Weekend Review- Intercounties, Walled City 10 Mile & More

North Belfast Harriers’ Conan McCaughey and City of Derry Spartans Declan Reed had a real test of their strength and endurance in the Senior Men’s event with Conan finishing in 27^th place in a time of 40:28 and Declan finishing in 73^rd place in 42:06.

The women’s team of North Down AC’s Jessica Craig, Katie Moore and Rachel Gibson where joined by Lifford Strabane AC’s Claire McGuigan who was making her debut in a NI & Ulster vest. The women also proved their strength, with Jessica finishing in 25^th place in 46:57 and Claire finishing in 27^th place in 47:07. Katie had a solid performance to finish in 69^th place in 49:39 and Rachel finished in 123^rd place in 51:34.

In the U20 Women’s event, Springwell Running Club’s Niamh Carr finished in 35^th place in a time of 27:06, while in the U20 Men’s race, Acorns AC’s Matthew Neill finished in 22^nd place in 33:16, while St Malachy’s AC’s Tony McCambridge finished in 80^th place in 35:40.

Full results can be found here: https://results.sporthive.com/events/6641993015756815616

Walled City 10 Mile Road Race

Foyle Valley AC’s Craig Simpson and Letterkenny AC’s Ann-Marie McGlynn led a record number of 1078 finishers at the Walled City 10 Mile Road Race on Saturday, starting from St Columbs Park.

Simpson took two minutes off his third place time from last year posting an impressive 52:14 to stride home well clear of the chasers while McGlynn as ever was a class apart, clocking a tasty 57m 15s, three minutes clear of the next female finisher.

Conditions were a bit better than last year, dry throughout but the prevailing south westerly wind while also less of a factor this time, still was testing enough in the latter stages. 

Simpson was always out front and looking good and never allowed the chasing group to get close. His club mate Scott Rankin and the City of Derry Spartans duo Emmett McGinty and Allan Bogle were joined by Eoin Hughes of Acorns AC, who all tried hard but the powerful leader was on a mission and ran strong all the way to the line for a significant victory.

Hughes came through for the runners up spot in 53:05, seven seconds clear of the Rankin's 53:12 with McGinty winning the battle of the Spartans, posting 54:32 to Bogle's 54:32. Springwell Running Club's Ciaran Ferris in 6th kept the NW flag flying on 54:46 Bogle was consoled by claiming the M35 category win.

McGlynn was always out front in the female race and finished 13th overall with a swift 57:15 effort. This was well clear of defending champion Springwell Running Club's Ciara Toners' 60:33s with 2019 Walled City Marathon champion Natalie Hall (Armagh AC) 3rd in 63:18. Ballycastle Runners’ Gemma McDonald finished in 63:30s to gain the F35 age group prize.

Neil Weir (Willowfield Harriers) finished in 7th taking the M40 age group win in 55:37 and the evergreen Brigid Quinn of Ballymena Runners, the oldest runner in the field showed a clean pair of heels to the many who finished behind her with a F75 age group win in 1:38:24.

Written by Gerry Lynch

Irish Life Health National Indoor Masters

City of Lisburn AC’s Kelly Neely hit the double at the National Indoor Masters Track & Field competition, winning both the W40 1500m and 3000m in 5:03.81 and 9:50.54, respectively. St Anne’s AC’s Patrick Crossan claimed two silver medals in the Men’s M55 200m Sprint and the 60m Sprint, finished in 26.36 and 8.05.

Mid Ulster AC’s Glen Scullion claimed gold in the Men’s M40 60m sprints in 7.31 and silver in the 200m in 24.10 while Letterkenny AC’s Kathryn McDevitt claimed gold in both the Women’s W35 200m in 28.06 and the 400m in 1:05.65, while Karen O’Donnell (Olympian Youth & AC) won bronze in the W40 200m in 28.51 and silver in the 400m in 1:04.66. Newry AC’s Joanne McCauley claimed bronze in the W45 200m in 29.99; bronze in the 60m in 8.93 and silver in the 400m in 1:07.83, while OMG AC’s Tina Gallagher claimed bronze in the W55 200m in 32.76 and silver in the 400m in 1:16.27 and silver in the 60m in 9.47.

Termoneeny Running Club’s Tommy Hughes claimed gold in the Men’s 3000m in the M60 category with a time of 9:41.24 and silver in the 1500m in 4:45.46.

In the jumps, Omagh Harrier’s Trevor McGlynn won gold in the M40 High Jump, clearing 1.60m and silver in the Long Jump with a distance of 5.28m. Derry Track Club’s David Stewart claimed a bronze medal in the M50 Long Jump with 4.40m and silver in the High Jump with 1.45m.

The full results can be found here: https://www.athleticsireland.ie/competition/results

BMAF Indoor Masters

Athletics NI's Athlete Development Lead and Commonwealth Games athlete, Tom Reynolds claimed Bronze in the M35 60m sprints on Saturday 7th March, finishing in a time of 7.56s.

Full results can be found here: http://bmaf.org.uk/results/res2020/BMAFitfc2020%20Results.pdf