27 from teammate Nicola Black who ran 37.16.

Tom Crudgington (Newcastle AC) was the winner of the historic Ben Nevis mountain race in a time of 1:38.02.

In Loughborough at the weekend our U18 athletes competed at the UK Schools Games which took a different format this year with Dynamic New Athletics (DNA). Our squad of seventeen athletes acquitted themselves very well with many excellent performances across the board.

Overall, it was a highly positive weekend, with strong results across the road and mountain running scene and an impressive display from our young athletes at the UK Schools Games. The performances provide plenty of encouragement as we continue to support athletes competing successfully at both domestic and UK level.